The Daily Alaska empire., 1932-06-02
By ALEXANDER R. GEORGE


 WASHINGTON, June 2.-Whlle thsre will be speeches and yet more speeches during the coming cam- paign 1t is doubtful if the candi- dates will ever come close to equalling the remarkable record of Theodore Roosevelt in 1900.
 @ Roosevelt, candidate for Vice President as William Mckinley was seeking his second Presiien- tlal tsrm, made 673 speeches. trav- cling 31 ,209 miles in 24 states and visited 567 towns and cities. Bryan bad hung up the high mark of 559 speeches in his 1896 campaign.
 President Mckinley, like Calvin Coolidge, grew politically stronger in the sunshine of a rising tide of prosperity. Sagacious Mark Hanna, then generalissimo of the Republican political forces, saw in prosperity the most potent cam paign weapon of the G. o. P.
 To offset the plutocra3y charg- es of Bryan, the full dinner par slogan of 1900 was pounded into the ears of the vo5ers.
 Bryan Makes Strong Race Despite prosperity, Bryan made a remarkably strong race. Some political observers were Of the opin- ion that Bryan might have won the Presidency if Theodore Roose- velt had not been McKinley's run ming mate and campaigner ex- traCrdinary.
 Roosevelt, rough-riding exponent of rugged individualism" and of sound nationalism," breezed d through the country, winning fa- vor particularly in the west and offsetting the strength of Bryan among the plain people.
 Mckinley was placid in triumph and .'the cowboy resting at Oys- ter Bay dreamed of greater glory glory that came most unexpect- edly.
 Hoover Then in China
 Along about this time there was a mining engineer in China who was uninterested in politics. His name was Herbert c. Hoover. Coming up in the New York Democracy was Alfred E. Smith, clerk of the Commissioner of Jur- ies.
 In vogue were electric belts, fleece lined women's underwear, taffy- -puffs, hypnotists and enam- eled beds. Cakewalks, coon songs, and rag-time syncopation were ''all the rage" Conny "Slats' Mack was the aggressive catcher manager of the Milwaukee baseball team.
 In 1901 an assassin's bullet kill ed President Mckinley. Vice President Roosevelt, fifth cousin of the then young Franklin D. Roose- welt, present New York Governor, stepped up to McKinley's chair at the age of 43.
 Teddy" a Colorful President The bronzed and bully" Roose- veit, the gracious wife and lively children moved into the White House to spend seven of the most colorful years that historic man. sion has ever known The great est snowman" of the Presidents was aStride the G. O. P. elephant and he rode him as vigorously as ,-,I
 By his espousal of the peoples cause in the big coal strike and by other progressive actions, Roose- velt stole much of Bryans thun- der. He came to be regarded as a radical and so the Democrats turned to the conservative wing, gave Bryan his first defeat de- spite his dramatic appeal for a progressive platform.
 With the great commoner" out of the race, Alton B. Parker, con- servative New York judge, defeat- ed William Randolph Hearst, then a 41-year-old Congressman, for the Democratic nomination. But the 1904 campaign was tame. Roose- velt won by the unprecedented plu- rality of 2,544, 900 votes.
 Eastern Democratic papers de- scribed Bryan as broken, pathet- ic figure but four years later he again was a Presidential nominee and for almost 20 years was a powerful personality in the Dem ocracy.