The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-08-04
.SPELLBINDERS
GETTING BUSY
LINING UP ON BOTH SIDES
ANXIOUS TO GET AT THE CAM
PAIGN STRONG BOXES.

NOtC Aht
bIesOme Element in the Present
National Campaign Precedents
Set by Flower and Morton in
Their Costly Campaign for Gov
ernOr of New York Giving the
Managers Trouble.
By r. M. Larner.
Washington, Aug. S-Reliable re-
ports from Republican and Democratic
sources indicate unusual activity in
the ''spelbinding" industry. Spell
binders of high and low degree are
hungry to get their clutches on the
campaign chests, which George Bruce
Cortelyou and Thomas Taggart are ex-
pected to have continuously on tap
during the present compaign.
1t is generally reported that the Re-
publican managers will supply Chair
man CortelyOu with a campaign fund
aggregating several millions of dollars.
The Democrats, it is said, have prom
ised to equal, if not exceed, the amount
their rivals will have to expend for
campaign purposes.
The Campaign Strong Boxes.
No one authorized to speak for either
party has peeped into either the Re-
publican or the Democratic campaign
strong box, consequently the state
ments so freely circulated on the sub
Ject are merely speculative at the pres
ent writing. The fact remains, how
ever, that the professional as well as
the amateur Snpllhin6ar haliaNyas thpra
Will be things doing" in the present
campaign, and they are governing
themselves accordingly.
1t is amusing to observe some of the
specimens Of the spellbindry craft that
float into political headquarters almost
daily. Float" is the only word that
fully expresses their entrance. With
inflated chests. spruced up attire, a
clean shave and a bad cigar in the eX-
treme corner of the mouth, a la I'm
Gle Joe" Cannon, the ambitious SPELL
binder proceeds to impress upon the
party managers the importance of
sending only good men" out on the
campaign firing line. The professional
spellbinder is usually armed with clip
pings from obscure newspapers, giving
notices of his previous efforts on the
stump. The amateur has an original
idea" which he proposes to spring upon
the unsuspecting voter and thereby re-
verse public sentiment, and produce
Republican majorities in what were
| previously Democratic strongholds, and
on the other hand Republican citidels
are to be captured and Democratic
| fortresses are to be established instead.
The SpelIbinder's Incentive.
! Party loyalty is not the only incen-
! tive of the spellbinder. Those who
| are "a ma hla n ra0depipc Soma sarVica
| to their party, as a whole are willing
| to volunteer and accept assignments
with the understanding simply that
| their actual travelling expenses will be
met by the committee. Some of the
most distinguished campaigners, and
| those who do the most effective work
| for their respective parties, frequently
defray their own expenses.
1t is the bum" spellbinder who puts
up the stiffest front and makes the
| most extravaganza demands in his orig
| inal negotiations. The men who are
| assigned to take charge of the spell
binding" bureau Of the rival parties
are experienced politicians, and it does
| not take them long to size up the 'un-
| knowns" that float in on the political
tide.
Chairman Cortelyou proposes to
count his cash before he opens the
spelbinding game. 1t is understood
| that at present he has more tentative
promises of financial assistance than
he has of actual negotiable paper.
Chairman Taggart has passed the word
along TO his side that there is cash on
hand to date to meet all reasonable
demands for campaign purposes and
| asserts that reserve fund for the
closing hours of the fight will be pro-
vided in the meantime.
The Demand for Funds.
Party managers are frequently stag
gered by the extravagant demands
made upon them during a campaign.
Money, judiciously expended is more
effective on election day than all of the
campaign oratory and brass band dis
plays of former days. In the rural
districts of the North and West, the
farmers and their neighbors have
heard about the vast sums of money
expended to get out of the party vote
in the big cities. The result is the
farmer and his men require to be paid
for leaving their work to go to the
polls. It is astonishing to know how
general this practice has become during
the past ten years of fifteen years.
In the pending contest the dividing
lines between the two parties, from a
pratical business standpoint, are 50
indefinite, that the independent vote
this year promises to be unusually
troublesome, and also expensive TO
both parties. 1t is difficult to estimate
the cost of getting out the so-called
independent vote. Even an expert
like David Bennett Hill. confesses that
since the days when Roswell p. Flower
and Levi P. Morton. and their ex-
pensive campaigns for the Governor
ship of New York. there is no way Of
calculating what it will cost TO round
up the independent voters on election
day.
Flower Set n Bad Precedent.
In this connection Mr. Hill says that
Mr. Flower, after securing the nomi-
nation for Governor. determined to be
elected if IL cost him every dollar of
his accumulated millions. In the Flow
er campaign it became known to the
boys that kUncle Roswell" was willing
to pay for big majority. and
the result was that independent votes
went TO a high premium. When Levi
p. Morton was the Republican candi-
date for Governor. he was ambitious
to go to Albany with the biggest ma
jority ever given TO a New York Gov
ernor. 1t was understood that his
treasure-chest was wide open on that
occasion. and ever since the price of
independent votes throughout the
country has had an upward tendency
Political whispers from West Vir-
ginia intimate that the Republican
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