ADVERTISED OUTDOOR MEETINGS.
Very often a little coterie of enthusiasts will think that with the aid of a few handbills they can get a great crowd of their stupefied, over-worked and discouraged fellow beings to give up their other engagements and walk to some out-of-the-way place or corner of the town to listen to their speaker. Our friendly promoters do not know that to the eye of the multitude the bills suggest only an uninteresting harangue or the visionary proclamations of a dreamer that in no way concern them. The result is that very often instead of a thousand greeting the speaker, all eager for information and ready for a change of heart, as anticipated, there are a dozen or so already familiar with his teachings and sharing his opinion on all important subjects and half as many idle curiosity seekers without influence in the community. The speaker is discouraged and the ardent reformers are chilled to the bone and despairingly admit to each other that the citizens of their particular community are more perverse and hardened against new ideas and reforms than the residents of any other locality under the sun.
If, instead of the preparation for an out-of-the-way meeting and the laborious provision of seats for people who never came, a few circulars announcing the meeting and containing two or three gems of thought had been distributed and the speaker had mounted a wagon or box in the center of town as heretofore suggested, the meeting would probably have been a success.
Except on occasions of great excitement, when men are drawn together by some celebrated orator, or on holidays, when they expect, under any circumstances, to leave their homes and work and betake themselves with their families to the woods and fields, it is important to hold outdoor meetings where an audience can be gathered largely from passersby.
THE NEWSPAPER.
A speaker talks to one hundred, one thousand or more hearers, but by proper co-operation on the part of the press his words are often carried to tens of thousands more. Where the press is not absolutely united for the purpose of maliciously misrepresenting or suppressing the speaker's words, at least half of his work consists in the silent appeal to auditors he never sees, those who read his words as reported in the papers. A few suggestions may, in this connection, be found of value.
First, have printed, typewritten, or copied by hand, all the essential points of your speech, ready to be handed to the newspaper representative. Properly prepared manuscript, written on one side of the paper only, will often be published in full. It may be thrown into the waste basket. But any paper will publish more of a man's speech, if he has neatly prepared his manuscript beforehand than otherwise.
Next, get personally acquainted with each editor, entering into a pleasant conversation with him and trying to make him your personal friend. By this means a Volunteer can often use the press of the opposite party to propagate his views. The original purpose of a newspaper was to give news, and very often, even in these degenerate days, the instinct of a newspaper man to give news, if encouraged and stimulated a little, will become strong enough temporarily to overcome his prejudice, and possibly overcome his appreciation of the plate matter supplied by Mr. Hanna's agents free of charge. He may even give a column or a half-column, describing the meeting of the New Democracy, quoting freely the words of the speaker.
In dealing with Democratic, Populist and other friendly papers, there is a secondary opportunity for useful work. It is to show the editors how they can force the plate matter and ready-print establishments to furnish news concerning the Democratic Volunteers to all their customers, by simply demanding information on that subject. Even request the editor to write a letter, telling of the intense interest of his constituents in the Volunteers, and urging that his ready-print matter contain something weekly from the Volunteer's National office. A sufficient number of such letters cannot fail to have the desired effect. Let every Volunteer aim to secure the co-operation of a few editors, and the work is done. The ready-print establishments that remain stubborn should lose their patronage.