Campaign Trail Results: Game #686471
Play The Campaign Trail
This Game:
- Year: 1896
- Player Candidate: William Jennings Bryan
- Running Mate: Horace Boies
- Difficulty Level: Easy
- Winner Take All Mode?: Yes
- Game Played:
- mferbrache
View overall results, or a specific state:
| Candidate | Electoral Votes | Popular Votes | Pop. Vote % |
|---|---|---|---|
| ---- William Jennings Bryan | 240 | 7,268,268 | 51.93 |
| ---- William McKinley | 207 | 6,596,812 | 47.14 |
| ---- John Palmer | 0 | 130,458 | 0.93 |
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's support of high tariffs is a crime which strangles American commerce. Similar protectionist programs have twice been rejected by American voters in the past ten years alone.
- 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. - Horace Boies, the former Governor of Iowa, will be making a big speech tomorrow to capitalize on the crowds at the State Fair. Will you make the overnight trip to Iowa in time to deliver a concluding address to the farmers there?Absolutely. I would be honored to give this speech.
- 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)We need to keep it simple. Our primary goal in this campaign is to win the critical states of Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana.
- 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?It's not the job of government to regulate labor disputes, but the fact of the matter is that these strikers were allowing no rail traffic to pass through Chicago whatsoever. Something needed to be done.
- 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.
- What are your thoughts on the Cleveland Administration in general?It's disappointing that any man with the word Democrat by his name could govern in the way that Cleveland did. He might as well have been a Republican.
- 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.
- What is your interpretation of the antitrust statutes? Do large American business profit from monopolistic practices?When I am President, you will finally have someone who takes our antitrust legislation seriously. I will break up monopolistic banks and railroads in places where they stifle competition.
- What is your position on Rural Free Delivery of the mail, signed into law earlier this year by Grover Cleveland? Is this an acceptable strain to place on the finances of the Post Office?It's a shame that this policy wasn't implemented decades ago. For too long, rural Americans have been forced to travel up to thirty miles to retrieve the mail they are entitled to.
- Should Confederate veterans be included in the federal Civil War pension system?It's time that the two halves of our country fully reconciled. Confederate veterans should be helped as much as Union veterans.
- What is your position on the struggle for independence in Cuba?As President, I will do whatever it takes to defend the sovereignty of the Cuban people from the tyrants of Spain. America remains resolute in the principles of the Monroe Doctrine.
- The federal deficit has recently increased after two decades of steady decline. What are your thoughts on this?Overall the deficit is still low. Furthermore, if we allow the free coinage of silver the amount of our deficit will decrease commensurably as our currency inflates.
- A few western states have allowed women the right to vote. Do you take the calls for a women's suffrage Amendment seriously?We welcome the support of women and men. Where women are granted the vote, we are confident that they will support our ticket.
- Was it an appropriate intervention of the federal government to attach U.S. mail cars to Pullman trains during the strike in 1894? (Thereby making it a federal crime to interfere with the passage of these cars)A good man named Eugene Debs was thrown in prison due to the overreach of President Cleveland.
- 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.
- Are you pleased with the recent defeat in Congress of the Pacific Railroad Funding Bill, which would have provided federal support to the Southern and Central Pacific railroads.For all of their talk about small government, the Republicans are quite adept at funneling public money to the railroads. I only support that practice when there is a clear rationale, and in this case the rationale was corruption.
- 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?Let's focus on Iowa and the Dakotas. My presence can swing those states.