 William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal was hostile to McKinley throughout the campaign; prior to the Republican convention, Alfred Henry Lewis accused Hanna of acting on behalf of a syndicate, controlling McKinley. During the general election campaign, the Democratic newspapers, especially the papers owned by Hearst, attacked Hanna for his supposed role as McKinley's political master. These articles and cartoons have contributed to a lasting popular belief that McKinley was not his own man, but that he was effectively owned by the corporations, through Hanna. Homer Davenport's cartoons for the Hearst papers were especially effective in molding public opinion about Hanna, who was often depicted as "Dollar Mark", in a suit decorated with dollar signs (a term for which "dollar mark" was a common alternative). McKinley's 1893 personal financial crisis allowed him to be convincingly depicted as a child, helpless in the hands of businessmen and their mere tool in the 1896 campaign. Hearst and the Journal gave $ 41,000 to Bryan's campaign, one of the largest the Democrats received, but that amount was dwarfed by the sums raised by Hanna.
