The Washington times., 1912-05-26
DEMOCRATS PLAN
CAMPAIGN TO KEEP
CONTROL OF HOUSE
Chairman Lloyd, of Con-
gressional Committee, and
Aides Get Busy.
BY JOHN SNURE.

Chairman Lloyd and the members OF
the Democratic Congressional commit
Tee have been getting busy in the last
Iew days with the problem of how to
carry the, next House for the Demo-
Gratis They held an important confer
ence here the other night, following a
dinner at the Raleigh, in which the
p'ens for the campaign were gone
over and the outlook was thoroughly
discussed.
The Democratic committee as a whole
Is imbued with the notion that the
Democrats are going to continue to
mold the House, and the committee Is
going to make its campaign the more
systematic and vigorous in proportion
as Its hopes and prospects are hatter-
ing. a,..-.
In the Democratic campaigns for the
control of the House for a number of
Years in the past 1t has been impossi-
Bile to do. a great deal of systematic
and effective work, for the reason that
many members of the party were dis
Ecouraged. and hopeless, and. thought
the Republicans could not be dslodged
The victory Of 1910 was brought about
Tar less by good campaign management
on the part of the Democratic Con-
gressional committee than by a popular
uprising of protest against the Re-
ipdphCdnS.
Must Work Now.
The Democratic leaders, most of them
at least. understand this and appre-
ciate that work must be done II the
House is to be prevented from sliding
back into the hands of the Repub-
liicans.
At the recent meeting of the COM
m1ttee three committees were named,
nm rnn NJ
these committees will at once busy
themselves with the work of the cam
Ipaign. The purpose Is to waste no ef-
fort. It Is appreciated that the ques-
tion OF controlling the next House rests
with comparatively small part of the
Congressional districts; that Is, with the
districts which are reasonably close. 1t
is on these districts the Democrats will
center their fire.
The extremely close districts will be
given especial attention. Democrats
are now In Congress In a number of
instances from, districts normally Re-
won in these districts two years ago
unexpectedly, by reason Of Republican
factionalism and dissatisfaction. Some
Of these districts the Democrats know
try to hold. The districts which the
Democrats think they have a show of
retaining or gaining, Will be carefully
classified and campaigns made in each
situations seem to warrant.
To Tell of Record.
The piece de resistance of the political
menu which the Democratic committee
will spread Before the voters OF. the
land will be the House record. The
plan will be to show the voters that
the Democratic performances in the
House have tailed with the promises
of the Democratic platform. 1t is
thought this will be convincing to the
wielders of the ballot.
Chicago will be the headquarters OF
the committee for the campaign. Head
quarters will also be maintained ir
Washington. The Washington head
quarters will be chiefly for the distribu
,tlon of literature. Chicago will be the
real base of operations as soon as the
lighting becomes general.
The literary problem of the campaign
10 a big one. The plan of the commit
tee is to send out great quantities Of
literature. The subcommittee In charge
made this session of Congress carefully
and Gull out those that seem valuable
from the standpoint of enforcing thu
Democratic. gospel on the mind of the
voter. One field of operations for th'
literary subcommittee will be th'
speeches of Roosevelt and Taft.
Democratic leaders think they cal
find a good deal in these speeches tina
viii be to the Democratic advantage.
The preparation Of the campaign text
book will be another important piece o
work. The literary subcommittee ha
thi sin charge.