The National tribune., 1900-06-14
One Hundred and Sixty Million Pieces of Lit
erature Sent Out to Win Votes.
j.. 4. Coolidge in AinsLet

at has been said that the distribution OF
literature has come TO be about the most i'm.
| portant feature of the National Committee g
work. This phase of campaigning has
| reached truly colossal proportions. The
head Of the literary bureau Of a National
Committee must be a man of rare judg-
ment, of varied resources and of unusual
executive ability. The head of the Re
publican literary bureau in 1896 was Perry
5. Heath, now Assistant Postmaster.
General. The head of the Democratic
bureau was Daniel McCOnville, of Ohio.
Documents were sent out from both head
quarters by the ton. The Republican com
mlttee distributed over 160,0O0,0O0 pieces
of literature Over $1,000 packages were
sent by freight or express, and over 100
carloads Of printed matter. In the ship
ping department alone 215 people were
employed. The distribution by the Demo
cratic committee was almost equally large.
The work has been reduced to science.
Each committee has lists Of voters which
are furnished originally by the various
local committees in States and CongreSslUn-
a! Districts, and these lists are so arranged
that, so FIR as possible, just the right kind
Of document will be sent to each voter, and
Just the right kind Of argument will be
presented to each mind. The Republican
and Democratic National Committees to-
day each have at least 1000, 900 names on
their lists. BY far the larger proportion
Of documents distributed are speeches
in Con ress which go out under Congress
siOnai franks, thus reducing immensely
the expenditure for postage. Of such
great advantage is this that in the Con-
greSSiOnal session Immediately preceding
a Presidential campaign many speeches
are made chiefly with a view to their dis
tribution. Entire books have been in
serted in the Congressional Record in this
way. In a recent Congress, Tom John
son, the millionaire Congressman from
Ohio, printed as a part Of his speech Henry
Georges book on Progress and Poverty
and this was sent out by the hundreds of
thousands under Congressional franks.
OF course, the National Committees have
to bear the expense Of paper and printing
This class of documents is far from
comprising all that go out. The literary
bureau Of a National Committee is great
workshop. The Republican Committee
in 1896 employed p writer's, most Of them
specialists on the tariff. on currency, and
OF other topics of a political nature, and
these men were kept busy at headquarters
constantly preparing timely material as
the occasion might demand. Much of this
work was sent out through the newspapers,
and three or four columns of matter for this
purpose were prepared every day. State
mentS, cards, explanations, interviews
were distributed to the press in the glllSe of
news. One of the rooms at headquarters
was lined with books of reference, and
two or three men were kept busy all the
time responding TO kilograms from all over
the country asking for information on all
sorts of questions. n speaker assigned to
talk in given town would pick up the local
opposition paper on his arrival and find
a statement about the tariff or about the
currency which he thought he ought to
refer to on the platform that night. He
would telegraph promptly to headquarters
for exact information, and within an hour
or two he would receive Il reply telling him
exactly how ne could meet the point which
had been raised. Similar inquiries would
come daily from editors Of newspapers
in remote districts which lacked reference
was highly important adjunct to the
literary department. Over 1900 news
papers We're furnished with plate matter
patent inSides and occasional editorials.
Bulletins were sent daily by telegraph at
the expense of the committee to 100 morn
ing newspapers and to $50 afternoon prints.
These bulletins ranged all the way from
100 TO 800 words in length.
There were special departments for
almost every conceivable class of popula-
ton. Men were kept busy preparing
documents in German, Swedish, Danish,
Polish and Hebrew, which We're to be sent
to localities where any one Of these langu-
ages happened to prevail. There was a
colOred bureau which had charge Of all
questions relating to the colored vote,
sending out literature to convince the
negro that his interests lay in continuing
to support the Republican party. There
was a wOman's bureau under the charge
of Mrs. j. Ellen Foster who had Is women
in her department preparing for distribution
literature calculated TO affect favorably the
feminine mind. For it is recognized by the
politicians that, although there are few
States where women are allowed to vote,
there is not one i'll which they do not eXer-
else Il great and sometimes decisive influ-
ence upon the ballot. There We're depart
ments to look after commercial travellers,
bicycling, saving institutions and life
insurance companies"