"
to hear his simple, spontaneous words of welcome. But for all the remote
aspect of the place, it was only five minutes' drive and ten minutes'
walk from a station through which four big railroads passed. One of the
out-buildings was changed into a telegraph office from which accounts of
the enthusiasm of the delegations and of his speeches could be sent to
the whole country. On his desk in his little study stood a private-wire
telephone that, without danger of leakage, would put him in direct
communication either with my study at Fredonia or with Doc Woodruff's
privatest private room in the party national headquarters at Chicago.
Thus, our statesman, though he seemed to be aloof, was in the very thick
of the fray; and the tens of thousands of his fellow citizens, though
they seemed to come almost on their own invitation inspired by
uncontrollable enthusiasm for the great statesman, were in fact free
excursionists--and a very troublesome, critical, expensive lot they
were. But--the public was impressed. It sits in its seat in the theater
of action and believes that the play is real, and ignores and forgets
the fact that there is a behind-the-scenes.

The party distributed from various centers tons of "literature." And in
addition to meetings arranged by state and local committees, a series
of huge demonstrations was held in the cities of every doubtful state.
Besides the party's regular speakers, we hired as many "independent"
orators as we could. But all these other branches of the public side of
the campaign were subsidiary to the work at the "retreat." It might be
called the headquarters of the rank and file of the party--those
millions of "principle" voters and workers who were for Burbank because
he was the standard-bearer of their party. No money, no bribes of
patronage have to be given to them; but it costs several millions to
raise that mass to the pitch of hot enthusiasm which will make each
individual in it certain to go to the polls on election day and take his
neighbors, instead of staying at home and hoping the party won't lose.

Burbank's work was, therefore, highly important. But the seat of the
real campaign was Woodruff's privatest private room in the Chicago
headquarters. For, there were laid and were put in the way of execution
the plans for acquiring those elements that, in the doubtful states,
have the balance of power between the two opposing and about evenly
matched masses of "principle" voters.