Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-08-16
CAMP AICNING in 4
CLOSE DISTRICTS
HOW THE WORK OF THE CON
GREsSloNAL CAMPAIGN Is
CARRIED THROUGH
Headquarters of Both Republican and
Democratic Congressional Commit
tees Will Be Busy From Now Until
the First Of November.

tees Will Be Busy From Now Untli
the First Of November.
The management Of campaign Tor
control Of the house of representatives
has been reduced as nearly to sci
ence as can be easily imagined. There
is nothing haphazard about 1T; nothing
left to blind chance; no overlooking OF
any detail, however trivial 1t may ap-
pear to the Impractical eye.
Withal, however, the activities OF
those intrusted with the management
of congressional campaign are not,
strictly speaking, national in their
scope The, are confined for the most
part to a few districts-those that are
Close" in the parlance Of the poll
ticians; those that are debatable
ground And this category Is smaller
than the average voter woul guess
off-hand.
Exception to Rule.
The present campaign furnishes an
exception to this general rule. Thel
reason is that the republican majority
in the house is now abnormally large.
1t is ia. To secure control Of the
next house, which is that of the Six
It.eth congress, the democrats will have
to hold every district their party now
has, and take fifty-eight away from the
republicans. In spite of this unusual
majority to overcome, the men who
are managing the campaign for the
democrats are hopeful Of success
Those who are managing the cam
paign for the republicans are ever
more confident of winning. This
makes the fight interesting. 1t Is, of
course, generally conceded that the
republican majority will be cut. The
Roosevelt landslide of 1904 is respon-
sible for the huge republican majority
in the Fifty-ninth congress. In the last
campaign the democrats lost more
than dozen districts that they had
controlled for years.
Safe Districts.
| While, of course, both committees
appeal for support to the whole nation,
their efforts are concentrated more or
less quietly on only small proportion
of the 1856 districts into which the
country is now divided. The appeal
to the country as whole is what may
be called the public part of the work
of the committees-"g randstanding" is
the word employed to describe this
process. The hard, earnest. effective
work is done quietly, and without any
"grandstanding" Primarily, the en-
tire country is divided into classes of
districts by each committee-those
districts that are Overwhelmingly or
safe one way or the other. For exam
pie, nearly the whole south is set
down in the democratic column, and
the candidates of that party in that
section are not expected to look to
Chairman Griggs for any kind of as
sistance All of New England and the
northwest are similarly treated as re-
publican, and, Of course, the candi-
dates of that party in the states Of
those regions must get along without
help from Chairman Sherman's COM
mittee. $, To be sure, there are demo-
cratic districts in New England and
the northwest, justsas there are repub-
lican districts in the south, and wher-
ever it appears in either case that
there is danger Of losing any of these
districts, each committee comes to the
rescue of it's party.
Where Work Is Done.
Having checked off the safe from
the doubtful districts, each committee
begins a persistent and systematic eff
fort to pull through the candidate Of
its party. If the nominee needs mon
ey for legitimate purposes, he obtains
be spared by applying to the chairman
/ 80 l. In &c
matter the policy of both committees
is to discourage too much dependence
for financial assistance upon them.
They endeavor to show candidates
how to raise the necessary funds in
their own districts. But if the money
required is not forthcoming from the
candidates constituents, then the gen
eral committee comes to the rescue
This is not done. however, until con-
fidential agents Of the general commit
tee have been sent into the districts
to make careful investigation Of the
prospects and have reported favorably
on the application of the candidates.
This is the way concerns which loan
money do when they receive applica-
lions from persons whose security or
ability to pay is unknown to them.
Thus the minimum of money Is frit.
j tered away In rainbow chasing"
Sherman's Headquarters.
Chairman Sherman has opened head
quarters for his committee in the ST.
James building, New York, and has
; employed there an Office force of thir-
: ty-fve clerks, stenographers, etc.
Chairman Griggs, following the dem
ocratic custom, has opened head
quarters for his committee in Wash
ington, and keeps about fifteen en-
ployes busy from an early hour in the
: morning until late in the afternoon.
: Sub-headquarters of both committees
J have been established in Chicago.
) Representative Lloyd has charge of
} the democratic headquarters in Chi.
cago, while Representative Tawney
presides over those of the republi
cans. In the character of the work to
be done and the number of office EN-.
ployes, the sub-headquarters of both