Meyers, F W

English

The Palimpsest

Campaigning with Jackson

Iowa Research Online

Masthead Logo The Palimpsest
Volume 9 | Number 10 Article 4
10-1-1928
Campaigning with Jackson
F W. Meyers
Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.uiowa.edu/palimpsest
Part of the United States History Commons
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the State Historical Society of Iowa at Iowa Research Online. It has been accepted for
inclusion in The Palimpsest by an authorized administrator of Iowa Research Online. For more information, please contact lib-ir@uiowa.edu.
Recommended Citation
Meyers, F W. "Campaigning with Jackson." The Palimpsest 9 (1928), 371-382.
Available at: https://ir.uiowa.edu/palimpsest/vol9/iss10/4
C am paigning with Jackson
Horace Boies had twice been elected Governor of 
Iowa. His reputation both as a party leader and as 
an effective speaker had spread far beyond the limits 
of the State. In 1892 he had been almost the only 
Democrat who actively disputed the presidential 
candidacy with Grover Cleveland. Further than 
this, Mr. Boies had received the unanimous and en­
thusiastic endorsement of his party, and had been 
tendered the exceptional honor of a third nomination 
for the Governorship in 1893, despite his formal 
declination. To wage the campaign for the office of 
Governor against such a formidable candidate, the 
^Republicans of Iowa selected Frank D. Jackson, of 
Butler County. From the moment he accepted the 
nomination the eyes of both friends and foes were 
anxiously turned upon him to see whether or not the 
popular young contestant would prove worthy of the 
Governor’s steel.
Mr. Jackson opened his campaign at Sigourney 
with a carefully prepared speech in which he gave 
the general outlines of his canvass. The success of 
this meeting greatly encouraged his friends and put 
him in good heart. The next meeting was held at
[This contemporary description of the campaign of Frank D. 
Jackson for the office of Governor of Iowa in 1893 is adapted for 
T h e  P a l im p s e s t  from The Midland Monthly, Vol. I, pp. 169-176. 
—  T h e  E d ito r ]
371
372 THE PALIMPSEST
Columbus Junction, two days later. The'accounts 
of this speech were sent to the daily papers by their 
local correspondents, who reported it merely as a 
news item, without regard to political effect. At 
once the party managers perceived that unless Mr. 
Jackson’s meetings were systematically reported he 
would soon become isolated from the general move­
ment of the campaign. In short, they decided that, 
by the aid of the x r^ess, Mr. Jackson should speak 
every day, not merely to those who might gather to 
hear him, but to the whole people of Iowa. It was 
to do this work of reporting that I accompanied the 
candidate throughout his canvass.
Every one in Iowa, from the small boy up to the 
most wily politician, is fully acquainted with the 
splendor and magnificence of the political rally — 
from the time when the speaker, with inspiring yet 
genial glance, descends from the train and delivers 
himself into the hands of the anxious committeeman 
and a coterie of his distinguished fellow-citizens, to 
the time when the last Roman candle is fired and the 
last of the out-of-town delegations stick their heads 
out of the car windows for a final triumphant shout. 
Still, in many respects the rally is theatrical, and, 
like the theater, has its “ green room” and its “ stage 
secrets” .
Mr. Jackson thoroughly believed in the x^rinciples 
he advocated, and his genial disposition made the 
constant strain upon his good nature and cordiality 
as light as possible. Nevertheless, it can easily be
CAMPAIGNING WITH JACKSON 373
imagined that it was with a shrug of the shoulders 
that he pulled himself together at the call of a station 
and prepared to go through another “ grand rally” . 
To him it meant another thousand or more people to 
shake his weary hand, on the knuckles of which hard 
callouses had formed. It meant an interchange of 
civilities with half a hundred local leaders, each one 
apt to be jealous of a sign of preference shown an­
other. It meant listening to the same tunes with 
variations according to the interpretation of each 
individual brass band. It meant a hundred smiling 
responses to the oft-repeated facetious compliment 
concerning ‘ ‘ our next Governor ’ \  It meant another 
glee-club struggle with another original campaign 
song, in a vain attempt to make it keep step with 
“ Marching through Georgia” . It meant an hour 
