Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-23
|CAhPA| G||MCRACKS
rs al
Selection and Purchase Are
str zig
Important Matters.
VALUE OF THESE TOYS
SHREWD MANAGERS WHO USE
THEM TO WIN VOTES
Cartoons, Songs, Portraits, Buttons,
Badges and Other Means
to the End.

committee in every well-regulated presi-
Dental campaign
BY campaign gimcracks is meant the
buttons and badges, the stickpins and
medals, and all the other tribes by which
1t 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 ex-
ecuted political toy may do a lot of good
to the party adopting It, and the lucky
genius who could invent such a thing and
spring 1t successfully on a progressive
executive committee at the psychological
moment in the opening days of a cam
paien might make a small fortune out of
convincing toy, though, for the same
shrewd old political campaigners are also
Wen aware that no living man can tell
IN advance how any given political gim-
crack Will take with the voters, and
there1ore are particularly cautious about
rection.
on the whole. portraits Of the presi-
are considered the safest "gimcracks" In
Wnicn an executive committee can in
Vest judging from the great preponder-
amce or the portrait expenditures over
SoHHllttce 8lmCraCk outputs
curing the last few campaigns
some years literally millions Of portraits
OF an sizes, from that Of a ten-cent piece
. 70 tne SIDE OF barn. are bought by the
o 81 nm Tor distribution in every state
OF tne Union During one campaign, not
80 very Iong ago, presses printing life-size
candldates portraits on heavy plate paper
were kept running steadily for quite twelve
consecutive weeks. and full-fedged ship
ping department was open and sending out
the pictures by the ton the whole time.
There were certain influential contributors
TO the party funds that year who objected
contracts, but nobody had the hardfhood to
put on the brakes.
A Great Scheme.
1t was in that same year that the two
committees put out a large number of OIL
painted portraits OF gigantic size-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 neutral browns and grays that
made them look surprisingly like titanic
photographs when viewed from little dis
lance, and they were unusually good like
nesses-far superior to the colored portraits
seen on the expensive street banners which
have been SO prominent in all recent cam
paigns.
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 skillfully. however.
made; but at the end Of the campaign his
scheme came out.
First of all he got two big magic lanterns
and had f1rst-class transparencies made Of
the two presidential and two vice presi-
Dental candidates. Then he found big,
vacant building in an obscure New Eng
land village. He rented this structure and
boarded up all the windows and doors so
hat 1fpb unto nj
when he had an order for a pair of por-
traits 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 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
1t is popularity supposed that political pull
is required to sell campaign gimcracks to
an executive committee, and this is true in
some degree but this mans work interested
both committees SO nightly that they fell
over each other to get his pictures. In a
short time after his first pictures were
shown he had to put In half a dozen magic
lanterns and employ a regular staff of
portrait makers. Had the active campaign
last a year instead of a few weeks he
was he made very snug sum of money
out of it-enough to give him a good sub
stantial start in permanent line or pusl-
ness.
Possibly political cartoons should not be
classified as campaign gimcracks, but at all
events the executive committee depart
ment that selects and buys the badges
and buttons and portraits generally takes
charge of the cartoons also.
Cartoon Troubles.
At the beginning of a recent campaign
cartoonist who had once been great
power in the land by reason of his graphic
portrayal of the shortcomings of one of the
political parties, but had lost his grip, de-
cided to seek rehabilitation by doing cam
paign cartoons. Not finding a newspaper
place readily, he concluded to strike one
or other of the committees. He had shifted
his political allegiance in the meantime.
and was somewhat doubtful which party
to apply to, but finally decided in FAVOR CT
the party of his first love-
His indication to the executive commit
tee that he would be glad to help elect
their candidate, for a consideration ny
should furnish to the newspapers free of
charge, caused great fiutter In that po-
htical body, and 1t was decided to employ
him at once Two obstacles arose, how
ever There was one important article in
tbe narty's creed that he would not sup
mort and he had exalted notions as to the
amount of money he should receive.
It took a long time to get over these
things The artists repugnance to the OBJ
iectionable doctrine was overcome with
comparative ease, but the pay was differ
ent. For awhile neither artist nor COM
mittee could be got to name figures at all
When the artist after many long pow
Vows fixed $4,000 as about the proper
thing there was CONSERVATION among the
They argued the case with
him for two days and a tentative compro-
mise was reached on $37 500. This didn't
"po' with the committees treasurer,
though and as last resort committee
empIoye who had some practical knowl-
edge as to show cartoons stood in the
was asked to fix the matter up"
He and the had-been cartoonist had sew
er.1 Interviews some of them stormy, and
the unshot was that, basing his compensa-
tion On the largest number of cartoons
that could possibly be used, the artist was
TO receive s., $50 instead of 1880. or just
one-tenth as much as the figures mentioned
in the tentative compromise.
go far all was satisfactory The eXecu-
five committeeman who had recommended
the taking or of the employee who cut the
cartoonist down nine-tenths congratulated
himself. The employe thanked heaven that
he was pleasing the commNtee and had
visions of a fat and permanent job after
the close of the campaign, providing his
Marty won The cartoonist was happy be-
cause while So $50 was by no means $37,-
ZOO II was the same 1915 week for ten
weeks. or $3.50 a cartoon, since only
tu,antv cartoons were needed.
m. .,,.ro Was more trouble ooupspO TT