Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-10-19

the Blaine campaiSn, or tho first Nc
kinley campaign. for example. There
are NJ 'plumcd knight" marching
Clubs, nu torchliSht parades or any
| kind OF course, as the CAMPAIGN
| draws to an end there Will be IL few
enthusiastic nnd crowded rallies m the
big cities of the country; but there Is
no; likely 10 be as much show and
! noise as usual.
One reason for this lack of spectacu-
lar effects, possibly, is the lack OF
! money. Great Iara6es of uniformed
| lnarchcr*. of course. call for large ex-
pendiIures of money and the ar
| paign funds tbs year are popularity
| supposed to be about one tenth of
| shat they We're in the days uhep great
corporations, like the Standard oil. the
| Sugar trust etc. contributed cheer
fully and Imptrtially to both of the
| leading political parties in presidential
years. Neither party has money To
throw away on torchight paradcs. uni
| forms. Spectacular illuminations and
oil the circus" features of SOM. Of the
| me1norabl" campaigns of recent dec
AIDES, In fact, it is hirted that even
| the cirt ala ton of the campaign liter
allure has been cramp+d by the poverty
Of the committees. and that the spell
biGders'' are finding the money rar-
! ket tighter than they have known it
in a genera tor. Enthusiasm Of the
sort which calls for large expenditures
Of morey is notably absent, this year.
but it has never been proven that such
enthusiasm played 4 very important
part in determining the result If any
presidential election. in the past.
And that brings up the main and
most important question Of the CAM
paign. 50 far as any forecast is con-
cerned. Is the quietude of the public,
on the eve of a presidential election.
due wholly to lack oi interest in the
result or it is due rather to lack OF
interest in campaign controversies; TO
put the same question. in slightly diff
ferent form. is the public attitude one
of complete apathy as to the outcome.
or of conviction as to the candidates.
In 1896 the American voter was deeply
stirred BY the threat of Organism. and
the excitement all over the country
was intense, in the few weeks Of OGto-
Der, preceding the presidential election.
In 1900, the people knew what Mr. Bry-
an stood for: they knew what Mckinley
stood for. and they refused to grow
very excited over the campaign Yet
it surely is significant especially in
view OF the present conditions of the
campaign, that in 1900 the vote for Nc
kinley exceeded that Of 1896 by 100. 900.
While Bryan's vote fell off to an extent
of 1oo.oO0 or more. The apathy was a
little more pronounced in 1904, but
everybody understood. almost from the
outset, that Parker was defeated
The lack of red fire and brass bands.
however. does not impair the ability Of
the average American citizen to think
for himself. He knows what Bryan was
in 1896. He knows what Bryan was in
1900. And the chances are that the
average voter is not making any spe-
cal attempts to grow excited. nov.
because he sees no cause for excite
ment. The popular opinion of Brvan
was registered at the polls in two Sue
ccssive campaigns and Bryan was de-
f@ated by the largest popular majority
recorded in any presidential elepticn up
to that ti:ne. Is II not reasonable to
suppose that the "Silent vote of 1908
VIII go as it went in the two preceding
elections when Bryan was running.
and that the voters are silent merely
because they retain the quiet convic-
tionS they showed at that time" The
men who think today as they have al
ways thought naturally see no cause
Tor growing excited over that fact.