The Directory

William Jennings Bryan -- The Boy Orator of the Platte; Nebraska representative, Democratic nominee in the past two elections and leader of the progressive wing of the party. Does not hold you in high regard, but shares your anti-imperialist sentiments. Despite his losses, he can still whip up a cornfield crowd better than any.

Isthmian Canal -- The long-held ambition to dig a sea route between the two great oceans. Numerous committees have been assembled in the past, recommending either Nicaragua or Panama; Roosevelt settled the matter when he enforced Panamanian independence, and bought out the rights previously secured by the French, whose own venture had ended disastrously.

Grover Cleveland -- Twice President on separate occasions, an ally and friend of yours; conservative in temperament, you worked for his campaign for New York’s governorship in 1882; a champion of fiscal prudence and clean government; the model Bourbon Democrat. Woefully unpopular after the Pullman strike and Panic of 1893, but still fondly remembered by many in the party.

Cope and Marsh -- Two scientists who spent decades in bitter competition with each other to dig up the bones of colossal prehistoric creatures called dinosaurs -- having financially ruined themselves and each other while contributing greatly to the field of paleontology, both died miserable and impoverished a few years ago.

George Cortelyou -- McKinley and Roosevelt’s “everything man,” who recently left his post as the first Secretary of Commerce and Labor to manage the Republican campaign. Has an intimate familiarity with the trusts -- many suspect him as the man behind Roosevelt’s quick turnaround this year in the matter of their relations with this administration.

Cuba -- Unlike the Philippines, Cuba was accorded the full rights of independence upon the ratification of a constitution in 1902, replacing its military goverment with a sovereign civilian administration. Public sentiment for Cuban independence has been long-held by Americans of all stripes.

Dingley Tariff -- The most severe tariff levied in American history, and the crown jewel of William McKinley’s legacy. Its rates hover somewhere between forty seven and fifty three percent. The abominable bill has put farmers at the mercy of the trusts, and its repeal is your greatest prerogative.

Charles W. Fairbanks -- Roosevelt’s running mate. A solidly conservative Republican from Indiana, he was selected by the convention, and has often butted heads with the President. Harbors presidential ambitions of his own, unlikely as they may be.

Henry George -- A journalist and economist who advocated for a Land Value Tax in his 1879 work “Progress and Poverty”. Ran for Mayor of New York on two occasions, dying during his second campaign in 1897. His funeral was said to be the nation’s largest since Lincoln.

Arthur Pue Gorman -- Bourbon Democrat and Senator from Maryland, he chaired the National Committee overseeing Cleveland’s 1884 victory. He was the natural choice of the party going into this year, but his protectionism and overt opposition to Roosevelt’s popular canal policy sunk his bid.

Mark Hanna -- The late Senator from Ohio, and the late McKinley’s campaign manager on both occasions. His political mastery carried the Republicans to victory over Bryan twice, and he threw himself into work on the Panama Canal after 1900; while considering a presidential run, he ultimately patched up his differences with Roosevelt, before dying of typhoid earlier this year.

William Randolph Hearst -- Wildly eclectic son of fortune; owner of the New York Journal and many other influential newspapers. Allured readers with salacious stories and sensational scandals; used his sway to successfully lobby for war with Spain, then used his fantastic wealth to launch a bid for the presidency. Aligns with the progressive wing of the party; enemy of McClellan and Tammany Hall.

Income Tax -- A proposed tax collected universally, proportional to each man’s income. Supported by many Democrats as an alternative to tariff revenue, an income tax was passed in an 1894 tariff reform bill, but was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Land Value Tax -- A proposal to substitute various forms of taxation, mainly property tax, with a levy on the unimproved value of land. Supported by a diverse coalition of social reformers.

Thomas Lawson -- Genius financier and sailing enthusiast; avid gainer and loser of large sums of wealth; somewhat eccentric. Came to fortune by manipulating the market; currently working on a political fiction about a stockbroker who manipulates the market. The working title: Friday, the Thirteenth. In three years, a seven-masted schooner named after him will crash and sink on Friday, the thirteenth of December.

Patrick Henry McCarren -- Came to the fore under his mentor, Hugh McLaughlin, whom he disposed of last year to seize unrivalled power in Brooklyn. A prolific gambler and horse racer, it is no secret that he is in the pocket of the oil and sugar lobbies -- Thomas Lawson calls him the “Standard Oil serpent of Brooklyn politics.”

George B. McClellan Jr. -- Mayor of New York City, elected on the back of Tammany support in 1903. Son of the famous Union general. Generally well-regarded, especially by Democrats, as a man of integrity and competence. Conservative in temperament.

Labor Union -- The relatively recent phenomenon of workingmen uniting to advocate for themselves as a collective body, rather than on an individual basis. Union men often fall inside the Democratic camp, but are increasingly swayed by the radical messages of socialist politicians like Eugene Debs and Daniel de Leon. Their inconvenience to the profit margins of the trusts has led to their brutal suppression; unions have no friends in the halls of power, nor anyone to protect them from the violence of company thugs.

