The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-18
.GIMCRACKS FOR THE
 PARTY'S BATTLES
Many Devices Adopted During
 the Campaign
PICTURES ARE PROMINENT
Campaign Songs and Poetry Are Also Potent in Deciding Victory-But- tons, Badges and Stick
 Pins Necessary.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer.
 The selection of campaign gimcracks and the economical purchase of the same Is important work for some one on the staff of every well regulated executive committee in every well regulated presl- dentlal campaign.
 By campaign gimcracks is meant the buttons and badges, the stickpins and medals, and all the other trifles by which 1t is sought to keep the name of the can didate constantly before the voter. To the serious minded these campaign aids may seem pretty small potatoes. but shrewd old campaigners k..Sw that we'll conceived, wcn executed political toy may do ]. of good to the party adopting it, atd the lucky genius who could invent such a thing and spring 1t successfully on progressive executive committee at the psychological moment in the opening days of campaign might make small fortune out of 1t. It would have to be a thoroughly convincing toy, though, for the same shrewd political campaigners are also well aware that no living man can tell in advance hew any given poit- ical gimcrack will take with the voters, and therefore are particularly cautious about expending good party money in that direction.
 On the whole portraits of the presiden- tial and vice-presidential candidates are considered the safest gimcracks" in which an executive committee can invest, judging from the great preponderance of the portrait expenditures over all other committee gimcrack outputs during the last few campaigns.
 Some years literally millions of portraits of all sizes, from that Of d ten-cent piece to the side of barn, are bought by the committees for distribution in every state of the union. During the campaign, not so very long ago, presses printing life- size candidates portraits on heavy plate paper were kept running steadily for quite twelve consecutive weeks, and full fledged shipping department was open and sending out the pictures by the ton the whole time There were certain in- luential contributors to the party funds that year who objected strenuously to the expense of the portrait contracts, but mo- body had the hardihood to put on the brakes.
 Portraits Play Their Parts.
 It was in that same year that the two committees put out large number of oil- painted portraits of gigantic size-say eight inches by ten-to hang in halls far above the heads of the audiences on the wall back of the speakers. These portraits were in neutral browns and grays that made them look surprisingly like titanic photographs when viewed from a little distance, and they were unusually good hkenesses-far superior to the colored portraits seen on the expensive street banners, which have been so prominent in all recent campaigns.
 Everybody who saw these portraits was struck with their excellence, and whole lot of people importunued their maker to give up the secret Of their manufacture. He parried all inquiries sxilfully, how ever, even declining 10 tell where they were made; but at the end of the cam paign his scheme came out.
 First CT all he got two big magic lan- terms and had first-class transparencies made of the two presidential and two vice-presdential candidates. Then he found a big vacant building in an ob- scure 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 pair of portraits he put the transparencies in his magic lantern stretched the canvases on which the pic- lures were to be painted the proper dis tance from the lanterns, and turned on the light. Of course the result was a perfect image Of each portrait on the can vas, and all the man who yielded the brush had to do was to slap on the paint to conform with the lines and coloring thus unerringly indicated by the refec- tion.
 Possibly it is not right to classify cam palgn songs as political gimcracks; how ever, the particular committee emplove who had to listen to hundreds of them in l9OO would certainly put them in that category. Before the active campaipn was fortnight old 1t seemed to him that every man. woman and child in the coun- try had written, or was about to write or at least felt able to write a campaisn song. Apparently every member of the committee and every state committee chairman from the Atlantic to the Pacific had hosts of song-w writing friends. Anv- way, they all sent songs to the committees by every mail, seemingly, and this nar ucular unfortunate employe had to try the most of them out
 Campaign Songs.
 At first when he took bundle of man. uscrip songs and music home at night ana asked his wife to play the airs on the plano and his daughter to sing the Words, they were quite delighted with
 
 the novelty of it. But, when, on one ver-to-be-forgotten Sunday morning, he asked both of them to stay at home from church and struggle with eightv-seven dlnerent pieces of political doggerel and elGhty-seven new pieces of inharmonious. unmelodious scores, they revolted gent ly' to be sure, but with a degree of firm ness that left no room for argument.
 It may be said of the Aemrican cam paign song writers that they generally confide themselves to praise of their own candidate, or, at worst to mild sarcasm regarding their opponent. It is not ST In England. where the campaign songs are some times nothing less than savage Here Is one which was put forth while Gladstone was still alive:
 When the Grand Old Man goes to b;s
 doom ms
 He Will ride in a fiery chariot.
 And sit in state
 On red-hot plate
 'Twixt Satan and Judas iscariot
 Say the Devil, My place is quite full. as
 you see, es
 But I'll try and do all that can. So I'll let Ananias and Judas 20 frce
 And to take in the Grand Old Ma, Devil