davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-27

providing himself with a vast number of buttons
for which there will be no demand whatever.
Naturally the button manufacturer meets this
condition in the most economical way possible.
He reduces the risk by bringing to bear upon the
political situation the keenest available judgment.
In one large button factory a salary of $12, 900 a
year is paid to the man whose voice is most in
huential in deciding which of the possible candi-
dates is likely to become the real one, and this
man has his several lieutenants who are only a de-
gree less influential. Concerning the future of a
national convention it would be difficult to find
anything more acutely authoritative than the
council of war of a group OF these button generals.
Each of them, one might fairly say, is a person
ifcation of the consensus of political opinion, and
yet they are not professional politicians. They
are the living proof of the value OF such little
things as an "if," "but" or land" in reaching
specific conclusions. They are men who travel,
who read the newspapers with conscientious avid
ity, who talk with business men, professional men,
politicians and the man in the street"-and their
business is to find out not what men think, but
what they feel instinctively about the chances of
such and such a possible candidate.
In other words, the wind of politics is too
tickle to be determined very long in advance by
argumentative discussion and the exhibition Of
comparative statistics. 1t can be determined more
accurately by instructive feeling. The button man
VINO mas nedTd II, OUT or ana tagged 10 the
name Of a possible candidate knows at least that
the speaker instinctively feels that certain dangers
lie in the way of that particular candidacy, and
cares more for this knOwledg than for any
amount Of carefully-thought-out argument one
way or the other. He is not interested in the
relative value of platforms. He will produce you
in due season several million buttons bearing the
legend vote for Taft and Prosperity" and sew
eral million more bearing the legend "vote for
Bryan and Prosperity" But he is busily and
d~elieately accumulating specimens of the polit-
zeal atmosphere of different communities out of
which his own instinct and experience will later
draw conclusions. The process has its analogy to
the chemical laboratory. The instinct of the ex-
pert acting on all these accumulated samples Of an
intangible something in the air. produces a pre-
cipitate OF innumerable buttons. An expert in
this delicate business, says our button authority,
must be born with an instinct for IL. and to this
instinct must be added a wide experience of poll
Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-27
Played by the Button in National Campaigns

tics and humanity in their relation to buttons.
This process on a smaller scale is worked out
by local agencies of the button manufacturers in
the local political campaigns and by the jobbers
who make no buttons themselves but buy of the
manufacturers and sell to the fakirs. Naturally
the risk is smaller for the larger manufacturers
because there is more capital to offset inevitable
errors Of judgment, and in each case a certain
amount of capital must be sunk in the preparation
of buttons that are bound to prove worthless. The
stress Of production comes on the favored candi-
date, but smaller battalions must be held in re-
serve to represent each of the others. But many
a "favorite SON. gets much talked of in the news
papers whom no button expert considers important
enough to be given one of the preliminary buttons.
These political buttons are merely one item in
the button business which originated some thirty
odd years ago, not in the rivalry of two presiden-
tial candidates, but in the grim determination of
one cigarette to drive another out of business. 1t
may or may not be significant, but the cigarette
that got the button is still popular and the one
that didn't has since practically got the hook. The
very beginning of the button business still holds
the record for the largest order ever given a but
ton manufacturer. To order a million or more
buttons at a time is a commonplace with the man
ayers of presidential candidates, but the reckless
cigarette ordered buttons to be manufactured un-
til further notice. Before the campaign was
VI lAAACA ah1 AAAACA Va ANM w ~
the country on their way to the oblivion that
eventually engulfed them. Since then one might
almost imagine that the gulf of oblivion has be-
come half full of buttons. But here, in the very
beginning, was success as an advertising medium
for the button is but one expression of the enor-
nous triviality known as speciality Advertising
that made the idea permanent. Buttons may
come and buttons may go, but the idea continues
with a steady determination to focus a certain
amount of public attention on a specific object
now on a department store. or again on the sig
nihcance of a trade union label, on the excellence
OF a brand of beer, on the desirability of this man
for sheriff of Podunk county or that man for pres
ident of the United States. Nothing is too small
or too large to get put on a button; we may an
nounce our political candidate, show ourselves
members of the Don't Worry club, hint to whoever
may be interested that we ARE afraid TO go home
in the dark" identify ourselves by name and resi-
dence. or even. like q knight Of old. indicate our
Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-27

