Campaign Trail Results: Game #567779
Play The Campaign Trail
This Game:
- Year: 1896
- Player Candidate: William Jennings Bryan
- Running Mate: Horace Boies
- Difficulty Level: Normal
- Winner Take All Mode?: Yes
- Game Played:
- hjsledz
View overall results, or a specific state:
| Candidate | Electoral Votes | Popular Votes | Pop. Vote % |
|---|---|---|---|
| ---- William McKinley | 247 | 7,034,989 | 50.51 |
| ---- William Jennings Bryan | 200 | 6,754,673 | 48.50 |
| ---- John Palmer | 0 | 137,118 | 0.98 |
Answers:
- Which of the following most closely matches your overall campaign message?We support the free coinage of silver priced at a 16-to-1 ratio against gold. The results will aid farmers and workers of all classes and contribute to an American renewal.
- What do you have to say about William McKinley's campaign, at a high level?McKinley is a fanatical defender of an obsolete monetary system. He is a front-man for big business and the New York financiers.
- Can you respond to rumors that you would seek to abolish the Supreme Court if elected, due to their recent decisions on the income tax and antitrust issues?8 years of a William Jennings Bryan presidency will leave the Court in much better shape to address our nation's problems.
- The novelty of a personal visit from the "Great Commoner" could probably swing the West Coast states in your direction. However, it will take two weeks to travel and return via train.
Will you divert your attention from the Midwest long enough to visit California, Oregon, and Washington?Let us bring our message to the citizens of the Pacific Coast. Winning these three states could swing the entire election. - You have very little chance of winning New York this fall, and nearly all of that city's newspapers are anti-Bryan. That doesn't mean you couldn't draw a frenzied crowd in New York City.
Perhaps the media attention would be beneficial in building excitement for your campaign on a national scale?I will give one big speech in New York City to open my campaign. Even if winning that state is hopeless, we need the national press. - You have alluded to the need for less prejudice between the races. Senator "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman, of South Carolina, privately seeks your clarification.
Can you reassure him that the federal government will respect the rights of the states under your Administration?We will respect the rights of the states. I call for greater understanding, but certainly not for an overthrow of the natural order. - What do you think of leaving the Midwest for a week and making a circuit of the crucial upper South states? (i.e. Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky)It's a shame that we need to even campaign in these beacons of the South. But if we have to, let us do it with effluence.
- Can you state your definitive position on the American monetary system?I support the free, unlimited coinage of silver at a fixed price ratio of 16-to-1 against gold.
- What is your definitive position on the tariff issue?Tariffs should be limited to the minimum amount necessary to raise sufficient revenue for the federal government.
- The United States is in the midst of a financial calamity, with masses of unemployed men on the streets. What will you do to revive business in this country?The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous, their prosperity will find its way up through every class which rests upon them. We need to help our farmers and our workers by allowing the coinage of silver.
- Grover Cleveland sent federal troops to Illinois to end the Pullman Strike without the request of Governor Altgeld. Was this an overreach on his part?Governor Altgeld was working to mediate the dispute between the Pullman Company and the strikers when Cleveland interfered. There should have absolutely been more time given for these sides to reach an accommodation.
- What is your opinion on measures that would aim to restrict the sale or production of alcohol?Perhaps if our goal is to prevent drinking on Sunday, or public drunkenness, I am all for those measures. But a blanket temperance law is a different story.
- Grover Cleveland led the push to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1894. What are your thoughts on his actions during that period?Anyone who knows me should know the answer to this question. I support the free coinage of silver at a price ratio of 16-to-1 versus gold.
- Do you think coinage of silver would have a positive effect on industrial workers? Or conversely, how would they benefit from the continuance of the gold standard?The free coinage of silver will lead to increased business activity, which will increase wages and reduce idleness.
- The Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act of 1894 lowered the rates on many goods, while still falling well short of Cleveland's ideal levels. What do you think about this act as a whole?I am disappointed with the half measures taken in this act. If Senators were directly elected by the people, they would be less beholden to the types of financial interests who wrote their own tariffs into this law.
- Should there be some regulation of working hours for children, particularly those under the age of 12 or 13?It agonizes me that we do not have this protection in place. Have we not seen children who are seven years old losing their hands in the cotton looms?
- Some people have suggested implementing a minimum wage, under which people may not be employed. Do you think this would help increase wages or would it simply put more men out of work?There are individuals in this country working for less than a dollar a day. Only through desperation would a man ever consent to such an arrangement.
- Would you support the abolition of tribal governments in Oklahoma, as a precondition for that territory to obtain statehood?I support the alternative solution to this issue. There should be two states in the Indian Territory -- one for the whites (Oklahoma) and one for the Indians (Sequoyah), whereby the latter one preserves Indian sovereignty.
- In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Co. the Supreme Court ruled that a 2% income tax contained in the Wilson-Gorman Tariff was unconstitutional. Would you support a Constitutional Amendment allowing the federal government to collect an income tax? I support a graduated income tax. If it takes a Constitutional Amendment or a change to the structure of the Supreme Court, then so be it.
- Do you support federal intervention in the southern sharecropping system to make it more equitable for the tenant farmer?The best federal intervention we can make is to allow the free coinage of silver at a 16-to-1 ratio versus gold. This will raise agricultural prices and lift the southern farmer out of penury.
- Would you support federal "Blue Laws" to protect the sanctity of Sunday?I don't support the mandated closing of shops on Sunday.
- Do you think that there should be federal oversight of the New York and Chicago trading markets?It was stock market and railroad company chicanery which caused the Panic of 1893. Sensible regulation of this process could have saved us all a lot of trouble.
- Do you think that the United States Navy is large enough to adequately defend American interests on a global level?The Navy is more than adequate to meet our current needs, and will remain so as long as imperialist Republicans avoid intervening in Cuba or Hawaii.
- Is it generally appropriate for federal courts to issue injunctions against striking unions?The use of injunctions is a favored court tactic for union busting and it must stop. I support the right of striking workers to picket their workplace while on strike.
- There is one week left until election day. Every state is important, but where will you give an extra push with your personal campaigning to swing the final results?Indiana has always been the critical swing state. Let's spend most of our time there while also crossing over into Illinois and Kentucky.