| OCR Text |
Show FALL 2013 UHQ pp 304-385_UHQ Stories/pp.4-68 9/16/13 1:25 PM Page 314 LIBrAry OF CONGrESS UTAh hISTOrICAL QUArTErLy glowing compliment: Mr. Glasmann has made a host of converts in this county. Everywhere he was greeted with very large [audiences] and in most instances people were turned away. He thoroughly understands the silver question. He is convincing, eloquent and the sledge hammer blows he deals out leave no room for doubt.34 The 1896 Democratic presidential ticket, headed by William Jennings Bryan. Although Glasmann supported Bryan, he still considered himself a Republican. In the end, Bryan lost Omaha but carried Nebraska and its eight electoral votes, thanks in no small part to Glasmann, who left the state with a large following. Glasmann possessed a natural talent for politics, and his oratory prowess would prove useful in years to come. The night before the election, Glasmann returned to his boyhood home of Davenport, Iowa, his reputation of arguing for silver well known. A huge crowd welcomed him to the city. In spite of Glasmann’s efforts, Scott County went Republican for McKinley, but that did not dampen the citizens’ enthusiasm for their newly found favorite son. He hated to leave the adulation of Davenport, but nevertheless returned home to Utah, having won the battle but lost the war. Glasmann and his fellow Utah silver Republicans now had to face many angry McKinley Republicans, who on November 3 had enjoyed a victory in which McKinley defeated Bryan by a margin of 51 percent to 46 percent. Even though Bryan carried Utah by a whopping 83 percent to 17 percent (64,607 to 13,491), many leaders in the “Pie-eating contingent” of McKinley Republicans carried a grudge.35 The Utah Republican Party had just entered its sixth year, and a good portion of the Bryan victory in 34 35 314 “Glasmann a Vote Getter,” Omaha World-Herald, October 17, 1896. “Big Meeting Assured,” Ogden Standard, September 3, 1896. |
