Samuel Dickie, a Prohibition Party editor, believed the party had a winning issue in the 1900 presidential race. In a speech at Cooper Union, Dickie explained that William McKinley had changed his views on the liquor question. When a young fresh-faced politician in Stark County, Ohio, McKinley had spoken out in favor of outlawing liquor. By the time he reached Congress his statements about liquor were muted, and in recent years-according to Dickie-McKinley "went out of his way to show that he was on friendly terms with liquor dealers."
Dickie's audience at Cooper Union gave a mixed response to his words. Some listeners applauded, but many more shouted "Shame, shame!" Dickie defended himself from charges that he had dishonored the president. Dickie explained, "I happen to be a ruler myself," that is, a sovereign voter. It was appropriate for any citizen of the Republic "to discuss the defects of its most conspicuous hired man." Dickie went on attacking McKinley, finally charging that the president had "calmly determined to desert the teachings of his church"—Methodist church.
The Prohibition Party National Convention of 1900, held at Chicago, was another anti-McKinley forum. The platform itself was an unprecedented document, with whole sections that began "We charge upon President McKinley, that he did …" The platform read more like a criminal indictment than a political document. The charges were that McKinley had served liquor in the White House, had allowed liquor to be sold in "canteens" on military bases, and had encouraged the sale of U.S. liquors in the nation's new possessions such as the Philippines and Puerto Rico. The Democratic standard-bearer Bryan was the target of weaker attacks at the Prohibition convention, mainly to the effect that although he professed himself a devout Christian, he had refused to take any stands against the liquor interests.
The "Narrow Gaugers" controlled this Chicago convention, and the platform as reported by the platform committee dealt only with alcohol-related issues. A number of women delegates insisted, however, that the platform should include a woman suffrage plank. One woman delegate demanded to know why the picture of Frances E. Willard (leader of the Women's Christian Temperance Union) had been "removed" from the hall. Convention leaders tried to explain that the picture had simply fallen down, but the women were not to be easily mollified. Finally the woman suffrage plank was added to the platform, and the delegates struck up a verse of "Blest Be the Tie that Binds."
While earlier in the year most observers had predicted the Prohibitionists would nominate either Hale Johnson or John G. Woolley (both from Illinois), at the convention Johnson withdrew his name, while Pennsylvania delegates put forth the name of Methodist leader Silas C. Swallow, "the Fighting Parson." Only by the very end of the roll call of delegates was it clear Woolley had won the nomination. The final tally was Woolley 380, Swallow 320.
A Pennsylvania delegate jumped up and said that "It would make the strongest ticket we have ever had" if Swallow were nominated for vice-president, and the delegates began shouting "Woolley, Swallow. Woolley, Swallow." After chanting the names of this dream ticket, delegates began singing "America." Unfortunately, Swallow's friends announced he would not accept the number two spot, and finally the convention settled upon Henry B. Metcalf of Rhode Island, a prohibition leader who had once been a Republican state legislator.
The party's presidential standard-bearer had been educated at Ohio Wesleyan College and the University of Michigan. His law practiced had flourished, but in 1883 he became (in his own words) a "hopeless drunkard." His law practice dwindled away to nothing, and soon he was reduced to accepting a job addressing envelopes. When he lost that job he became a wandering vagabond. He saw glimpses of salvation when he attended occasional temperance meetings, but only when he read a key verse in the Bible did he actually renounce drink for good. The verse: "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."
Woolley became a very popular temperance lecturer, and he also became editor of the Chicago Lever, an influential prohibition newspaper. The Lever soon merged with the New York Voice to form the New Voice, with Woolley as editor, and this newspaper provided the national exposure Woolley needed to win the Prohibition party's presidential nomination. Some friends had hoped to run Woolley in 1896, but he had declined to go along with such plans. In 1900, however, he gladly accepted the nomination.
