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This is the proper time for reviewing that besieging
army. We will begin with the staff. It is represented
in the first place by the "national committees" of each
party appointed every four years at the national con-
ventions. Consisting of one representative from each
State and each Territory, the national committee num-
bers above fifty members. Its principal duty consists
of conducting the presidential campaign throughout the
Union. After the close of the campaign the national
committee falls into a state of suspended animation to
revive at the expiration of three years on the approach
of the next national convention, which it will convene
and of which it will take charge until the latter is
definitively organized. The chairman only of the com-
mittee may be considered as a standing power and
may exert political influence, if he is a strong man. A
tendency in that direction manifested itself during
McKinley's administrations. But usually the national
chairman possesses a certain authority with the Presi-
dent of his party chiefly in matters of patronage.
Nominally chosen by the committee, the chairman is
as a rule selected by the presidential candidate. He
need not be at all a member of the committee, he may
be an outsider. The chairman directs the campaign
from his head-quarters in Chicago or New York assisted
by a small executive committee. The members of the
national committee generally work on the spot in their
respective States, conducting all the operations like
a commander of a corps under orders from head-
quarters. The chairman wields the power of a com-
mander-in-chief with regard to everybody. However,
it is the tact and other diplomatic virtues which he

The
national
committee.

-162-

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Publication Information: Book Title: Democracy and the Party System in the United States. Contributors: M. Ostrogorski - author. Publisher: Macmillan. Place of Publication: New York. Publication Year: 1910. Page Number: 162.
    
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