mount and who feared the consequences of free coinage of silver
voted the Republican ticket, though opposed to the attitude of that
party on expansion and also on protection. The ardent protectionist may
have given the party his support on the strength of its tariff plank
alone. He may even have been opposed to the party's position on the
silver question and on expansion. Another class who may have disapproved
of both gold monometallism and protection, but who regarded expansion as
the all-important question, supported the Republican party because of
its attitude in this matter. It is certain that some who voted the
Republican ticket did not approve its expansion policy; some did not
approve of its extreme protectionist policy; and some did not approve of
its attitude on the money question. Every man who voted the Republican
ticket is assumed to have endorsed the entire policy of the party,
though, as a matter of fact, the party may have secured his vote by
reason of its position on the one question which he deemed to be of
supreme importance. It is, to say the least, extremely probable that
every intelligent man who supported the party disapproved of its
attitude on one or more questions. Each plank in the platform was put
there for the purpose of catching votes. Some gave their vote for one
reason, some for another and some for still other reasons. And when, as
in our present day party platforms, many separate and distinct bids are
made for votes, it is not only possible but highly probable that no
single plank in that party's creed was approved by all who voted the
party ticket. If the various issues could be segregated and each voted
upon separately, it is conceivable that not one of them would command a
majority of the entire vote; and yet, by lumping them all together and
skilfully pushing to the front and emphasizing each article of its creed
before the class or in the region where it would find most support, the
party may secure a popular majority for its platform as a whole. Both
parties in their platforms of 1900 stood for the admission as states of
Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma; both declared in favor of legislation
against monopolies and trusts; both favored liberal pensions, the
construction of an Isthmian canal, irrigation of arid lands, reduction
of war taxes and protection of American workmen against cheap foreign
labor. Yet it does not by any means follow that a majority of the people
voting really en