The 1900 Prohibition party national campaign was chiefly an anti-McKinley effort. The main issue was the "canteen," a part of the base exchange on American military bases. In these canteens soldiers could buy and consume beers and light wines. Congress had passed a law prohibiting the sale of liquor on bases in dry states and counties, but McKinley had instructed his Secretary of War to ignore the law. Woolley charged that more American soldiers were injured or killed by alcohol (in the recent Spanish-American War) than died by bullets.
Woolley also criticized the president for allowing saloons to flourish in towns and cities in our new possessions. McKinley had the final say in the government of the Philippines and Puerto Rico, Woolley pointed out, and the president had allowed liquor, gambling, and prostitution to flourish in these new colonies. Turning to the Democratic presidential candidate, Woolley charged that Bryan ignored the canteen issue, and the issue of disorderly saloons in the new territories. Only the Prohibition candidate would dry up the canteens, and clean up cities such as Luzon, Manila, and San Juan.
The Prohibition Party leased a train, called the "Prohibition Special," and in it Woolley and Metcalf crisscrossed the nation. The duo made speeches from the rear platform in states ranging from North Dakota to Massachusetts to Tennessee. By the count of party leaders, Woolley and Metcalf made 500 speeches, and traveled a total of 23,000 miles. This meant that the party had surpassed even Bryan's impressive travel record of four years earlier.
Not only did the Prohibition ticket travel more than any other national candidates up to that time. They also won far more votes than the Levering-Johnson Prohibition party ticket of four years earlier. In 1896 Levering had fallen victim to the gold-silver issue in a year when the party had excluded all issues save prohibition. Woolley made many voters see that although American imperialism was the key issue of 1900, it was closely tied to the prohibition issue. Thus Woolley won the third-highest vote total of any Prohibition party candidate up to that time.
Unfortunately for leaders of the Prohibition party, Woolley did not remain in the fight to build a viable party. After the 1900 election Woolley several times criticized the way the party was run. Finally he announced that although the party had done great work in the past, the cause of prohibition could now best be served by divorcing the issue from politics. Thereafter Woolley resumed his earlier efforts to tie the reform of drunkards to general Christian evangelism.
For the political collector there are a number of wonderful Woolley-Metcalf jugates, as well as some nice single picture buttons in both the 7/8 and 1 1/4 inch sizes. Hake's three-volume Encyclopedia of Political Buttons lists seven buttons from this Prohibition party campaign, but the true number is probably about three times as high. Of the buttons shown below, the two at right are not listed in Hake's, and a number of other unlisted buttons exist. At least one button misspells Woolley's name, spelling it "Wooley."
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Prices for Woolley items are similar to prices for other Prohibition party buttons, especially those for Levering and Swallow. Prices are not especially low, because relatively few of each of these buttons was made, when compared with those for McKinley and Bryan. On the other hand, prices even for rarities are not out of sight, because relatively few collectors specialize in the Prohibition party. The best news is that a Woolley collection will include bright colors and excellent designs, supporting the candidate of an interesting party in an interesting year.
Sources: Roger C. Storms, Partisan Prophets: A History of the Prohibition Party (1972). Ernest H. Cherrington, Standard Encyclopedia of the Alcohol Problem (1930). Cyclopaedia of American Biography. New York Times issues from June-November, 1900.
It seems like every time I use the New York Times to write one of these button articles, I stumble across some stray article that proves to be of interest. One such article was the one that explained that on July 27, 1900, "Val Remmel, Socialist-Labor candidate for the Vice-Presidency … spent a brief time in the South Thirteenth Street Police Station last night, for disregarding police regulations." Also arrested were Paul Dinger of Ohio, an SLP congressional candidate, and William G. Cowan, SLP candidate for the Pennsylvania legislature.
The men were charged with holding a street meeting without a permit. "The Socialists have frequently refused to obey the order" requiring permits, the Times explained, and on the night in question the police had broken up the meeting and arrested the three leaders. The men posted $15 bail after having been locked up for a time. At their trial the next day they were sentenced to pay a fine of $25 or spend 30 days in jail. The men paid their fines and no doubt began planning their next rally.
| © 1998 by Stephen Cresswell |