Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-10-03
bryan SCARE ON NAN[
Supposed Landslide Toward
Commoner Proves to Have
Been a Mere Myth
BECOMING TO KNOW TAFT
A. Candidate Gets in Touch With
People Comparison With Nebraska
Man 10 Decidedly in Favor Of Re.
publican Nominee-Eastern lsnor.
ance Of Conditions in the West.
BECOMING TO KNOW TAFT
Especial Correspondence.)

/ WCSL llRdS ucCtl dy AAlSeA~Ss>A -
| this campaign" said a well known
| writer who has recently travelled, on
political mission. over the middle west.
1.-THE Bryan scare came up out OF the
west, just as Bryan and Organism
came out of the west; sus popullsn
| came out of the west; as the real, en-
thusiasttc. sane progressive movement
has come out of the west; and now
the note of encouragement and reals"
surance comes likewise from that same
section
The speaker was a republican and
for many years a student OF AFFAIRS
whose writings appear in many pub
LEGATIONS, and most of whose readers
would be unable to guess whether die
Ids republican, democrat or mugwump.
He is in truth the observer and analyst
first and the partisan-ratl1er a mild
one at that-afterward. Continuing he
said:
81 have travelled with both Bryan
and Taft in the last fortnight; have
heard them talk to big crowds; l have
watched and studied the crowds, as IN
previous campaigns have watched the
people to whom other candidates have
talked. Not only that, but after trav-
cling al couple Of days with each or
them, | dropped off the train and fell
behind, to double over the road and
talk to THE people and learn ais nearly
as possible what effect each had had
on tis hearers.
"I went west with the idea that Taft
would be elected. had made up my
mind THAT nothing but a Landslide could
elect Mr.. Bryan. At no time did ind
evidence of such a stampede OF voters
from the republican to the democratic
party. There We're evidences, notably
| In some part of Indiana, of a drift OF
labor men ito Bryan. They We're men
who had voted for Mckinley, for
Roosevelt, and many of whom volun-
teered that they would have voted for
Roosevelt had he been renomdnated.
This opposition to Taft was uninteIM-
gent, was by no means that OF settled
conviction, and was mandfestly open to
argument. repeat, 1t was merely a
drift to Bryan, and that 1t never could
have been exaggerated into the proper
tions of a landslide. And this drift
was confined almost Maclly ito labor
men. There We're no >.sees OF 1T
among farmers, much les .-.spong bus
mess men or their employees. Moreover,
at this early period of my observations
lit was clear that the campaign was
not really begun. Bryan was continu-
J,n
doing FOR years; sometimes from the
ehautauqua platform, sometimes from
the political. Not only had Taft re-
Trained from taking the stump, but the
ipeople were not well acquainted with
him. They talked intimately of Bry-
| an, whom they knew, whereas they
speculated about Taft, aus they might
talk of the Dalai Lama or the Shah
OF Persia.
There is this to be said, however
as to the attitude of the people toward
Bryan. heard him in Evansville, for
example, He addressed q. large audi
ence in the market place. The crowd
was not SO large, was told, as in 1896
But it is fail. to say that those on the
| outside were not within range of his
splendid voice. These people We're in
terested and respectful. But it was not
an enthusiastic audience. The follow
| ing day there was no talk about Bry-
an in the city. dropped in at a saloon
| where the glass workers congregate
| Politics was not mentioned until in
| troduced the topic. There seemed little
interest in the campaign. Finally said
| to the bartender, I suppose you hear
politics frequently discussed
".No, don't he replied Why, Bry-
an spoke here last night and you are
| the first man to mention his name over
this bar today
1T. was 5 o'clock in the afternoon
when / received this assurance that
Brya,l's name hadn't been mentioned
! over that bar all day.
"Altho I had been told that many
republican business men We're going to
vote for Bryan in Indiana, and that
| so per cent Of the travelling men were
openly for the democratic candidate
these statements were not borne out at
all by my investigation. The clerk at
| the hotel, a Bryan democrat by the
way, told me he was in Iowa in '9G
when he thought Bryan had walk
over; that he was in Michigan in 1900
| and believed the democratic candidate
| had an excellent chance of election
| This year. he said. he hasn't ghost
| of a show
II asked him why, and he told me he
based his opinion on the sentiments
| expressed by travelling men who put
up there He then volunteered to keep
a poll during twenty-four hours, of the
commercial men registered The result
vas that just one man expressed his
attention of voting for Bryan. while al
least twenty declared for Taft. The
one man who was going to vote for
Bryan said the republicans ought to
have nominated Hughes, whom he
| would have supported.
Inquiry at second class hotel re-
! vealed a stronger sentiment for Bryan.
But the clerks lack of interest in the
political situation convinced me that
certainly not SO per cent of the COM
mercial travellers who put up there
were advocating Bryan's election.
LAS to the sentiment among bust
ness men, I relied largely on the state
ment made by one Of the officers OF
the leading organizations Of retail
tradesmen I voted for Bryan twice,
he told me, and am afraid am go
ing to vote for him again. You ask my
unbiased opinion. If the election were
held today, Bryan would have an ex-
ceIlent chance of carrying Indiana. He
u,n1Ii1 2lS0 run we'll in my Aniuinp In,