The Sunday Oregonian., September 27, 1908, Magazine Section, Page 3, Image 47

-BY HALLIE ERMINIE RIVES
AT HOME WITH THE TAFTS
I
A FEW days ago on a little wooded
island in Lake Brio a large
man with kindly blue eyes -and a
heavy, determined chin, threw back hia
big shoulders, reeled in hie ba fishing
l!ne and called out to the rest of the
party: "Boys, I'm going home!"
Politicians, National committee repre
sentatives. Cabinet officers and the-staff
commanders of a great National party
in the field had been coming; and going.
A group of keen-eyed men picked from
the forces of the great newspapers and
newa-rathering associations of the coun-
. in Ma trail. The
wheels of the huge Republican machine,
grinding faster and faster, had been de
manding more and more of his sorely
needed Summer rest-Urne. The cam
paign was about to open. Then William
-n- tm his flshline.
kicked over the baitbox and started
whither? To the place wnere, bu
plain American, he hoped to gain the
final Inspiration for the greatest strug
gle of a long and strenuous public career
the last battle, which Vie Republican
party confidently believes will seat him
in the White House, the President of the
United States. "Home" meant Cincin
nati. The act was both fitting and signifi
cant. In Cincinnati. 61 years ago. he
. was born. There, in the suburb of Mt
Auburn. he passed his boyhood years at
public and high school. In Cincinnati he
tvgan his life study, entered the bar and
held his first? public office of Assistant
prosecuting Attorney of the county. In
Cincinnati he first ascended the bench
and It was as a Cincinnati justice that
he rendered those far-reaching decisions
that led to his selection by President
McKinley for the Philippine Commission.
There are stronger ties even than these,
it was In Cincinnati that William How
ard Taft met, courted and married Helen
Herron. There the young couple built
the house that was to be their first home
and in which their children were born.
Since then the path has led In many
directions to the Philippine Islands, to
- Rome, to Panama, Cuba, Porto Rico and
around the world by way of Japan and
Siberia.
Public office has been no sinecure to
William Howard Taft. He has worked
hard, in all climatea and seasons, and
has had little time to call his own. Now
when he pauses for a breath on the
threshold of the greatest honor this Na
tion or any nation can offer him. he
yields to the home-pull, turns his back
on the approaching whirlwind and goes
to the old home, to Cincinnati, to see
long-familiar scenes, to have the warm
greetings of neighbors, to draw a deep
breath of inspiration of the Intimate at
mosphere before he begins the last great
battle that may make him the proud and
free head of the proudest sovereign peo
ple on the face of the earth.
Mrs. Taft the Helen Herron that was
the perfect wife, mother and hostess
that is Is with him, and there will be
for a few short weeks a touch of the old
homelike air. When the real fight opens
he will go to It with a lighter heart, for
Ths touch of kindly, open hands, the smile
on well-remembred faces and the wile
Of boyhood's recollection, youth's recall.
And the old xnera'riee unforgot 'mid alL
There have been leaders of great popu
lar movements who have been called
"Men of Destiny." In a way it is diffi
cult to take the name of William Howard
Taft from this category. Not that his
paths have been mysteriously opened for
him. But looking backward one seee how
curiously every step In his public life has
been, not in a general but a specific sense.
one of preparation. His experience on the
Ohio Bench was fitting him for the par-
An English View of King
He Has That Plainness of Mind Which Is the Best Attribute of
London Daily News.
CHARLES LAMB, referring to the
fact that he had no ear for- music,
said he had been practicing "God
Fave.the King all his life, humming it
to himself in odd corners and secret
places, and yet, according to his friends,
had still not come within several
quavers of it. Lamb did not know his
good fortune. King Edward probably
regards him as the most enviable man
in history. For His Majesty would not
be human If he did not tire of that
eternal reminder of the gilded cage in
which he Is doomed to live. Does he
go to church, then "Ood Save the King"
thunders through the aisles; does he
appear in public, then enthusiastic
bandsmen salute him at every street
corner with "God Save the King"; does
he go to a dinner, then grave citixens
leap to their feet and break into "God
Save the King." He cannot escape the
Boeotian strain. He never will escape
it. It is the penalty we Inflict on him
for being King. It is a penalty that
should touch any heart to sympathy.
If one were offered the choice, "Will
you dwell at Windsor and hear "God
Save the King morning, afternoon and
evening, at work and play, at home
and abroad, or work, a free man, in a
coal mine," can there be any doubt
what the answer would be If one were
sane?