and a half of impassioned oratory, involving an im­
mense expenditure of vitality and nervous force. It 
meant another half hour of enthusiastic hand-shak­
ing, with the perspiration oozing from every pore; 
and, finally, it meant several hours of conversation 
with local politicians who were loath to leave their 
guest.
Sometimes there were other features. A grand 
torchlight procession would be a part of the pro­
gram, with brass bands, Roman candles, and trans­
parencies as adjuncts. In this Mr. Jackson would be 
asked to participate by taking a seat in a carriage 
behind two fractious, plunging horses; while he, as 
the distinguished guest, was obliged to look calmly
374 THE PALIMPSEST
pleased and dignified, although in mortal fear of life 
and limb. Still, all of this was not without a pleasur­
able effect upon the chief participant, as the kind 
assurances of cordial support, the good tidings of 
expected gains, and the many honors shown him 
could not fail to arouse his appreciation and grati­
tude.
The railroad journeys were, perhaps, the most 
quiet and restful parts of the trip. Even here, how­
ever, Fame pursued and claimed her victim! No 
sooner had Mr. Jackson settled down in the car seat 
for a short nap, than he was aroused by the conduc­
tor who was the advance guard of a number who had 
heard that Jackson was on the train and who wished 
to meet him. Perhaps just as he had finished with 
these visitors a station would be reached where an 
enthusiastic delegation, headed by the omnipresent 
brass band, would board the train en route to the 
place of his next meeting. It would not take them 
many minutes to ascertain that their favorite candi­
date was on board, and a general rush for him would 
take place. After fifteen minutes of handshaking, 
the band would take up its position as near the can­
didate as possible, “ lift up its voice” , and — play.
On other occasions, Mr. Jackson was fortunate in 
not having his identity become known. He was then 
subjected to another kind of experience. As the 
campaign excited great interest, it was apt to be the 
chief topic of conversation among travellers, and he 
heard himself discussed with every shade of criti­
CAMPAIGNING WITH JACKSON 375
cism, from warmest support to bitter denunciation.
On one occasion a travelling man seated opposite, 
said to his neighbor, “ I heard Jackson last night.” 
‘ ‘ That so ? Is he a good speaker ? ’ ’
‘‘First class, splendid.”
“ What kind of a looking man is he?”
“ He’s a tine appearing young man.” Then, in a 
whisper which was, however, plainly audible, he 
added, pointing to Mr. Jackson, “ He looks some­
thing like that fellow over there, but lie’s a good 
deal better looking man ! ’ ’
Whereupon the candidate for Governor drew him­
self into his coat collar and begged us not to call him 
by name.
At another time we were seated at breakfast in 
Missouri Valley, having made an early morning run 
from Sioux City. Two gentlemen were talking 
across the table, one of them relating, with great 
gusto, that the engineer had just told him he had 
received orders that morning from the superinten­
dent to hold the train for a few moments at every 
station, in order to let Mr. Jackson shake hands with 
the crowds. “ But,” the engineer added, “ I didn’t 
see anything alive but one old cow all the way down 
from Sioux City.” In justice to Mr. Jackson, how­
ever, it must be stated that this was not his expected 
route, and no one in the various towns knew he was 
to pass through.
There were other incidents of travel, such as a 
locomotive ride from Keosauqua to Mt. Zion, where
376 THE PALIMPSEST
we raced with an excited horse which ran along the 
track for about a mile, while Mr. Jackson and I held 
on to the swaying engine for dear life, not knowing 
how disastrous the outcome of the race might prove 
to be. There were also several cross-country rides, 
on one of which the driver, whether because he was 
over-fond of Mr. Jackson’s company, or because the 
presence of a real live candidate for Governor had 
turned his head, drove two tired men six miles out 
of the way, making our trip about twenty-four miles, 
the greater part of which was traversed in darkness..
Toward the end of the campaign the work became 
very fatiguing, and, to give some idea of the amount 
of labor involved, let the reader accompany us for a 
few of those last days. Leaving Sioux City between 
four and five o’clock in the morning, we went to 
Council Bluffs. After a stop of two or three hours 
we proceeded to Avoca, where a rousing meeting 
