* Bryan and Watson's vote is included in the vote for W. J. Bryan.

than any previous table.

They are made up upon the principle of giving the highest vote for any name on the electoral

ticket, and not for the first name on the ticket. The vote for Bryan is the combined vote for Bryan and Sewall, and for Bryan and Watson. The Bryan and Watson vote is given separately, but is to be disregarded in making up the total vote.

According to the figures here presented the plurality for Mr. McKinley was 602,555, and his majority over all the candidates combined was 286,257.

The electoral vote, which is given in a separate table, reflects the closeness of the vote in California and Kentucky, in each of which States one elector voted for Bryan and Sewall.

The electoral count took place on the 10th of February, 1897. It was conducted in accordance with the law, and was strictly without incident. The inauguration of Mr. McKinley on the 4th of March was made the occasion of a great popular demonstration by the Republicans, who flocked to Washington in large numbers to witness the ceremony.

The immediate subsidence of excitement after the result of the election was ascertained, and the good-humored acceptance of that result by all save a few grievously disappointed leaders of the defeated party, is not a new experience in American political life. We have seen it after other historic struggles. The Federalists thought that all was lost when Jefferson was elected. Jackson's triumph seemed to his opponents a victory of evil over good. The Democrats lost faith in popular government when Harrison was chosen. To the supporters of Mr. Tilden the declaration that Mr. Hayes was elected was nothing short of a great political crime. Yet after a momentary loss of temper all these good people recovered themselves and devoted their energies to the public service with zeal and with undiminished hope and confidence. So it was in 1896. In some respects the result was the greatest trial of the temper of the defeated party the country has ever known. The aims of the Democratic party were, not to use the phrase offensively, in a certain sense revolutionary. They were intended to array the weak, the poor, the debtors, the employed, against the men who were designated as plutocrats. The failure of such an attack is sometimes almost as dangerous to society as its success. The fact that, when the American people had spoken at the polls upon questions that involved the highest interests of society, the decision was quietly accepted as conclusive until a new occasion should arise for passing upon them in the orderly American way, is most creditable to them, and a happy augury for the future.

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