F o should ask an authority on campaign
buttons how many buttons were being man
ufactured daily he would tell you at least
n half a million. This he would consider a
conservative estimate steady, cheerful
production every minute of about $40 smiling lit
tie Tafts and grimly meditative little organs.
There are three remarkable things about cam
paign buttons-that so many, many millions of
them are put in circulation, that so few of them
are visible to the casual observer and that the
process of getting them on the market involves a
prophetic quality that actually picks the candidate
before the conventions have nominated them. On
the day that Taft was nominated several million
Taft buttons were delivered in Chicago on the day
that Bryan was nominated several million Bryan
buttons we're delivered In Denver. A large
share of these buttons had been manufactured as
far away as New Jersey. Roughly speaking, they
were worth about half a cent apiece at wholesale,
and their total value reached somewhere in the
neighborhood Of $4,000 or $50, OOO-which may
well serve as a modest hint at the financial aspect
of this apparently trivial business.
Thousands and thousands Of dollars in short
are thus practically wagered on the opinion of a
few individuals as to the outcome of the conven-
lions. The largest company behind these eight
or nine million smiling little Tafts and grimly
meditative little Bryans guessed right. But some
of the other button people guessed wrong. AS a
result we read soon afterward of a small dealer
who committed suicide because he had invested
his whole small fortune in the wrong button. He
had guessed that Roosevelt and Johnson would be
the nominees of the two great parties.
But why, you wonder, should a button man
take such desperate chances on anything so doubt
full as the result of a political convention? Be-
cause the precise moment for disposing of buttons
is the moment of greatest popular excitement; the
button seller, like the newsboy, aims TO profit by
catching the crowd even while it is still gazing at
the bulletin board. But to do this he must take
longer chances. The jobber who orders buttons
OF the manufacturer assumes all the risk after the
buttons have been delivered. The fakir who buys
his buttons of the jobber pays on delivery and
must stand or fall by his own judgment The
manufactures who makes up a vast number OF but
tons in order to be ready to supply the market in
competition with other manufacturers at the in
slant of the rush of orders that follows the de
cisiOn Of the convention must take his chances o.
Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-27
Omaha as an Instructress

The float will represent Omaha a an instructress in cap and
learning of the Gate City of the Golden West. Among the cities to
be represented ire St Louis, 81. Joseph, st. Paul and San Francisco,
all portrayed by men in monkish garb with haos above their heads;
Milwaukee as a fat Dutchman seated on a beer key; New York as a
Knckerbocker, and Chicago in the indomitable pose of Il VIII" In
the rear will be a canopy, on the portals Of which will be pictures
of the city hall and of the court house to be. Three other floats will
follow this dedicated to the league.
After passing the reviewing stand in front of the city hall, the
parade will pass under the new welcome arch, which will blaze forth
the letters IL. of A. M."-the first letters to be placed on the new
arch which will bespeak omaha's welcome to the delegates.
Other entertainment for the delegates will include a ride in the
new McKeen motor cars over the Lane cutoff; a trip through the
plant of the American Smelling and Refining company, the Union
Pacific railway shops and the packing houses of South Omaha; a
ride on the interurban to Bellevue and Fort Crook; a ride to Fort
Omaha; and a trip to Florence, where the Minna Lusa water pump
ing station will be inspected. At Fort Crook a special review of the
United States infantry will be given for the entertainment of the
delegates, and at Fort Omaha, the headquarters of the United States
Signal corps, the wireless telegraph station and the war balloons will
be exhibited.
The convention closes Friday afternoon, but invitations are ex-
tended to all the delegates and women remaining to witness the Gin
derella ball at the Ak-Sar-Ben Den Saturday afternoon.
Badges have been procured for all the delegates and handsome
souvenirs for all the women attending. The badges are of oxdzed
silver, and consist of a bar and the seal of the city, upon which are
appropriate inscriptions. The bar and seal are attached by a ribbon
in the Ak-Sar-Ben coors. The souvenir for the women are leather
card cases.
Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-27