was held. Returning to Council Bluffs for supper, 
Mr. Jackson addressed a large audience in the 
evening. The next day we reached Glenwood at 
about one p. m., and there he spoke at a two-o’clock 
meeting. After concluding this speech he rested for 
a short time and was then whisked away for a ten- 
mile drive to Malvern. Wrapt in deep thought and 
three overcoats, with my soft hat drawn over his 
eyes, with all the blankets around him, and only the 
tip of his nose and the end of his cigar visible, our 
candidate made the trip in safety and almost with 
comfort.
CAMPAIGNING WITH JACKSON 377
We reached Malvern at five o’clock, where an 
audience of several hundred was patiently waiting. 
The candidate spoke for about half an hour and then 
took the train for Red Oak. Here there was an im­
mense “ rally” . Colonel Joseph H. Sweney ad­
dressed a large overflow meeting while Mr. Jackson 
spoke at the opera house. They afterward ex­
changed places, and Mr. Jackson made his fourth 
speech that day!
Some days of this campaign fairly equaled the 
famous trips made by Governor William McKinley 
in Ohio. Indeed, they were much more fatiguing, 
for while the Ohio man rode at ease in a special 
train, the Iowan was subjected to all the inconveni­
ences of travel in crowded day coaches. In all, Mr. 
Jackson made sixty-four speeches in fifty-seven dif­
ferent counties. He spoke in every county in the 
first and second districts, while along the main rail­
road lines, hardly a county seat was missed.
Perhaps the largest meeting of the campaign was 
held at Bedford in Taylor County. We reached that 
place about eight o’clock in the evening, having 
driven nine miles across country. As we approached 
the town, from a distance, the sky looked as though 
an immense conflagration was taking place. An ex­
tensive torchlight procession met the nominee at the 
outskirts of the city. When we reached the main 
streets we found them alive with people. The meet­
ing was to have been held in the opera house, but as 
this was filled without making an appreciable differ­
378 THE PALIMPSEST
ence in the size of the crowd in the streets', the com­
mitteemen urged Mr. Jackson to speak out of doors. 
He consented and the meeting was held in the court­
house square. From the steps of the court house, 
where the speaker stood, the spectacle seemed almost 
weird, as one looked out over the vast crowd, lighted 
up here and there by the glare of a torch until the 
dusky forms grew indistinct in the shadows of the 
trees.
An occurrence at Iowa City had its amusing side. 
The committee had been misinformed as to the hour 
of the candidate’s arrival, and when the midnight 
train rolled in, a sub-committee with a fine turnout 
was in line awaiting the guest. An elderly and digni­
fied gentleman alighted from the train, and was ap­
proached with the question: “ Is this Mr. Jackson?” 
The query was as courteously answered in the af­
firmative. The gentleman addressed was handed 
into the carriage and without further ado driven to 
the St. James Hotel, where he registered and was 
shown to the room that had been assigned to his 
namesake.
The evening before, a committee of young ladies 
had gone to the room assigned to Mr. Jackson and 
elaborately decorated it with flowers, and upon the 
pillow had placed a horseshoe of roses. When shown 
to the room, thus decorated, the stranger remarked 
to the bell-boy that he wished to see the clerk, as 
there must be some mistake. The clerk asked if his 
name was Jackson. He said it was.
CAMPAIGNING WITH JACKSON 379
“ Well,” said the clerk, “ this room has been en­
gaged for you by your Republican friends.”
“ The devil it has!” said the elderly gentleman. 
“ I ’m not Frank Jackson. I ’m a travelling man, and 
I vote in Illinois !”
He was shown to another room.
Early in the campaign Mr. Jackson and I had 
parted company at I)e Witt and were to meet at 
Ellsworth in Hamilton County, where he was to ad­
dress an afternoon meeting. Arriving at Ellsworth 
I found Mr. Jackson had not yet made his appear­
ance and, ten minutes before the last train was due, 
a telegram was received saying that on account of 
heavy rains he had missed his train and would be 
unable to till the appointment. Thinking that there 
was nothing for me to do, I took the train intending 
to return to Des Moines. But at Jewell Junction, 
four miles distant, I met Sidney A. Foster, who was 
on his way to the northern part of the State, and 
told him he must get off and make a speech. I then 
