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Mr. McKinley immediately wired:

Canton, Ohio, November 6.

Hon. W. J. Bryan, Lincoln, Neb.: I acknowledge the receipt of your courteous message of congratulations with thanks, and beg you will receive my best wishes for your health and happiness.

William McKinley.

This exchange of messages was much commented upon at the time, though why it should be considered extraordinary I do not know. We were not fighting each other, but stood as the representatives of different political ideas, between which the people were to choose. Our contest aroused no personal feeling upon the part of either, and I have no doubt that had I been elected he would as promptly have sent his congratulations. A courteous observance of the proprieties of such an occasion tends to eliminate the individual and enables opponents to contend sharply over the matters of principle, without disturbance of social relations. I look back with much satisfaction to the fact that the four political contests through which I have passed, two successfully and two unsuccessfully, have been free from personalities.

It may be interesting to the reader to compare the election returns of 1896 with those of 1892. On another page will be found a map showing in colors the political complexion of the States in 1892, and opposite to the map a table giving both the popular and electoral vote of the States; also a map and table giving the same information in regard to 1896.

The combined Democratic and Populist vote in 1892 was 6,595,285; my vote in 1896 was 6,511,073, showing that, leaving out of calculation the natural increase of the vote, my vote only fell 84,212 short of the vote of the two parties combined.

In the following States, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming, which gave me their electoral vote, my popular vote was 2,427,172, being 829,712 more than the vote cast for Mr. Cleveland in 1892, in the States named, and 59,647 more than were cast that year for both Mr. Cleveland and Mr. Weaver.

In the following States carried by Mr. McKinley, including the States which divided their electoral vote, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New

York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, my popular vote was 4,019,294, being 56,069 in excess of the vote cast for Mr. Cleveland in 1892, and only 214,474 behind the combined vote of Mr. Cleveland and Mr. Weaver.

Only in the following States did my vote fall below Mr. Cleveland's: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin.

Of the popular vote Mr. McKinley had a plurality of 596,749, which is less than the plurality given by the three States, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts. A change of 962 votes from Mr. McKinley's column to mine in California would have given me the eight electoral votes of that State; in Oregon a change of 1,069 votes would have given me the electoral vote of that State; in Kentucky a change of 142 votes would have given me the electoral vote of that State; in Indiana a change of 9,002 would have given me the electoral vote of that State; in North Dakota a change of 2,826 votes would have given me the electoral vote of that State. Thus, a total change of 14,001 votes, distributed as suggested above in the States named, would have given me forty-nine more electoral votes, or a total of 225, a majority of 3. In those States above mentioned the total vote of 1892 was 1,278,551; in 1896 the total vote was 1,526,477, an increase of 247,926, or nearly 16 1-4 per cent., while the total increase in the nation was 1,865,198, or nearly 13 2-5 per cent.

This calculation is made to show how narrow was the defeat of bimetallism and what is possible for the future. The five States above mentioned were all considered doubtful, and in those States my vote exceeded by 66,346 the total vote cast for Mr. Cleveland and Mr. Weaver in 1892.

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130,683

47,405

Totals.........7,107,822 271 6,511,073 176 133,800

In calculating the above table the Bryan-Sewall and Bryan-Watson tickets have been combined. The total number of votes received by the Bryan and Watson ticket was 222.207. Of this number Alabama gave 24,089; California, 21,623; Colorado, 2,389; Florida, 2,053; Illinois, 1,090; Kansas, 46,194; Maine, 2,487; Massachusetts, 15,181; Mississippi, 7,517; Nevada, 575; New Hampshire, 379; Ohio, 2,615; Pennsylvania, 11,174; Tennessee, 4,525; Texas, 79,572; Vermont, 458; Wyoming, 286. Fusion electors were agreed upon by the Democratic, People's, and Silver parties in the following States: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

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CHAPTER LI.

T

REMINISCENCES.

HE reminiscences of the campaign of 1896 form such a delightful chapter in memory's book that I am constrained to paraphrase a familiar line and say that it is better to have run and lost than never to have run at all.

I shall always carry with me grateful, as well as pleasant, recollections of the newspapermen with whom I was thrown. After my nomination the first premonitory symptom of greatness about to be thrust upon me was noted at the Clifton House shortly after my convention speech. Immediately after my return from the hall, a representative of a local paper asked me if I would have any objection to his sitting in my room. I replied, "No," and then innocently inquired why he wanted to sit there. He informed me that his paper had sent him over to report anything of interest. In a few minutes another representative of the press dropped in upon the same mission, and then another until my room was full. I found that they were prepared to minutely report circumstances which to me seemed trivial. The angle of inclination was noted as I lay upon the bed. I was given credit for using a paper to protect the bedclothes from my feet; the rabbit's foot given me as I left the convention hall was reproduced in the papers; the bulletins announced that Mrs. Bryan preserved her composure during the nominating scene, and when I remarked that I was. glad she had done so, the world was at once permitted to share my joy. When, on Saturday night, we tried to steal away and have a Sunday's rest without our whereabouts being known, I found that five carriages followed ours, and the omnipresent news-gatherers interviewed us as we alighted. But they were a gentlemanly and genial crowd, and I soon learned to save myself much trouble by telling them the exact moment of rising and retiring, and in reporting in advance the things to be done and, in review, the things which had been done.

When we left Chicago on our homeward trip we found the car filled with regular and special correspondents, who seemed destined for exactly the same towns for which we were bound, and thereafter their railroad tickets were the same as ours.

Mr. Robert F. Rose, of Chicago, chief of the Associated Press

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