Campaign Trail Results: Game #749410
Play The Campaign Trail
This Game:
- Year: 1896
- Player Candidate: William McKinley
- Running Mate: Lyman Gage
- Difficulty Level: Easy
- Winner Take All Mode?: Yes
- Game Played:
- jbrown6336
View overall results, or a specific state:
| Candidate | Electoral Votes | Popular Votes | Pop. Vote % |
|---|---|---|---|
| ---- William Jennings Bryan | 229 | 7,533,248 | 54.02 |
| ---- William McKinley | 218 | 6,253,387 | 44.84 |
| ---- John Palmer | 0 | 159,488 | 1.14 |
Answers:
- Which of the following will be your primary campaign message?My campaign will reach out to workers across the American spectrum, while Bryan's policies will leave them defenseless against foreign competition and will debase their wages.
- What points do you wish to touch upon as you accept the Republican nomination? A written transcript will be transmitted to voters across the country.I appreciate the faith of the American people and consult always with the Lord before I make my decisions. I will run a moderate, sensible agenda that appeals to the broad majority.
- Bryan's nomination has electrified the western voter, and he is now planning to campaign on the rails, six days a week. Will you break precedent as well and make a speaking tour of the nation?Bryan's naked ambition knows no bounds. It is unbecoming of a candidate to make campaign appearances on his own behalf.
- You have received checks for $250,000 from J.P. Morgan and from Standard Oil, not to mention innumerable contributions from other concerned businessmen. How will you exploit this immense advantage in funding that you have?We will print and mail campaign material in massive quantities. We will hire speakers to blanket the four corners of the nation. We will print ads every day in every major paper. Bryan cannot compete with us on money.
- You have the support of the important newspapers, and they are willing to accept your guidance on the proper campaign message. What do you want them to print?The big newspapers should remind the voters that I represent a return to prosperity after the Democratic disaster of the previous four years. They should be paying as little attention to Bryan as possible.
- As a Congressman, you voted for the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1890. Can you reassure your supporters that you are now 100% in favor of the gold standard.Since 1890 the folly of a silver purchase program has become clear. Our Treasury was nearly bankrupted in 1894 and I won't allow this to happen a second time.
- The West Coast is a very competitive region. Can you make the case for Republican policies there, particularly in those places such as San Francisco which rely on foreign trade?Bryan is the type of do-gooder politician who would attempt to impose his own morality on this independent region.
- Some of the border states (Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky) are very close this year. Do you have a strategy to make these states jump to the Republican side?There is a certain element of conservatism in the southern states. I don't think that their temperament aligns with that of Bryan. I will simply repeat the message that he is a radical.
- Will you send campaigners to Nebraska, in an attempt to deliver an embarrassing defeat to Bryan, or should those resources be focused on South Dakota, Wyoming, and Iowa?That's not a good idea. Let's be realistic and devote our efforts to the states that matter.
- There is one week left until election day. Every state is important, but where will you give an extra push with what is left of your financial resources to educate the American voters?Let's take the fight to Bryan. I want us to be campaigning the hardest in Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa. Our extra cash will ensure a landslide on election night.
- Can you state your definitive position on the American monetary system?I support a strict adherence to the gold standard, which is fundamental to American prosperity.
- What is your definitive position on the tariff issue?We need high tariffs on a variety of products and commodities to stimulate American manufacturing.
- 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?I can't stress this enough. The most important thing we can do right now is increase our tariffs to protect American business.
- 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.
- 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.
- What is your interpretation of the antitrust statutes? Do large American business profit from monopolistic practices?I favor a hands-off approach to the economy. The federal government has no business stepping in and breaking a company into pieces.
- The federal deficit has recently increased after two decades of steady decline. What are your thoughts on this?Once we reinstitute our tariffs, this deficit will disappear. Best of all, the lion's share of these taxes will be paid by foreign merchants.
- Would you support a program to compensate workers who are injured on the job? Is this a proper responsibility of the federal government?We absolutely need a federal program for this purpose. The Bible says that we must love all people -- even those who have been cast aside by our Darwinian industrial machinery.
- 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?This policy is economically unviable. It is also yet another "solution" to our problems which I deem to be unconstitutional.
- 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? Good for the Supreme Court for taking a firm, principled stand on this issue. Increased tariffs will be more than sufficient to cover the funding needs of our federal government.
- Do you support federal intervention in the southern sharecropping system to make it more equitable for the tenant farmer?The South is hardly more evolved than the feudal system of ancient Europe. I will take vigorous action on behalf of the tenant farmers there, up to and including the confiscation and redistribution of their estates.
- Will you work towards international agreements to create a monetary system based on "bimetallism", i.e. a combination of gold and silver?The international system we have in place is the gold standard. Not only is this highly advisable from a business standpoint, but it is driven by the power of Great Britain. We are better off working within this system.
- Do you think that there should be federal oversight of the New York and Chicago trading markets?The New York Stock Exchange is a private company providing liquidity to other companies. The last thing our fragile economy needs is some hare-brained intervention in this process.
- Do you think that local jurisdictions should be allowed to use hanging or other forms of capital punishment for crimes?This is perfectly within the realm of acceptable punishment.