When the Archduke John of Austria
disguised himself as a seaman and
vanished forever from the tyranny of
courts, he was regarded as a victim
of mental aberration. He was, of
course, on of the sanest men In his
tory. No man in his senses would be
a King if he could be a cobbler. For
a cobbler has two priceless privileges
of freedom and obscurity, and a King
has only a prison and publicity a
prison, none the less, because its walls
are not of stone, but of circumstance.
Ths cobbler may have friends; but
where among the crowd that makes
eternal obeisance before htm Is the man
whom the King can call friend? Walled
ofT from his kind, living in an unreal
and artificial atmosphere of ceremo
nial, pursued by the Intolerable lime
light wherever he goes) cut off from
the wholesome criticism of the world,
fawned on by flunkeys, without the
easy companionship of equals, with
out the healthful renovation of priv
acy, what is there In kingship to make
It endurable? The marvel is not that
Kings should so often fail to be Kings,
but that they should ever succeed in
being tolerable men.
Now, King Edward Is, above every
thing else, a very human man. He is
not deceived by the pomp and circum
stance in the midst of which it has
been his lot to live, tor he has no
illusions. He is eminently sane. Ha
was cast for a part in the piece of life
from his cradle, and he plays it Indus
triously and thoroughly; but he has
never lost the point of view of the
plain man. He has much more In com
mon with the President of a free state
than with the King by divine right.
He is simply the chief citizen, primus
ticular work in Manila, his study of prob
lems of the island possessions was to be
an especial qualification for a Cabinet
portfolio. Hia enormous labors as Secre
tary of War were inevitably moulding his
present candidacy. One may call it des
tiny if he will; it was certainly not ac
cident. There was never anything acci
dental about his career. He has gone
ahead for the reason a locomotive does
because It has steam up and stays on the
track. The track, for Mr. Taft, has al
ways been the-line of present duty.
All his life long he has had steam up.
Someone once called him (aa an English
statesman was once dubbedV-"a steam
engine in trousers." " His capacity for con
tinuous labor has Become a proverD in
Washington officialdom. Two meals a
day and 12 hours: work with no pause
for luncheon has become his habit. And
he has thrived on it. Each time he has
had the big, serious, laborious, hopeless
tasks to do. It was, however, the useful
thing, and it was this fact that made
the work one after his heart. or witn
hia chronic optimism he has always com
bined the passion for service. He has a
sound belief in himself not cockeureness.
but the faith that springs from honesty
of motive and the clear outlook of
inter pares, .and the fact that he Is
chief by heredity and not by election
does not qualify his view of the reali
ties of the position. Unlike his nephew,
he never associates the Almighty with
his right to rule, though he associates
him with his rule. His common sense
and his sense of humor save him from
these exalted and antiquated assump
tions. Nothing Is more characteristic
of this sensible attitude than his love
of the French people and the French
institutions. No King by "divine
right" could be on speaking terms with
a country which has swept the whole
institution of Kingship on to the dust
heap.
And his saving grace of humor enables
him to enjoy and poke fun at the folly
of the tuft-hunter and the collector of
Royal cherry stones. He laughingly in
verts the folly. "You see that chair,"
he said in tones of awe to a guest enter
ing his smoking-room at Windsor. "That
Is the chair John Burns sat in." His
Majesty has a genuine liking for "J. B.'
who, I have no doubt, delivered from that
chair a copious digest of his Raper lec
ture, coupled with illuminating statistics
on Infantile mortality, some approving
comments on the member for Battersea,
and a little wholesome advice on the du
ties of a King. This liking for Mr. Burns
is as characteristic of the King as his
liking for France. He prefers plain,
breesy. men, who admit him to the com
mon humanities, rather than those who
remind him of his splendid isolation. He
would have had no emotion of pride when
Scott, who, with all his great qualities,
was a deplorable tuft-hunter, solemnly
put the wine glass that had touched the
royal Hps, into the tall pocket of his
coat, but he would have Immensely en
Joyed the moment when he inadvertently
sat on It,
HeWould laughingly disclaim that tie
was either a seer or a saint, though in
his education every effort was employed
to make him at once an archangel and
an Admirable Crichton. There has prob
ably never been a personage in history
upon whose upbringing there was ex
pended so much thought and such variety
of influence as upon that of Albert Ed
ward; Prince of Wales. There have been
cases in which equal solicitude has been
displayed by fond parents on behalf of
their children. In the preface to Mon
taigne's Essays we are told that the great
writer's father resolved that his son
should be a perfect Latlnist, so arranfred
matters that the boy heard no language
but Latin till he was 7 or 8 years of age.
