New-York tribune., 1900-07-12
THE FIGHT FOR CONGRESS.
REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE PREPARING
FOR A HOT AND STUBBORN CONTEST,
Ipv TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNE

Washington July 114The Republican Con
gress Campaign Committee is preparing for
hot and stubborn fight to retain the control of
the House of Representatives ir the LVIIth
Congress. All the members fully impressed
with the necessity of hard. Unremltting work
and plenty of 1t from start to finish to win a
victory this year. and some of them nov regard
the prospect of doing so as not altogether prom
ising The committee began many weeks ago
to SOW the country with political speeches and
other campaign literature and this seed found
fruitful soil in some Of the States and Congress
districts where the interest OF the voters had
been aroused to high pitch by discussions In
Congress This pre-campaign distribution OF lit
erature probably produced better results than a
like distribution three four months later
would have done. 1t comprised several million
copies of speeches subjects of current poliu-
cal interest by Republican leaders in Congress.
Just now the distribution of campaign docu
ments is suspended, and the officers and active
members of the Campaign Committee are en-
gagged in a comprehensive and thorough survey
of the political field, and in forming a general
plan of campaign. They are giving special at
tention to conditions in the score or more Con-
gress districts in each of which the plurality
of the successful candidate. whether Republi-
can or Democrat, in 1898 did not exceed five
hundred or six hundred in any case while in
several districts 1t fell below one hundred.
About half of these districts carried by
Republicans and half by Democrats. One of
these is the XIXth New-York, where Mr.. Coch-
rams plurality was only twenty eight votes. and
he escaped defeat only by the votes of soldiers
from his district who were absent serving in
the with Spain. Another is the IXth Ken
lucky District which returned Mr.. Pugh, Re
publican. by a plurality Of only ten votes in
total poll of more than thirty-three thousand.
One Democrat was elected by a plurality Of
thirty-four votes, and several others by plurali-
ties of less than two hundred each.
PERIL OF OvERCONFIDENCE.
Most Of the officers and members of the Cam
paign Committee We're members of it two years
ago. and their memories are still vivid of the
difficulties encountered in that campaign on ac
count Of the apathy and overconfdence of Re
publican and other sound money voters. In
some States and in many districts the sound
money sentiment seemed to have exhausted it
self in the effort to defeat Bryan two years
before, to be dormant for some reason, despite
the self-evident fact that no sound financial
legislation could be written in the National
statute books by the LVIth Congress unless the
Republicans should retain control of the House
of Representatives. Among the consequences
of this apathy and overcOnffdence was the loss
by the Republicans of twenty five Congress dis
tricts in Massachusetts New-York, New-Jersey,
Of which had given big puralities for McKin-
ley in 1896. The opposition almost gained con-
troll of the House of Representa- and if they
had succeeded no gold standard law would have
been enacted by this Congress
There are present indications that similar
ditions to those which nearly defeated the Re
publicans in 1898 still exist in a number of
States and districts, and that unless they can be
removed before Election Day the Bryanites will
control the House of Representatives in the
With Congress. In the opinion of at least one
member of the Republican Campaign Commit
tee who is an experienced and acute politician,
these conditions likely to be supplemented
and aggravated by the very fact which it would
be thought should produce the opposite effect
the fact that this is a Presidential year. In the
course of conversation he said:
1t is going to be harder to elect a Republican
majority Of the next House than it is to defeat
Bryan. I judge so because | know by my own
personal knowledge and from trustworthy in
formation | have received that thousands of
Democrats and sound money who will never
vote for Bryan and who earnestly desire his de-
Congress next November, whether the latter be
silver gold men, because, in the first
place, they do not have any fear that the exist
ing financial legislation will be overturned or
disturbed, and in the second place, because they
want to be able to preserve senblance of party
that they voted a Democratic ticket in 1900 l
know of hundreds of Geld Democrats who voted
for Mckinley in 1896 and for Democratic candi-
dates for Congress in 1898 for precisely the same
reason that they will do this year You may
just as we'll make up your mind that the Re
puhliCans have got to work hard every day and
all day until November if they expect to carry
the next House OF Representatives.