Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-03
Campaign Camp Followers
HEI 4&5jlA3 A 81 s.

~ - UB
Written Cor The Evening Star.
Sometimes the most amusing, sometimes
the most dangerous, and always the great
est nuisance of all the campaign camp fol-
lowers is the man who wishes to be inter-
viewed for publication.
He is a person of widely varying individ-
ualfty. Sometimes he is big, aggressive
and loud voiced; sometimes he Is slender,
secretive and nsnuating. Sometimes he
comes from of the big cities, some
times from Podunk: sometimes from the
effete east, sometimes from the bounding
west. and sometimes from the sunny south.
At headquarters he always seeks out the
man In charge of the press bureau, and
woe betide the latter then, unless he be a
man OF wide experience and the coolest and
hardest of marble hearts.
The most embarrassing lesson over taught
to a headquarters press bureau man was a
noteworthy feature of the beginning OF
recent republican campaign.
The press bureau man was lmpuislVe,
credulous and inclined to accept. without
sitting all the optimistic things he heard.
At that stage of his development ne story
could be too rosy for him to swallow whole,
no favorable prediction too sweeping to be
taken at its face value and thus the per-
feotly Independent southern gentleman VINO
filled the role of lesson teacher found an
easy mark. At the same time, 1t must De
admitted he was exceedingly clever When
II came to the singing of language
In brief, the tale he had to tell was that
although the south had been solid against
the republican party ever since there "as
n republican party, there was now goou
fighting chance for 1t to win in Alabama
North Carolina and Georgia. This astonish-
ing statement he followed up, before the
press bureau man had time to be 1ncredu-
tel ct ri
and figures to prove his case. Inc south,
erner was fairly GREATNESS when he had
finished while the press bureau man eyes
were bullying.
Too Good to Be True.
Here, Mr. Thompson" (or Jones, or Rob-
inson. as the case may have been), called
out the press bureau man, you take the
majors statements of facts about repub-
lican prospects in the south. The colonel
Is extremely well Informed upon his sub
ject, and you may send out to the papers
whatever he Says. without reserve. NOW,
general" to his visitor, sit right down with
Mr. Thompson" COR whatever h s name was)
land he will spread the good news b'fore
the whole country
1t will be observed that the press bureau
man showed his growing confidence IN the
tall stories of a republican revolution In the
south by the way he gradually raised the
rank of his visitor in speaking or ana 10
him. Next morning the newspapers rom
ocean to ocean contained ringing aSSur-
ances that were morally certain to be
broken that fall. Some of the papers maze
sarcastic comments on the statement III
the same issue. and on the day following
there was a general outpouring of ridlcule
because of 1t.
1t is true that not all the men who want
to be interviewed for print are likely 10
present such verbal boOmerangs as TINS
man from the south had up his sleeve, but
almost every one Is a nuisance, anxious
only to get selfadvertsement and without
a scintilla of valuable pollucal lhlorha
tion to impart. The press bureau man or
experience shuns him one would shun a
man with the smallpox.
The Musical Contingent.
Perhaps the most picturesque group of
campaign camp followers eomposes the
musical contingent The money spent on
this contingent every presidential year is
very large though possibly this fact is
not suspected by many readers, and the
value of its labors in the campaign is very
great.
Although 1t is safe to presume that
large proportion of the voters who attend
the big political meetings held in the course
of every campaign do so because ney
are interested in what the speakers may
have to say, there is no doubt That the
addition of good singing to political meet
ing program goes long way in bringing
out n good attendance. and all shrewd
local political managers include 1t In their
ARRANGEMENTS. Scattered all over the
country there are thousands of young men
with good voices who know this very Well
and every presidential year, long before
the opening of the campaign, they begin
preparation for the demand which is sure
to come as soon as active politics open.
In the nature of the case the campaign
song singers are not much In evidence
about national headquarters. State head
quarters also are comparatively free from
them: it is at county headquarters, district
committee rooms and the Ike that they
are a prominent factor. Perhaps the larger
proportion of all the campaign singers
belong to campaign quartets or glee clubs.