In his presence even the servants had to
speak Latin or not at all, the result being
that In Montaigne's native village there
was for long after a strong element of
pure Latin in the local French. Mon
taigne was never allowed to be awakened
suddenly, but was wooed back to con
sciousness by soft muslo played near his
chamber. And so on. But this was a
case of mere paternal affection. The
education of the Prince of Wales, on the
other hand, was a national, almost an in
ternational question. Baron Stockmar,
the Coburg adviser of the Queen's family,
wrote elaborate treatises on the subject,
bishops and peers and educationists were
consulted, rival schemes of treatment
were considered, and every precaution
was taken to make the little Prince a
prodigy of scholarship and a miracle of
virtue.
But there is no royal road either to
saintship or knowledge. The Prince was
healtny brain and he believes in the out
come. Not for nothing does he wear a
tiny American flag sewn in the crown of
his hat. In a very real sense, all he does
is done under the Stars and Stripes.
With him, as he said in a recent public
address:
"The best of all is the pure joy of serv
ice. So do things that ere worth while;
to be in the thick of it; that is to live!"
A clear note of optimism that has seldom
been sounded by a public man!
"To be in the thick of it!" that is, after
all. the very essence of - Americanism,
boiled down, strained and decanted. It
is doing what one does at all. with one's
might. He does Just that. He works
hard because he can't help it, and he
plays hard so that it will make him better
able to work. Two meals a day and 12
hours' work is. his habit. Every one
knows what grinding drudgery some of
his labor in Manila and Cuba was, but he
never complained. There was the little
silk flag sewn in the crown of his hat!
There Is something In Hie high sense of
duty to the res publica that keeps a man
democratic. Those who saw will never
forget a little Incident that occurred last
Winter during a Journey Mr. Taft made
through Russia. As he left the Kremlin
that huge fortress Palace In which the
Edward VII
a Constitutional Monarch.
endowed neither with the attributes of
intellectual passion, nor of mystical fer
vor, nor of artistic emotion, and the at
tempt to graft these upon the stem of
ordinary human Instincts, was destroyed
by the world of levity and flattery. Into
which he was plunged as a young man.
It is easy to cast stones at the King;
but It would be more rational to ask how
many of us would have come through
such a career of temptation with a better
record.
King Edward is not built in the heroic
mold. He did not "turn away his form
er self" when he came to the throne;
but he did reveal a seriousness of pur
pose and a delicate appreciation of his
office that we were not entitled to look
for from such an apprenticeship. He is.
Indeed, by far the ablest man and the
best King his stock has produced. Con
trast him with the four Georges and he
is an angel of light. Judged even by
more severe standards he emerges with
crdit For he has that plainness of
mind which Is the best attribute of a
constitutional monaroh. Genius Is the
essential of an autocrat, for exceptional
powers alone can justify and sustain ex
ceptional pretensions. But in a consti
tutional monarch the best we can ask
for Is common sense and a nice regard
for the true limits of the kingly func
tion. And King Edward Is in these re
spects an Ideal King. He realizes that
his function is not active but passive,
not positive but negative. He has leaned
to no party, cultivated no "King's men,"
aimed at no personal exaltation, uttered
no "blazing indiscretion." Few men In
his position would have done so well.
No man with strong convictions would
have done so well. We want a King
whose convictions bang about him eas
ily, "like an old lady's loose gown,"
who has many sympathies and no an
tipathies, who can be all things to all
men, who, in fact, stands for cltisen
ship which Is oommon, and not for sect
or party which is particular. We want,
that Is, a plain, prosaic, simple citizen,
and that is King Edward's character.
He Is the citizen King, and the most
popular of his line. If ever we have a
man of genius as King, we shall prob
ably end by cutting off his head.
He Is the Imperial smoother, and de
serves the Jolly title of "L'oncle de
l'Burope," which France, has conferred
on him. There Is an avuncular benevo
lence about him which Is Irresistible.
