The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-05-15

national committees employ Sefefd4
hundred speakers IN every presiden-
tiai csnpsigrl- A ma 3oTity of these
speakers are men Of national Fepute,
and their enerts are confined, ia the
main, o. the close and doubtful states
Their expenses are paid, but most NJ
them receive no recompense for their
services. A man who talks for MS
party because he is paid 90 do it oc-
Cupies simply The position of a spe- +
cial pleader, and his appeals carry lit /
Tie weight. If the fact of such employ 4
ment becomes known. still, o great
number of attractive keTs-ulen f
who have no particular fame or Who
cannot afford g. Heg3eet their business -
without COmpensation-are paid during
the entire campaign, receiving 500 a
week and expenses. and few as much
as 1000 a week. they get cues from
headquarters, and are cautioned as 20
the peCuliarities of each locality. They
shape their speeches to their audiences,
and as a rule. those spea kers are pre-
feTred who tell many anecdotes, and
know how to point political argument
with q joke. Ii is doubtful If this flood
OF oratory makes many converts, Tor
the reason that when Republican
speaks he is mainly listened TO by Re
publicaus, and that like conditions pre-
vail at Democratic meetings Its im
pOTtance, in the minds Of campaign
managers, lies in the fact that 10 Gre
ates enthusiasm and maintains and
improves party discipline.
Candidates Keep Silent.
While the voice OF the speIbinder
is heard in the land, the candidate is
also playing an important part IN the
campaign His letter of acceptance
and his speech made ia response TO
the official notification Of his nominal
/ ton are nearly always the most im-
portant party documents Of the cam
paign, ana now and then a candidate
/ takes the stump i'm person. Douglas
did so i'm 1860 and Greeley in 1872
while the speeches made by Garfield
/ in 1880 and By Blaine i'm 1884 are stiu
[ remembered for their brilliancy and
variety. Three OF the men named,
I however, were defeated at the polls
and the belief has steadily gained
/ ground lin recent years that the can
/ didate best serves his own interests
/ who maintains a dignihed silence
i during the campaign. There Is good
/ reason for this belief The position
/ OF a candidate is, at best, a delicate
( and trying one, and a careless word
/ from his own lips. or from those Of a
/ Wen-meaning but indiscreet, sympa-
/ thizer, may change the result Of an
/ election. That was the case la 1884,
/ when an iIl-advised speech addressed
TO Blaine by q New York clergyman
/ entailed his defeat and assured the
triumph OF Cleveland, though By a ma
/ JOrity so slender that for several days
[ the result was in doubt
The real lighting ground Of a presi-
I Dental campaign Is In the uncertain
and doubtful states. These must be
| carried to spell success, and there the
battle Is waged with untiriug energy,
I from the day after the nomination un-
& ala
al chairman, about the middle of the
campaign, causes TO be prepared a COM
plete list of the voters I'M these states
and the work is done with such skin
and fidelity that it is Wei-nigh as ac-
CUTaJe as a government census A
month or six weeks later a second
! enumeration is made, and this disclOses
with even greater accuracy than the
/ first the position Of every voter. The
/ aggregate cost Of these CsnVasses is, Of
course, enormous; but it is money well
/ spent, for through them the weak spots
are discovered, and needed assistance
promptly given by the national COM
mittee TO the state organizations.
Meetings are organized at short notice,
/ and the best speakers sent where they
may change votes
Thus the most important work is fire.
Quently done during the last three
weeks of a national campaign A fort
/ night before the election Of 1895 the Re
publicans became doubtful about Iowa.
Chairman Hanna at once resolved upon
a personal canvass Of every doubtful
voter i'm the state. he proposed Jnat
every voter not classed on the polling
lists either as a downright Democrat
or a downright Republican should be
visited by some Jealous and tactful Re
publican. Before election the thousands
of such men ia towns, in cities and
{ Hr
/ appealed 10 by the Republicans most
likely 20 win them; and this canvass rs
said to have cost the Republican ma
tiunaI committee 100000; but it as
suTcd Iowa TO Mckinley
Election Day.
And now for the supreme test The
single fsteful day which has prompted
these months and weeks of strenuous
{ hand-to-haud fighting is "the fire.
/ Tuesday after the FIRST Monday i'm NO
YembeT' Of election year. The choice
Of a chief executive becomes from this
. point not the task of a few party man
ayers. but of more than 15,o00 001
voters. The verdict pronounced 10y
these millions, unless the result is un-
usually close. VIII be known throughout
the nation on the morning following
the election The making Of a presi-
dent, however. is still incomplete. The
votes direct for the candidates Of the
two great parties The vote instead for
electors. who, under present methods
are nominated I'm each state by state
and district conventions and voted foI
+ I'M block.
The electors chosen meet at the cap
itals Of their respective states on q Civ
en- day in December, and vote Their
vote is duly recorded and certified, and
sent not only by mail, bur also by spe
Cial messenger 90 the president of the
senate at Washington. The two houses
/ of congress meet i'm joint session some
time in February, and i'm their presence
the president Of the senate counts tho
I returns from the electoral colleges, and
/ declares as a result of them the cleo
tion of the successful candidates f0l
president and vice president.
Not until the electoral colleges have
voted, and the house and senate acted
, is a president elected, yet little weight
j or notice is given TO the proceedings oil
! these bodies They have. i'm fact. out
> lived their influence. and there Is ng
I longer any reason for their existence
s That sooner or later they viii be SWEEP
, away is not to be doubted; and tht
/ I change IS one that viii be welcomed
by every man who has faith in our ma
4 ti0uaI ideals. Time and experience, the
: ( only safe and sure teachers, have prov
{ en- that the fathers were wrong ans
that the election as well as the nomina
. ton of a president may safely be en-
p trusted to the people.
WHAT TO WEAR on SUNDAYS
~4 49,