preference for a certain lady. And in this we
have a distinct advantage over the middle ages,
for ancient chivalry knew not the secret of max
ing a button with the lady's lovely countenance
photographed on 1t. Designers, and
in some cases very able ones, are kept busy all the
year around producing the designs. Clipping
agencies, maintained by the manufacturers. are
everlastingly searching the newspapers for
prophetic hints of places where there is likely to
be a demand for buttons.
But although the political button is only one
among many, the frequency of elections of one
kind and another, taking the country as a whole,
gives to it something the character of an endless
stream that develops once every four years into a
raging Niagara. Then the millions and millions
of potentially presidential faces come in strips
from the printing press. are cut into little round
portraits by a sort of mechanical doughnut cutter,
are whisked over a disk of metal and under an
other round sheet of transparent celluloid, fas-
tened in place with a lasp-and there you are
ready for the bosom of the potential partisan.
vote for and Prosperity" is a motto that hts
just as well around the countenance of Candidate
Taft as around that of Candidate Bryan-but II
the button man has any inclination at all It tends
at present a little toward the cheerful ohioan. for
SO far Taft enthusiasm seems to be absorbing the
larger number of buttons. AS for the socialists
confound 'em-they hardly order any buttons at
all, even when they are printed in red ink and
decorated with a flaming torch. Nor are the pro-
hibitionists as enthusiastic in this matter of but
tons as might be hoped of them.
Competition naturally brings into the field at
election time a wide variety Of buttons for each
candidate, but public taste selects from among
them with a conservatism peculiar to the season.
The political button is a button apart. a button,
apparently. TO be taken seriously. However dec
orative may be HIS designs, the manufacturer re-
ceives his largest orders for tho simple unadorned
portrait of the chosen candidate. Thousands and
thousands and thousands of button wearers go in
for decoration-preferably something with a
touch Of red. white and blue-but many more
thousands and thousands and thousands prefer the
undecorated portrait. The reason, according to
the manufacturers. is that many a man will adorn
himself with a political button who wouldn't vol
UNFAIRLY appear in any other kind Of a button
CONTINUED on Page Twol
Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-27
Commission Plan of Government

Thursday afternoon municipal government by commission will
be discussed, and the Galveston and Des Moines plans of government
viii be brought up. While he is not on the program, it is probable
that John MacVicar of Ds Moines, former mayor and at present
superintendent of the department Of streets and public improve
ments, will tell of the workings OF the Des Moines plan. Mr.. Mac
Vicar has been secretary and treasurer of the league for nine years.
n. Lafayette Savsy Of New York; C. H. Huston. superintendent OF
the department Of streets and public improvements of Cedar Rapids;
Mayor Henry NJ. Scales of Oklahoma City, and Mayor W. D, Harris
of Fort Worth are on the program to discuss this question.
1.-The Liquor Problem in the Cities" will be the last subject to
come before the attention OF the delegates at this years meeting.
it being on the program for Friday morning. Mayor ". R. Joyner
OF Atlanta viii lead in the discussion OF this topic. others on the
program being Mayor Daniel Lawler Of ST. Paul. Mayor David s.
Ross OF Milwaukee, Mayor snAs Cook Of East - Louis, Mayor H. C.
Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-27
Membership Is Large

