The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-09-27
CANVASS By PHONE AND AOTO
NEW WAYS or GETTING At THE
COUNTRY VOTE OUT WEST.

T. -
on time politicians Put ont Of Business
by tho wire. tho Motor Gas. Rural
FREQ Delivery IN direct Primary
IAws--Candidatcs Go the Rounds.
:, ABlLENE. Kan, Sept. 1k-Two thou
sand farmers families were eating din
nor the other day whom two thousand
telephones rang simultaneously. Each
ball gave ten sharp rinss. tie emergency
call which ordinarily means fire. bank
robbery OF soma other great event. Two
thousand persons rushed 10 tho receivers
and In q moment came oentral's monoton-
Gus tones:
there will be political speaking at
the Up'aad town hall tonight at 8 o'clock.
Robert Iovttt, candidate for Congress.
will speak. All are invited. That's ALL
Two thousand hearers repeated the
message to the families and hired help.
Ten or twelve thousand persons had
heea notified 10 t eity minutes.
That Is d Of the new methods In
country vote getting. The prevalence
Of farmers telephones made IL possible.
II could not have been done four years
ago because there were few farmers
phones in uso there.
It ls one thing 10 manage Q campaign
In a crowded ward whore all the votes
are within q few rods of headquarters. and
quite another to look after . farming
community scattered owe five hundred
or moro square miles. With the new
ideas and the changes In conditions 1t
has been difficult for many experts In
the old ways Il adjust themselves to the
demands Of the situation.
, The first shock to the old time poll
tio.an was the arrival Of b rural mail
carrier. 1t used to be easy to INFORM
the. voters as one wished. They received
their mail once a week and the county
SCAT papers furnished their chief read
ing, The county seat politicians and
tho editors we're usually or good terms.
Likewise 1t was simple for the poll
tician and the candidate to travel over
the county without rivals knowing Just
what was being done. Communication
was SO restricted between h various
sections that only IN rally days or At
the election was It discovered what plans
had been laid by the generals.
why, once" explained an old time
politician, back in the '70s We printed
q lot Of ballots that were regular except
one name and scattered them over the
county and sent old Jim Loyiing to the
Legislature to vote for u candidate
for United States Senator when half
the folks In the county didn't know he
wac a-running. Can't do that now with
the Australian ballots. 1t was fun man
aging politics them"
Not only does the rural carrier take
the news over the routes but he IL the
bearer Of the daily newspaper. That
means a great deal. The v carriers
who went out OF q town Of 5000. the
county seat Of q farming region, the
other morning carried 400 daily papers,
most OF them printed within ten hours
and there are twenty-seven rural routes
In that county! The farmers are thus
kept in close touch with the conditions
Of the national, State and district CAM
paigns; little use to try to give them
misinformation.
Probably they know nearly as much
about the situation an the chairman him.
eer. This Is % true 200 miles west Of
the Missouri River as down in Ohio.
Out on the prairie ten miles from q
railroad and only 800 miles from the
Rocky Mountains o farmM' sat on his
suiky plough the other morning.
Il see,' said no 10 . passerby who had
stopped to ELK. 'that Bryan has had q
conference with Kern
/. How did you know that' 1t wa only
yesterday
-oh. we got the morning paper from
tho carrier IN hour ago
It was not yet noon. but he was in touch
with tho news Of the world up to mid
night preceding.
Naturally that changes the plans Of
oltticians.
Then there Is the telephone. Ten
We rs ago In oae Western county there
wers slxty-sisht telephone, in operation;
to-day, with no inorease In population,
there r 4.a53. Over 1000 OF these are
In farmers houses. They place prac-
Ideally evsry homo in touch with every
other home In the county.
Only recently did the politician learn
what could be done with the telephone.
One State chairman who had on his hands
q boss busting campaign cot the pace.
He made a contract with the W. tele-
phone svsterns that reached to every
part Of his Commonwealth. He secured
q list Of names and citing In his office
called up the workers. He conducted
q months campaign thus-and won.
much 3 the surprise Uf the opposition.
which depended on the mails.
II IL no slight honor for aNfarmer to
have q messenger come to him In the
field with news that the Hon. Andrew
jackson Wheeler or some other equally
famous politician wants him at the tele-
phone booth Immediately. He hurries
TO obey the
He shouts his greeting and hears the
great mans voice. He 10 told to do some
thing and TO call up tomorrow, which he
fails not to do. He becomes at once O
figure. He reflects the chairman's glory.
He remarks casually:
Andy Wheeler called mo up this morn
ing and told me that things look mighty
good for our q Guess the square
deales'l win
He enjoys the added respect paid him
BY his neighbors as q result OF this dis
closure. He calls up the chairman at
the cbairnnan'e expense and holds N
v~ersations with him, during which he gets
such information as Andrew jackson
Wheeler wishes to impart-and becomes
On advocate and a supporter Of the chair
mans principles.