He likes to be happy himself, and he
likes to see the world happy. Does Nor
way want a King? Then he is the
man to arrange It. Does the King lack
a Queen? Who so accomplished to Oil
the role of uncle? Does the King of
Spain want, like Dame Marjory, to be
"settled In life?" Again he assumes the
familiar part. And his activity does not
end with marriage bells. He loves to
play the part of missionary of peace.
He plays it skillfully and constitution
ally, and not in any assertive or au
thoritative spirit. He is far too astute
for that, and they are his worst enemies
who encourage the fatal theory that the
King is his own Foreign Minister a
theory which would make the external
relations of a great people dependent on
the private feelings of an individual
whom it could not control and whose
mind it could not know.
- Considering the delicate path he has
had to tread In public and the fierce
light that has beat upon It, he has made
singularly few false steps. His pres-
sis iiMMsmaeinsmm n - rfi
Czars are crowned, wedded and buried
whither he had been escorted by jingling
cavalry and splendidly decorated officers,
he passed an aged white-bearded guards
man, infirm and half-blind, whose with
ered hand came up In trembling salute as
the distinguished visitor went by. Mr.
Taft paused and asked how long he had
been a guard of the Kremlin.
The old soldier saluted again. "Forty
years. Excellency," was the answer.
"Ask him," said Mr. Taft to an Inter
preter, "if he will shake hands with me."
The old man looked up in a half fright
ened way as the words were translated to
him. This was something that he had
never experienced In all his decades under
the iron militarism of Russia! Then as
the big visitor held out his hand he took
It and lifted It to his lips and a great
tear ran down his grizzled cheek as he
did so. "Tell him," said Mr. Taft, "that,
my father was once the American Min
ister to this country.'
ence at a race meeting on the day
that Tennyson was burled left an un
pleasant impression on the mind, and
the exclusion of certain members from
a garden party apparently because of a
vote given by them In the House of
Commons was a startling departure from
correctitude that by Its singularity em
phasized the general propriety of his
conduct. But these lapses apart, his
career is a model of public deportment,
and we can have no more sincere wish
than that this country will have always
upon the throne one who understands
his place In the Constitution as well and
does his task as honestly as Edward
VII.
I like to think of him as one sees him
on those sunny days at Windsor when
he holds his garden party and moves
about Industriously, smiling and gossip
ing while the band plays the intermin
able tune and ths fashionable world
crowds around him in eager anxiety for
notice. It is then that one understands
the boredom of Kingship, and the hero
ism that enables him to play his part
so cheerfully and unfailingly. Hard by
the brilliant scene you may come sud
denly upon solitude and a colony of
rooks holding high revel In the imme
morial elms." Their cry the most ironic
sound in nature seems like a scornful
comment on the momentary scene yonder
and all it signifies. I fancy that when
the shadows fall athwart the greensward
and the last guest has gone King Ed
ward strolls off with a cigar to take
counsel of these wise birds who seem
to know so well what is real and what
Is transitory, and tell it with such re
freshing candor.
Value of Men as Friends.
Octave Thanet in Harper's Bazaar.
Chivalry is an old-fashioned word, but
the thing itself, though less In evidence,
was never so much in action as in our
very own time. Men show it in their
whole attitude towards their women
friends. They handle our feelings with
their lightest touch, they walk among
our prejudices on tiptoe; they take off
their hats to our bigotry if we call It
religion; they accept our squeamishness
for refinement; and they grow gray be
fore they discover that with certain wo
men a fit of tears means' no more than
a fit of profanity from some men. They
surely are patient in their own way. But
neither can it be denied that in their
choice of friends they are sometimes stu
pid to a heartrenderlng degree. In the
main, an Anglo-Saxon man's friends are
as little of his choosing as the shape of
his nose. One can run over the list In
the dark. His family friends, his wife's
friends,- the wives of his friends. Then
come the inconsiderable residuum (in
size), the friends whom he has chosen
for himself. Here will be where the
blunders will show, but the worst are like
to be birds of passage. Perhaps he made
them during his college days when the
haze was over every pretty girl whom
he met It is too much to expect a lad
to pick the girl of really fine nature and
sweetness. Nor does he; he admires the
girl all the other fellows admire a pret
ty, flippant little creature who isn't
afraid to talk usually he is!) and can
dance like a dream. But will men con
tinue to admire Missy? I trow not.
Drawing Party Lines.
Kansas City Journal.
