Record Data
Source citation
“Who Furnishes the Audiences?,” Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, September 23, 1858, p. 1: 2.
Newspaper: Publication
Chicago Press and Tribune
Newspaper: Headline
Who Furnishes the Audiences?
Newspaper: Page(s)
1
Newspaper: Column
2
Type
Newspaper
Date Certainty
Exact
Transcriber
Don Sailer, Dickinson College
Transcription date
Transcription
The following text is presented here in complete form, as it originally appeared in print. Spelling and typographical errors have been preserved as in the original.
Who Furnishes the Audiences?
When Douglas refused to canvass the State and substituted therefor seven meeting in the whole State, he gave one reason for his policy and his organs gave another – both of them being false. He said the Democratic candidates for Congress, Legislature, Sheriff, Coroner, etc., would occupy a part of the time in filling his appointments. This was plausible, but as the event has shown, untrue. His organs said that he (Douglas) was the only man in the contest who could draw a crowd – Lincoln could draw no audience nor parts of an audience. It was asking too much for Douglas to get a crowd for Lincoln to address.
Well, four of these join debates have come off, and we wish to inquire who furnished the audiences? At Ottawa, Lincoln’s friends were nearly three to one; at Freeport, Lincoln brought nearer five to one – the whole number being fifteen thousand; at Jonesboro, where it is conceded the Republicans have no chance, Douglas brought only man for man – and the whole number was fifteen hundred, or one tenth of the Freeport audience. At Charleston, again, it was conceded on the ground that Lincoln’s friends were in a decided majority – the whole number being something over twelve thousand. And so it will be at Galesburg, Quincy, and Alton. Either the Douglasites don’t care much about public debates, or they are numerically of little importance at the points elected by Douglas himself for the joint discussions.
Well, four of these join debates have come off, and we wish to inquire who furnished the audiences? At Ottawa, Lincoln’s friends were nearly three to one; at Freeport, Lincoln brought nearer five to one – the whole number being fifteen thousand; at Jonesboro, where it is conceded the Republicans have no chance, Douglas brought only man for man – and the whole number was fifteen hundred, or one tenth of the Freeport audience. At Charleston, again, it was conceded on the ground that Lincoln’s friends were in a decided majority – the whole number being something over twelve thousand. And so it will be at Galesburg, Quincy, and Alton. Either the Douglasites don’t care much about public debates, or they are numerically of little importance at the points elected by Douglas himself for the joint discussions.
