Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1916-11-17

alone when everybody was hard up. Mr. Bliss
raised about half a million.
Under the Bliss plan local committees were
formed in every town in the country. These
committees did the work of collecting the $40
i subscriptions. To get these committees Mr..
Bliss made up the biggest mailing list ever seen.
He correspondent with every state chairman and
through these officials got the county chairmen
to draw up lists of possible contributors. When
the lists were turned in appeals were made direct
to those on the lists. The result is that shortly
before election Mr.. Bliss getting frequently
as much as $4,000 in single days mail.
OF course under this plan contributions were
not limited to SO, nor were contributions of
smaller amount spurned. All were welcomed, but
it required $40 at least to become enrolled
sustaining member.
Whatever may have been the success achieved
by Mr.. Bliss, there we're persons around Demo
cratic headquarters in New York, just around the
corner from the Republican shop, who were will
ing to bet that Mr.. Marsh would beat Mr.. Bliss
to fragile in collecting money from the real
"peepul" Out in Iowa, Mr.. Marsh's home state,
he has record of being one of the greatest
mOney-raiserS ever seen.
The Marsh plan. soon in full swing, was moth
ing more than the good old "every-member-can
vass' scheme which the churches out in Iowa re-
sort to when they falling behind in current
expenses or want to make a bonfire of the mort
gage. Marsh and his young men, some Of them
church workers. believed that if it could be
worked successfully for a church it could be
worked in the country as whole for the Demo-
cratic party.
. An essential feature of the every-member-can-
vass plan is team work. Anyone who has ever
been waited upon with request to subscribe to
a church fund to burn the mortgage knows that
not one person but two do the visiting. Confront
ed thus by superior numbers the prospect gener-
ally capitulates. To organize such teams in every
town and hamlet Of the United States the
task (which Marsh and his Iowa husters set
themselves 70 do. This is the way they did It:
was first secured. Then a communication was sent
to him asking him to forward at once to head
quarters the names Of six or eight men in the
town who would feel it an honor to be named as
an auxiliary finance committee of the Democratic
national committee designating one mani on the
list to be appointed chairman
By return mail each so named got his
credential a little card bearing the pictures of
Wilson and Marshall, and announcing that the
Democratic national committee had been pleased
TO appoint him member of it's finance commit
tee With this card went personal letter from
Treasurer Marsh calculated TO make the new
member of the Democratic finance committee get
busy Here for example, is paragraph from
Mr. Marsh'S letter, which whole sounds ike
the follow-up campaign of a man selling patent
clothespins:
ST wish I might visit with you face to face and
impress you with the tremendous Importance of
this work. To my mind it is far reaching. We
are absolutely dependent upon it for the money
to carry on the campaign; moreover, it is i'm