Tom Reed and Jerry Simpson, the noted
Pop Seventh district Congressman, were
great Xriends. Their good relationship
came after this Incident:
"Say, Jerry," said Reed one day, "why
are you a Populist?"
"For the same reason," said Simpson,
"that you are a Republican. A majority
of the people of our respective districts
are of our way of thinking."
Deeds like this spring naturally from
the nature of the man, the souls of
brotherhood to which "a man's a man for
a' that." And this is Americanism, too
of better sort the kind that hates the
pomp and sham that often masquerades
in the name of dignity, afraid lest it be
cheapened by the exercise of that homely,
kindly sentiment of equality that is as
much a bodge of the true Americanism as
wanting "to be in the thick of it."
In Cincinnati and in Washington
those who know the candidate and his
family find themselves speaking of "The
Tafts." This Is an unconscious tribute
to the solidarity of the family. "Like at
tracts like, and in qualities of mind and
heart, William Taft and Helen Herron
must have started life even. She has the
same straightforwardnesa4the same direct
honesty, the contempt of tinsel and sham
and pretense. Her worst enemy, if she
Both Candidates Defy "Hoodoo" This Year
Why Old-Line Politicians Believe Touring Candidates Will Be Unlucky In November.
BT JOHN ELFRSTH W ATKINS.
WHIRLWIND campaign is as
sured now that both Taft and
Bryan, after hesitating, have de
cided to tour and stump the doubtful
states throughout October. Their hesi
tancy was doubtless out of respect to old
line politicians, who, one and all, believe
that a hoodoo- flits in the wake of the
Presidential cairipalgn tour. Mark Hanna
believed In this hoodoo, which blighted
the hopes of Clay, Douglas, Greeley and
Blaine, who liefore Bryan's coming were
our only Presidential candidates who
went on big speeohmaking- tours. Hanna
on this account kept McKinley at home
In both campaigns, as both chairmen did
their candidates four 'years ago. This
has been the hoodoo's swath: Lincoln in
1800 did not stir out of his state and
made no campaign speech; Douglas made
66 speeches, traveled 2760 miles and was
defeated. Llnooln In 1SG4 made one cam
paign speech in New York and spoke
briefly to four visiting delegations; Mc
CleUaa made five speeches in New York
and was defeated. Grant in 3S88 made
no political speeches: Seymour made
eight speeches, traveled 1100 miles and
was defeated. Grant In 1872 made neither
campaign tour nor speeches; Greeley
made 79 formal speeches, traveled 2234
miles and lost. Cleveland in 18S4 traveled
312 miles and made three speeches, while
Blaine traveled 4760 miles, made 195
speeches and was defeated. Bryan beat
IBlaine's record on both of his former
campaigns, while McKinley stayed at
home and won. Hayes and Garfield, how
ever, both defied the hoodoo and woifcout.
Tilden made no tour and only one short
speech, but there are many who believe
that he really won. Garfield; then, is the
only notable exception. He traveled 2300
miles and made 97 speeches, while Han
cock made no tour and only two brief
speeches.
Putting on the Muzzle.
"The greatest danger of the campaign
lies In the candidate," said the late Sena
tor Barnum. Campaigning, as we know
it, was unknown until Jackson ran. There
were, no National conventions, platforms,
parades or mass meetings. Men with as
pirations for the Presidency were spoken
for by their friends in stately andtdignl
fled oratory. Jackson in 1828 started the
new order of events, and thereafter can
didates were allowed to do and say what
they pleased until 1M4, when Henry Clay
defeated himself by an unfortunate utter
ance. His election was almost conoeded
in that campaign until he made his un
fortunate allusion to the admission of
Texas as a state, which lost him New
York. After that experience shrewd
campaign managers tried to keep their
candidates in the background. Thurlow
Weed and Governor Morgan, - of New
York, Lincoln's first active campaign
managers, were in constant fear that their
candidate would say something to wreck
his fortunes, and Weed made a special
trip to Springfield 'to - get Lincoln's
promise not to talk. Since Parson Blan
chard's "Rum, Romanism and Rebellion"
speech in Blaine's presence lost New
York to the Plumed Knight, Republican
National chairmen have required that
orators speaking formally in the presence
of candidates submit copies of their
speeches in advance, and candidates also
have been required to write their formal
speeches and submit them to an advisory
committee.
