Part 64 (1/2)
THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1896.
The presidential election in the fall of 1896 was a remarkable one. The month of September had hardly opened when there were eight presidential tickets in the field. Given in the order of their nominations they were:
Prohibition (May 27th)--Joshua Levering, of Maryland; Hale Johnson, of Illinois.
National Party, Free Silver, Woman-Suffrage offshoot of the regular Prohibition (May 28th)--Charles E. Bentley, of Nebraska; James H.
Southgate, of North Carolina.
Republican (June 18th)--William McKinley, of Ohio; Garret A. Hobart, of New Jersey.
Socialist-Labor (July 4th)--Charles H. Matchett, of New York; Matthew Maguire, of New Jersey.
Democratic (July 10th to 11th)--William Jennings Bryan, of Nebraska; Arthur Sewall, of Maine.
People's Party (July 24th to 25th)--William Jennings Bryan, of Nebraska; Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia.
National Democratic Party (September 8th)--John McAuley Palmer, of Illinois; Simon Boliver Buckner, of Kentucky.
[Ill.u.s.tration: WM. JENNINGS BRYAN. Democratic candidate for President, 1896.]
As usual, the real contest was between the Democrats and Republicans.
The platform of the former demanded the free coinage of silver, which was opposed by the Republicans, who insisted upon preserving the existing gold standard. This question caused a split in each of the leading parties. When the Republican nominating convention inserted the gold and silver plank in its platform, Senator Teller, of Colorado, led thirty-two delegates in their formal withdrawal from the convention. A large majority of those to the National Democratic Convention favored the free coinage of silver in the face of an urgent appeal against it by President Cleveland. They would accept no compromise, and, after ”jamming” through their platform and nominating Mr. Bryan, they made Arthur Sewall their candidate for Vice-President, though he was president of a national bank and a believer in the gold standard.
In consequence of this action, the Populists or People's Party refused to accept the candidature of Mr. Sewall, and put in his place the name of Thomas E. Watson, who was an uncompromising Populist.
There was also a revolt among the ”Sound Money Democrats,” as they were termed. Although they knew they had no earthly chance of winning, they were determined to place themselves on record, and, after all the other tickets were in the field, they put Palmer and Buckner in nomination. In their platform they condemned the platform adopted by the silver men and the tariff policy of the Republicans. They favored tariff for revenue only, the single gold standard, a bank currency under governmental supervision, international arbitration, and the maintenance of the independence and authority of the Supreme Court.
Mr. Bryan threw all his energies into the canva.s.s and displayed wonderful industry and vigor. He made whirlwind tours through the country, speaking several times a day and in the evening, and won many converts. Had the election taken place a few weeks earlier than the regular date, it is quite probable he would have won. Mr. McKinley made no speech-making tours, but talked many times to the crowds who called upon him at his home in Canton, Ohio. The official vote in November was as follows:
McKinley and Hobart, Republican, 7,101,401 popular votes; 271 electoral votes.
Bryan and Sewall, Democrat and Populist, 6,470,656 popular votes; 176 electoral votes.
Levering and Johnson, Prohibition, 132,007 popular votes.
Palmer and Buckner, National Democrat, 133,148 popular votes.
Matchett and Maguire, Socialist-Labor, 36,274 popular votes.
Bentley and Southgate, Free Silver Prohibition, 13,969 popular votes.
Despite the political upheavals that periodically occur throughout our country, it steadily advances in prosperity, progress and growth. Its resources were limitless, and the settlement of the vast fertile areas in the West and Northwest went on at an extraordinary rate. In no section was this so strikingly the fact as in the Northwest. So great indeed was the growth in that respect that the subject warrants the special chapter that follows.
[Ill.u.s.tration: CORNER AT TOP OF STAIRWAY NEW CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY, WAs.h.i.+NGTON, D.C.]
CHAPTER XXIII.