Most of the important municipalities in this country and in
Canada have enrolled as members of the league, and its twelve years
of service has proven its worth to the municipal official. Whether he
represents a village or a metropolis, the newly elected official finds
embarrassment In the fact that on many matters of importance.
which he is called upon to determine, he is not we'll informed and
that he has no reliable data which will enlighten him. But few
cities maintain a department Of statistics, and until the forming of
the league there was no help for the beginner in municipal govern
ment. This is now overcome in a large measure. for the league sup
plies all municipalities with this important service through the
medium of its bureau Of Information.
The first convention was held at Columbus. the second at De-
troft. the third at Syracuse. the fourth at Charleston, the fifth at
jamestown. n. Y the sixth at Grand Rapids, the seventh at Bati-
more. the eighth at East st. Louis. the ninth at Toledo. the tenth at
Chicago and the eleventh at Norfolk
At all Of these conventions important subjects have been dis
cussed, and Instructive papers. prepared by men of experience, read.
Municipal government In every phase has been gone into carefully
and an attempt by means of discussion and conference has been made
to find out the best means of governing the municipalities, which
was left out when the American government was framed.
In q recent address. Governor Hughes Of New York said:
"The three essentials to successful municipal government are leader
ship, public opinion and expert service. This leadership must I'M
der&and politics-the science of governmentr-f It is to appeal to
an intelligent public opinion" The conforming to these three essen
tials and the understanding Of the science of government ire the
prime motives of the league and its membera
Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-27
Topics for the Convention

OF the topics to be discussed at this years meeting of the league,
the first one on the program is the most important and is intended
to draw out the most discussion This is that of uniform reports and
accounts, the object being to have the reports of various classes Of
cities compiled 10 as to make them susceptible of comparison. The
committee having this in charge during the year is reported as hav-
ing been especially active. The committee held a meeting last May
in Washington. and with the cooperation of L. @. Powers, chief
satsttcian of the bureau of the census, laid out a plan of action.
This plan promises tangible results and assures an exhaustive report
on the subject at the convention The committee will recommend
that the schedules of the bureau of the United States census be
adopted by the league as a common basis for municipal reporting.
This. 1t is thought. will result in the league addressing a communica-
ton to the mayors and councils of American cities. requesting that
the budgets as we'll as the reports Of the the various departments
OF cities be formulated. as far as practicable, on the lines of this
classification
Nj. Powers, the chief stadsticlan. will take a leading part In
the discussion of the subject OF uniform reports and accounts, while
the discussion will be In charge of the committees chairman, Hugo
3. Grosser of Chicago. Others who will discuss the question will be
Frederick A. Cleveland. technical director of the bureau of municipal
research OF New York; Comptroller H #. Hooper of Baltimore. and
Mayor James q. Reddick OF Norfolk.
Uniform reports and accounts will come up for discussion on
the afternoon OF wednesday. September 80.
Thursday morning the topic Of consideration will be Home
Of the various states the desirablity of larger discretionary powers
will be of especial interest to the people of Omaha at this time, on
amending the city charter of Omaha to give this city the right to
govern itself. instead OF being under the legislature.
Omaha. being the host. will have no part in this discussion or
in any discussion. The topic will be in charge of Mayor Jacob
HausslinE of Newark. N J.. and will be discussed by Mayor Robert
Lawrence of Middleton. N Y. Mayor Anthony O. Douglas of Niagara
Falls. Mayor John R CrOnin of Joliet and several other prominent
men.
Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-27