Now, the National chairman is to the
candidate as the theatrical manager is to
the star actor and the editor is to the
author. Good discipline demands this
authority, and the only recent candidate
to break it was Grover Cleveland. Almost
from the first hour of his campaign of
oould have one, would call her "genuine.'
She has no affectations, no surface ve
neer, no "Isms."
She has always remained the ' sweet
heart of her husband; the playmate and
confidant of her children. In the best
sense she is a woman of the world. She
knows the big business of statecraft and
the smaller dicta of society. By reading
and studying she has kept pace with her
husband, till, possibly, there .is no woman
In American public life who is better
qualified to discuss the real questions of
the day. She speaks perfect French,
reads much and widely, understands
musio, knows every detail of the home
management and has been the constant
adviser in her husband's career. They
are the truest of companions. When he
was sent to the Philippines (not an at
tractive place for women in those days)
she went with him. He has become of
late years a famous world traveler, but
whether it has been In steamship or on
trans-Asian trains, wherever he has gone,
she has been at his side, carrying with
her the spirit of the real American home.
She walks with him In the ceaseless
tramps he takes to keep in condition, she
rides horseback with' him.
At Hot Springs, when he played golf
for his dally exercise, she followed his
progress around the links.
1S84 he quarreled with Senator Gorman,
his National chairman, who became so
angry with the candidate that a week
before election he threatened to close up
the campaign headquarters in New York,
and was only prevented by William C.
Whitney. Blaine was amenable to disci
pline and unwillingly obeyed his eam
palgn manager, B. F. Jones, the Pittsburg
Iron master, who instructed the candidate
to come East and attend the ill-advised
"Belshazzar's feast" of financiers. Quay,
Harrison's manager, had a hall hired in
Indianapolis where Harrison could ad
dress visiting delegations. Only the can
didate was allowed , upon the platform,
and he would emerge from the wings,
make a few remarks and retire so sud
denly that no amateur politician had a
chance to utter a tactless or blundering
remark. Today printed copies of each
candidate's formal speeches are sent to
the editors throughout the country in
advance and are already in type in the
newspaper composing rooms when deliv
ered from the hustings.
Both candidates are tried tourists.
Judge Taft thinks nothing of stepping
around the world and Mr. Bryan has trot
ted pretty much over our little globe. In
his first campaign Mr. Bryan covered
19,000 miles and made 699 speeches. This
record, however, was broken in 1900,
when Theodore Roosevelt, candidate for
Vice-President, traveled 21,200 miles, made
673 speeches, visited 567 towns and cities
and talked to S.OOO.OOO people. The record
audience for a single campaign speech
was made, however, by William Henry
Harrison, who. during nis campaign of
1840, addressed a crowd of 100,000 people
at Dayton, Ohio. The same year 75,000
gathered around Bunker Hill to hear Web
ster. The main effort of each National chair
man will be to awaken the voter. Sweep
ing as was Roosevelt's victory four years
ago. nearly 2,000,000 voters failed to cast
their ballots for any one- Each party
has opened dual headquarters in New
York and Chicago, the Republicans' East
ern office being 14 rooms on the 10th floor
of the tower of that monster new struc
ture, the Metropolitan Life building. A
suite in the Hoffman House is the East
ern hanging out place of the Democrats,
whose main headquarters is at the great
Auditorium Annex Hotel, on the Chicago
lake front. Here Chairman Mack has par
titioned off for his use the green room
and palm garden, besides leasing a suite
of Individual rooms on the parlor floor.
In Chicago, also, Chairman Hitchcock has
established Western headquarters in a
suite of light and airy rooms in the Har
vester building, where Secretary William
Hayward will be permanently in charge
while Mr. Hitchcock is on his roving
commission about the oountry.
The Democrats have long regarded Chi
cago as the center of hostilities and so
did Republican Chairman Hanna, but
Chairman Cortelyou regarded New York
as - the vortex four years ago and re
mained there.