Monroe Doctrine -- A foreign policy doctrine formulated by President James Monroe, which has been the official stance of the United States since his presidency. Its basic principle declares the inviolability of the sovereignty of all the nations of the Americas, and appoints the United States as the custodian of that sovereignty against any European meddling. The generally perceived corollary to that principle is that outside of this declared interest, the country should avoid entanglements in any foreign controversies.

Moro Rebellion -- Ongoing, low intensity conflict in the Philippines. Originated as resistance by Filipino Moslems to Spanish rule, which carried over after American occupation began. Currently fronted by Maj. General Leonard Wood; recently escalated after Wood pronounced the end of slavery.

Charles Murphy -- Grand Sachem of Tammany Hall. Something of a progressive; succeeded the corrupt Boss Croker two years ago, and aims to clean up Tammany’s image through support for reform. A teetotaller and, for the moment at least, an ally of Hearst, he did everything he could to prevent your nomination this summer.

Nat. Protective Assn. v. Cumming -- A case before New York’s Court of Appeals, in which you ruled in favor of a steam fitters’ union striking so that their men would not have to work alongside someone from a rival union. Your ruling rested upon the principle of a man having the right to refuse employment for any reason he so chooses.
Quote: “Whatever one man may do alone, he may do in combination with others, provided they have no unlawful object in view.”

Northern Securities Company -- A joint trust under the control of J.P. Morgan, James J. Hill, and Edward H. Harriman, combining the three largest railway companies in the nation. It emerged following a spat between Hill and Harriman in 1901, which caused rampant speculation and crashed the New York Stock Exchange for the first time in its history. Roosevelt brought suit against the trust in 1902, making an enemy of Morgan by directing the Justice Department to bring the company down; the Supreme Court ruled in his favor, marking the first major win for the progressive antitrust movement.

The Philippines -- At the end of the war against Spain in 1898, the Philippines was annexed by the United States at the order of President McKinley. This move infuriated the Filipino revolutionaries under Generalissimo Aguinaldo, who waged a continuation war until his capture in 1901. Since then, the isles have been administered as an unincorporated territory.

Joseph Pulitzer -- A Hungarian-born New York publisher and Democrat politician, whose distaste for Roosevelt is widely known. As owner of the New York World paper, his rivalry with Hearst’s New York Journal established the phenomenon of sensationalized ‘yellow journalism.’ His paper’s support of Cleveland is credited with helping to tip the scales in New York, winning for him the election of 1884.

Rosemount -- A beautiful Italianate manse sitting on the Hudson River in Esopus, New York, home to you and your family.

Thomas Fortune Ryan -- A self-made man, grew very rich from tobacco and rail investments; owns more than half of New York’s streetcars, and maintains a positive relationship with Tammany Hall. He has single-handedly provided half of your campaign’s funding this year.

Santo Domingo -- The eastern half of the isle of Hispaniola. Ruled until recently by the dictator Ulises Heureaux, who drowned the country’s economy in debt while filling his own pockets. His assassination and the ensuing disorder have caused the administration to prepare an intervention to ensure the meeting of financial obligations, so as to stave off a similar action as that taken by the European powers in Venezuela.

William Howard Taft -- Roosevelt’s Secretary of War; until recently, Governor-General of the Philippines, and before that, a judge. A man of conservative temperament, allied closely with Roosevelt after quickly rising through the Republican ranks.

Tammany Hall -- Manhattan-based political machine which has controlled the city’s Democratic politics for half a century through patronage and the Irish vote. Widely notorious for corruption and graft, although the newly-annointed reformers in the organization hope to change this perception.

Benjamin “Pitchfork” Tillman -- Senator from South Carolina; advocate for the farmers, founder of Clemson College, and thundering champion of white supremacy. Known to be the most fanatically racist politician in the country; a frequent thorn in Cleveland’s side.

Trust -- An agglomeration of companies under the control of a clique of industrialists, who manipulate the legal system to drown their competition and create monopolies in such industries as steel, sugar, rail cars, and oil. John D. Rockefeller, J. Pierpont Morgan, and Cornelius Vanderbilt exemplify such tycoons. The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 nominally outlawed anticompetitive practices, but federal courts have rarely bothered to enforce it -- except against labor unions. (📷 see image)

Venezuela -- A country in crisis. After a long series of civil wars, Britain and Germany, among others, engaged in a series of naval incidents over the matter of unpaid debts -- disputed by strongman president Cipriano Castro -- leading to a year-long blockade. Ultimately, Roosevelt wrestled Castro and the Europeans into settling the issue in Washington through neutral arbitration.

Booker T. Washington -- Negro intellectual leader; came to prominence after his 1895 “Atlanta Address”; advocates for black upliftment through self-sufficiency and dignity. Helped establish the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama as a vocational school for black men. Opposed by W.E.B. Du Bois and the civil rights movement, who deem him too accommodating to white supremacy. Recently published bestselling memoir “Up from Slavery” and dined with Roosevelt.

Thomas E. Watson -- Once the darling of the farmers and a zealous reformer, he spent the last decade fighting for the rights of the poor and blacks; a sworn enemy of Grover Cleveland and moneyed aristocracy. After Bryan’s defeat, suffered an identity crisis; now spends his time preaching white supremacy and attacking socialists, Catholics, and Jews.