andoned their customary practice of trickery and
deceit. Compelled to choose between the support of the commercial
centers and that of the mining camps, the Republican convention came
out squarely for the gold standard and nominated William McKinley for
President. Thirty-four members of the convention, including four United
States Senators and two Representatives, bolted. It was a year of bolts,
the only party convention that escaped being that of the Socialist Labor
party, which ignored the monetary issue save for a vague declaration
that "the United States have the exclusive right to issue money." The
silver men swept the Democratic convention, which then nominated William
Jennings Bryan for President. Later on, the Gold Democrats held a
convention and nominated John M. Palmer of Illinois. The Populists and
the National Silver party also nominated Bryan for President, but
each made its own separate nomination for Vice-President. Even the
Prohibitionists split on the issue, and a seceding faction organized the
National party and inserted a free silver plank in their platform.

In the canvass which followed, calumny and misrepresentation were for
once discarded in favor of genuine discussion. This new attitude was
largely due to organizations for spreading information quite apart from
regular party management. In this way, many able pamphlets were issued
and widely circulated. The Republicans had ample campaign funds; but
though the Democrats were poorly supplied, this deficiency did not
abate the energy of Bryan's campaign. He traveled over eighteen thousand
miles, speaking at nearly every stopping place to great assemblages.
McKinley, on the contrary, stayed at home, although he delivered an
effective series of speeches to visiting delegations. The outcome seemed
doubtful, but the intense anxiety which was prevalent was promptly
dispelled when the election returns began to arrive. By going over to
free silver, the Democrats wrested from the Republicans all the mining
States, except California, together with Kansas and Nebraska, but the
electoral votes which they thus secured were a poor compensation for
losses elsewhere. Such old Democratic strongholds as Delaware, Maryland,
and West Virginia gave McKinley substantial majorities, and Kentucky
gave him twelve of her thirteen electoral votes. McKinley's popular
plurality was over six hundred thousand, and he had a majority of
ninety-five in the electoral college.

The