Each National chairman already re
gards himself as the busiest man on
the face of the earth. Each is main
taining a close alliance with all parts
of his huge organization, even to the
thousands upon thousands of precinct
committeemen. Constant reports and
recommendations are already pouring
in at all headquarters from state,
county and preoinct chairmen, and
daily each National chairman knows
whether these subordinates are per
forming their tasks. Millions of docu
ments have to be mailed to selected
individuals, while magazines, dally
newspapers and billboards have to be
reached with advertisements. The or
ganization of voters' clubs, manufac
turers' clubs, labor clubs, college men's
It goes without saying that the deare
thing in life to her outside of her chUJ
dren Is her husband's career. None
knows so well as she what it has cost
in labor, in untiring patience and self
abnegation. There was more than once
when present duty seemed to point to
ward political eftacement; when the thing
which he did because it needed doing,
seemed to mean a futureless retirement;
and yet when she heeitated no more than
he. None has such a loyal pride in his
past achievement, his patriotism, . his
pure life, and the future that awaits himj
She dislikes publicity for herself, prefer
ring to hide behind her great, good-naJ
tured husband, who offers her in return,
a constant consideration, an undeviating
deference, that speaks volumes for their
mutual suocess as home-builders. In the
last battle that is now so soon to begin;
she will stand side by side with him. And
he will many a time turn in the fight to
"Nellie" to see the encouragement and
understanding that has always been his.
Perhaps it is this association that has
kept them both young, soft-hearted and
clear-eyed and clean-skinned. For.hef
cheeks are like a girl's, and the only
lines in his face are the relics of habitual
smiles. Life is good to them, and the
world, after all, a good place to live in,
touching elbows with their fellows.
clubs, etc., has to be pushed. The for
eign-born voters also must be organ'
lzed and reached by literature in their
own language. Four years ago as
many as 20,000 signed letters were
sent out by Chairman Cortelyou In one
week and 35,000 precinct committee
men each received separately written
and signed letters during the cam
paign. It was then Mr. Hltchock'S
duty, as secretary, to risk pen paraly
sis and v sign these communications.
Women's clubs will be organized by
both committees throughout the lnter
mountftin states where women vote.
Corps of campaign orators are being
organized by both chairmen. The pay
of these spellbinders has varied in past
campaigns from 25 to 260 per week,
with 18 per day for expenses. At
tached to each speaker's bureau will
be a man experienced in railroading,
who will look after the itineraries of
speakers. " The great orators of the
two parties, such as Governors, Sena
tors, Representatives and Cabinet offi
cers, will be given particular problems
to expound.
Taking a lesson from the Parker-Roosevelt
quarrel over Cortelyou. on the evs
of the last election, both campaign man
agers will this year be on the sharp
lookout to prevent vituperation. Few
candidates, however, nave escaped this
sort of weapon In past campaigns. George
Washington, during one of his campaigns,
was charged with being a thief and a
murderer, and a New York newspaper ac
cused him of overdrawing his Presiden
tial salary. At a dinner in Alexandria,
John Randolph, of Roanoke, proposed, the
toast: . "George Washington may he be
d dl" Jackson claimed that the slan
ders uttered against him during his first
campaign killed his sick wife, who died
just -before his inauguration. . Lincoln
was, when he ran for re-election In 1864,
represented by the opposition as a buf
foon, a libertine in speeoh, while Mc
Clellan was called a "carpet soldier," a
"coward" anu a "traitor." Grant was
branded as a nepotist and a confirmed
drunkard, who had turned the White
House into a dive, while Tliden ' was
called a "railroad wrecker" and ."black
mailer of ' canal thieves." and Hayes
was accused of buying his seat with
pledges of Immunity to the Ku-Klux-Klan.
Garfield was flayed as a crooked
lobbyist, Hancock as the ;"tool of Tam
many" and Cleveland as a hater of Irish
men and Catholics, and one who had
engaged In crooked land speculations.
Bryan, in his earlier campaigns . was
called an "anarchist" and McKinley . an
"emperor," and so it has gone from the
first.
One of the strangest campaign slan
ders of the earlier days was that circu
lated in 1828 against Jackson by Seba
Smith, a humorous writer of that time.
He accused Old Hickory of being so illit
erate that he employed "O. K." as an
abbreviation for "Oil Korrect," Jackson's
partisans not taking the trouble to deny
the charge, adopted the letters as a rally
ing cry. One of the calumnies that helped
defeat Van Buren in his campaign
against Harrison was that his Bon John,
who had been presented at the English
court, was going to marry the young
Queen Victoria They were caricatured
as dancing together, and young Van Bu
ren was contemptuously alluded to- as
prince John." which clung to him aa
long as he lived. Happily, we have be
come more polite in our politics than we
were in those "good old days," when men
actually killed each other in disputes as
to whether Andrew Jackson's martyred
wife smoked a pipe or not.
Washington, D. C, Sept. 19.
1
rBT 101.0