The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-09-18


ed from the heads Of local crs.s !.
nations. !
During the campaign - -. 2
however. Chairman johnson IN
Democratics executive Conn.,.
revived the idea OF having : 1iss.s e
representative In every elsr4sss
precinct throughout the .IIssi !
States. Abram s. Hewitt crlst.s
ed it. He did it in the camosise 4
1876 when managing the cass.s
Of Samuel J. Tilden for preaidsss
Mr.. Hewitt had two sets Of hlssss
prepared for every election -
cinct. One was prelimiuSrv ~
other . final canvass Of voteA ~
experiment, however, was not
tirely successful. For tho -
was found to be too voluminous -
the national committee to ma.
take, hence the latter body conts i
ued to depend upon the state =.
ganization for news as to the ~
uation. Chairman Harrity ala q
to q great extent in the .csmpais,
Of 1892. That year the informatiss
received by him was accursss
enough to enable a calculatios
coming within two of the electnrsi
votes that Grover Cleveland -
ceiysd,
Three Kinds Of States.
For campaign purposes the stata
are divided into two classes. n
first are those that are doubtful
with chances favoring the tick1
Much attention is concentrated a
this class. There is usually ona
and sometimes even more than a.
member of the campaign commit.
tee doing nothing but attending b
the campaign in each such stAaa
In the days prior to election n.
| ports several times . day are n
ceiyed. The second class Il q
those that are doubtful, thovsA
more apt to be carried by the on.
position.
The press bureau is usually com.
posed Of two sets Of men. Nryt
those. who do nothing but read the
newspapers and magazines IN
i search of campaign material. This
work is both important and labee-
ious. The second class is Of The
men who write the articles seat
out for publication by the bureau.
During the campaign Of 1900 the
Republican headquarters in Chi
cago had seven men in its press
bureau. Five were readers. while
two got up the articles. The coun-
try weeklies get this matter in the
shape of patent insidess the coun-
try dailies as stereOtyped stun.
while proof sheets are mailed to
this more important papers and are
apt to undergo extensive revision
lprior to publication. During the
1900 campaign list Of country pa
pers with a circulation Of 165.000
received from one side three and .
half columns Of matter every week;
another with a circulation Of .
million received plate matter.
Statements were also supplied to
three special classes Of country
daily and weekly papers, their
combined circulation being in the
neighborhood of three million. The
most difficult papers to get matter
into are those independent in poll
tics. They are particularly desir.
able as mediums and special mat
ter Of a higher class is usually
prepared for them. During one o.
the Bryan campaigns, the late M
lrat Halstead, Republican. and VII.
=: liam ]. Abbott, Democrat, engaged
i in q debate in the columns Of Tie
Kansas City Star, paper hostile
to the Nebraskan.
! The Party Bibles.
! Most Of the literature is writer
around the campaign text bool
which both sides usually get ou
after the letter OF acceptance u
made public. The text book Is no
intended for general circulation
It is more Of q guide for the var
fous committees and spell-binderi
The book, however. may be puf
chased by anyone. During the cam
paign OF 1896 Mark Hanna sent gu
campaign literature prior to 70
publication of the text book. On
that was because he was fearfui o
the influence Of "Coin's Financia
School, ON the voter in the wes'
That year two hundred miilo
documents were distributed BY "
. Republican campaign commitiel
They were printed in English
French, German. Spanish. ltsiisl
| Swedish, Norwegian. Finnish. DUO
and Hebrew. Over two milllo
. copies Of the letter Of acceptano
, of President Mckinley were OH
: tributed. q.
, The poster has come to be ol
factor in every campaign. the ~
? publicans circulated five nunale
, in the campaign Of 1896. sever
, /: cartoons by Homer Davenport an ',
, Thomas Mast have been wloel
: used by campaign committees. :.
, All Of these methods may be q
i pected to crop up in the presen
campaign.