The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-07-24
BY OSBORN SPENCER.

New York. July 23.-The selection of
campaign gimcrack and the economi-
cal purchase of the same is important
work for some one on the staff of ev-
cry well-regulated Executive Commit
tee in every well-regulated presidential
campaign.
BY campaign gimcracks is meant
the buttons and badges, the stickpins
and medals, and all the other trifles by
which it is sought to keep the name of
your candidate constantly before the
voter. To the serious-minded these
campaign aids may seem pretty small
potatoes. no doubt, but shrewd old
campaigners know full well that a well
conceived. we'll executed political toy
may do a lot of good to the party
adopting it. and the lucky genius VINO
could invent such a thing and spring it
successfully on a progressive Exec
utiVe Committee at the psychological
moment in the opening days of a cam
pajgn might make a small fortune out
of il. 1t would have to be a thorough
ly convincing toy, though, for the same
shrewd old political campaigners are
also well aware that no living man can
tell in advance how any given political
gimcrack will take with the voters,
about eXpending good party money in
that direction
On the whole, portraits of the presi-
Dental and vice presidential candidates
are considered the safest "gimcracks"
in which an Executive Committee can
invest, judging from the great prepon-
derance of the portrait expenditures
over all other committee gimcrack
outputs during the last few campaigns.
Some years literally millions of por-
traits of all sizes, from that of a ten
cent piece to the side of a barn, are
brought by the committees for distri-
button in every state of the Union.
During one campaign, not so very long
ago, presses printing life-size candi-
dates portraits on heavy plate paper
were kept running steadily for quite
twelve consecutive weeks, and a full
fiedged shipping department was open
and sending out the pictures by the ton
the whole time. There were certain in
fluential contributors to the party
funds that year who objected strenu-
ously to the expense of the portrait
contracts. but nobody had the hardi-
hood to put on the brakes.
1t was in that same year that the
two committees put out a large num-
Der of oil-painted portraits of gigantic
si2e-say, eight feet by ten-to hang
in big halls far above the heads of the
audiences on the wall back of the
speakers. These portraits were in neu-
trail browns and grays that made them
look surprisingly like titanic photo
graphs when viewed from a little dis
tance, and they were unusually good
likenesses-far superior to the colored
portraits seen on the expensive street
banners, which have been so promi-
nent in all recent campaigns.
Everybody who saw these portraits
was struck with their excellence, and
whole lot of people importuned their
maker to give up the secret of their
manufacture. He parted all inquiries
shillfully, however. even declining to
tell where they were made; but at the
end of the campaign his scheme came
out.
First of all he got two big magic
lanterns and had first-class transpar-
encies made of the two Presidential
and two vice presidential candidates.
Then he found a big, vacant building
in an obscure New England village.
He rented this structure and boarded
up all the windows and doors so that
no sunlight could enter the place
Then when he had an order for a pair
of portraits he put the transparencies
in his magic lantern, stretched the
canvases on which the pictures were
to be painted the proper distance from
the lanterns, and turned on the light
OF course, the result was a perfect
image of each portrait on the canvas
and all the man who welded the
brush had to do was to slap on the
paint to conform with the lines and
coloring thus unerringly indicated.
IL Is popularity supposed that politi-