ANhhA6 hhC'S ~ NHANAN@ "A
" Omaha next week for a convention under the name of
the twelfth annual convention of the League of Ameri-
II v can Municipalities. Mayors, fire and police commits
sioners, heads of city departments, treasurers, clerks,
auditors, engineers, of what America considers the best cities on
earth" will be in attendance and the discussions will be more than
profitable to omaha-they will be the first premier Of city govern
ment in many ways.
Cities which are conducting their governments along practical
reform lines and those which propose new reforms will be placed
side by side with those which look toward theoretical forms of city
government. Mayors and mayors policies, burgomasters and their
schemes city fathers and their dreams, will be placed on the operat-
ing table and a grand clinic held for the benefit of those interested
and all others who care to see and hear the analysis of city govern
ments, which will doubtless portray the progress since the first or
ganization Of clans, tuns, villas, burgs, manors and urbs.
In 1907, when the convention was held at Norfolk, Counclmen
Zimman,B Bridges, Funkhouser and Bedford we're sent by omaha, and
by hard work, persistent advertising and boosting by Ak-Sar-Ben
and other local organizations, succeeded in getting the convention
for Omaha in 1908. The fame of Ak-Sar-Ben had much to do in
getting the convention for this city, and the delegates were told that
the king would welcome them. For this reason the dates for the
convention were set during the time of the festival, and the delegates
to the convention of the league will be honored guests of King Ak
Sar-Ben XIV and the princes of his realm.
The meeting this week will be the twelfth annual convention of
formed in 1897. The first meeting was held in Columbus, o., and
was attended by some two hundred delegates. An organization was
perfected by eecting officers and adopting a constitution, the first
section Of which sets forth in succinct language the object of the
league, as follows:
THE object of this organization shall be the general improve
ment and faciitation of every branch of municipal administration
by the following means: First, the perpetuaion of the organization
a s an agency for the cooperation of American cities in the practical
study of questions pertaining to municipal administration; second,
the holding of annual conventions for the discussion Of contem-
poraneous municipal affairs; third, the establishment and mainten-
ance of a central bureau of information for the collection and COM
plation and dissemination of statistics, reports and all kinds of in
formation relative to municipal government"
Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-27

Shaffer of Rock Island. Mayor J. H. Graham of Wichita, Mayor JOS
eph oliver of Toronto and Mayor H. A. Schunk of Dubuque.
Friday afternoon the officers for the next year will be elected
and the place for holding the 1909 convention selected.
Interpreted between the business sessions of the league, the
local entertainment committees will show the delegates a good time.
The Board of Governors of Ak-Sar-Ben have extended an invitation
to all delegates to visit the Kings Highway and to make themselves
Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-27
CONVENTION OF LEAGUE OF AMERICAN MUNICIPALITIES


ZEN who are making history in America will meet in
~ III Omaha next week for a convention under the name of
" the twelfth annual convention of the League Of Ameri-
Il v can Municipalities. Mayors, fire and police commits
Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-27
of the Most Important in the History Of the Lea

Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Washington, oregon and Nebraska, the city
of Omaha, the second section of the title float, four floats represent
ing current topics, and then the float dedicated to "our Guests, the
League of American Municipalities" This will be the seventeenth
float in the grand pageant.
Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-27

at home there, all the delegates will be given tickets to the grand
Ak-Sar-Ben ball and a special reviewing stand has been built for the
accommodation of the delegates, that they may witness the parade
and the triumphal entry of King Ak-sar-Ben XIV with his rettnue.
This parade will be interesting to the delegates, as a special float
representing the league has been prepared.
In the parade the title float will come first and following will
ba floats representing the states of Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah,
The Democrat-sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1906-1935, 1908-04-09
Obituary.

Mary Adaline Mafitt, nee Wolfe,
was born Nov. 18th. 1867, depart.
ed this life, March 2G, 1907, aged
40 years, 4 months and 10 days.
She was baptized in infancy and
confirmed at the age of 16 years,
by Rev. w. A. Weisman, in the
New Lebanon Evangelical Luthern
Church. Junction City, Ohio, and
always held steadfast to that faith
and while on her death bed, she
assured her pastor and relatives
that she was prepared and ready to
go.
Funeral Sunday March 29th, 10
Il. m. from the Lutheran Church,
Junction City, Ohio.
She was married to Silis ID.
Maflit, Oct. 10th. 1890, and to
this union was born one son. She
leaves to mourn, husband, one son,
father, mother, one brother and
five sisters and host of other
relatives and friends.
She has fought a good fight, she
finished the course, there is laid
up for her crown in Heaven.
Those who are left to mourn,
shall weep not as those who have
no hope and when our days are
numbered, may we be able to say,
we are prepared and ready to go
and meet our loved ones who
have gone before and see our
Heavenly Father face to face,
where there is no more sorrow or
weeping. May her soul rest in
peace. A FRIEND.
A GARD OF THANKS
We wish to thank our neighbors
and friends for their kindness,
during the sickness and death of
wife, daughter and sister.
SLIs d. MAFFrr,
Mr.. AND MRs. JAS X. WOLF,
AND FAMILY.