explained that at Ellsworth there were over three 
thousand people expecting to hear Jackson, who was 
unable to come, and that Ralph Beaumont, a Popu­
list speaker, was on the ground and if left alone he 
might do harm. After much urging, Mr. Foster con­
sented to come.. We drove over to the picnic grounds 
and I informed the committee that a speaker had 
been found who would take Jackson’s place.
When Mr. Beaumont heard that he was to have 
opposition he determined, as was afterward evident,
380 THE PALIMPSEST
that the second speaker must speak after nightfall if 
at all. It was a cold, rainy day, and after Mr. Beau­
mont had spoken for two hours the crowd, largely 
Republican, began to show signs of uneasiness, but 
the speaker was unrelenting. Mr. Foster grew 
nervous. The president of the meeting hemmed and 
hawed to attract the speaker’s attention, and several 
impatient Republicans had their watches out to see 
that he did not run over time. Finally the longed- 
for moment came, and the anxious committeeman 
tugged at Beaumont’s coat-tails and called “ time” ; 
but the speaker calmly turned and announced that 
according to his own watch he had nine minutes left. 
After this no further attempt was made to stop the 
flow of Populist oratory.
But all things have an end; and at last Mr. Foster 
took the platform. It was raining heavily at the 
time, and he only intended to pay his respects to the 
first speaker and sit down; but the crowd had be­
come excited and shouted ‘ ‘ Go on, ” “ Go on, ’ ’ so the 
redoubtable “ Sid” , catching the inspiration of the 
moment, spoke for twenty minutes longer, utterly 
regardless of the rain-drops that spattered upon his 
wavy hair. Immediately after the speech we drove 
to Jewell Junction, and were soon en route for Des 
Moines, feeling conscious that a pretty good day’s 
work had been done.
We entered upon our last week of the campaign 
with feelings of relief, checking off the meetings as a 
prisoner might count the last days of his captivity.
CAMPAIGNING WITH JACKSON 381
Finally tlie last day arrived, and the last meeting 
was held. It was at Cedar Rapids, and the Repub­
licans there had determined upon making the meet­
ing “ the grandest rally of the campaign” . There 
was no ostentatious display, no fireworks, no multi­
plicity of bands and glare of torches. But the im­
mense crowd lining the streets for blocks and the 
band of Civil War veterans who escorted the young 
candidate to the opera house gave the occasion a 
dignity to which no amount of campaign pyrotech­
nics could have added. The wise ones, who always 
secure the best seats an hour or more in advance, 
were the only people, save his veteran escort, who 
heard Mr. Jackson that night, for when the crowd 
realized that it was time to go into the opera house 
they found a cordon of policemen barring the entry 
and turning the people from the door. Every inch 
of standing room was taken while the stage was 
occupied by a large body-guard of Union veterans. 
The old soldiers heartily joined in the war songs 
with which the meeting was opened, and when Mr. 
Jackson appeared they fairly went wild with shouts 
and cheers. The speaker stepped forward amidst 
an uproar of applause. It may have been the ap­
plause of the veterans behind him; it may have been 
the large audience in front; it may have been the 
sight of his wife and son, as they smiled encourage­
ment to him from one of the boxes; or it mav have 
been the thought that this was the last of the strug­
gle, that the fight was nearly over, and the victory
382 THE PALIMPSEST
all bat won — which it was I can not tell-— but at 
any rate Mr. Jackson fairly surpassed himself that 
evening. I had heard the speech, in substance, fully 
sixty times before, yet I found myself listening with 
eager interest to the old sentences which, that night, 
seemed clothed with a new energy and a new force 
and meaning.
Thus the campaign ended. On the following night, 
we waited with intense interest for the verdict of the 
people of Iowa, to learn whether those weeks of 
labor and anxiety had “ told” , or had gone for 
naught. When the votes were counted it was found 
that Mr. Jackson had won by a plurality of more 
than thirty-two thousand over Governor Boies, the 
most popular Democrat in Iowa and a talked-oi man 
in the nation.
F. W. M e y e r s


https://pubs.lib.uiowa.edu/palimpsest/article/id/21871/download/pdf/

Campaigning with Jackson

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

The Palimpsest

Iowa Research Online