"Before the next national convention of either party meets I'll have
tramped over three or four states, and I'll be ready to wager my life
ag'in a nickel that I can name the victorious candidate. I'll wager
that I can predict it far closer than any newspaper in the land. If
you want to know what this country is thinking about, my boy, don't
box yourself up in a sanctum and read a few exchanges. Get out and
rub elbows with the people. It isn't the few big cities that settle
the great political questions. It's the farmer and the villager, and
they come pretty near being dead right every time. When I had tramped
across seven counties of New York state I shouted for Hughes. A
politician in Syracuse who heard me had me thrown out of a meeting and
wanted the police to arrest me. I heard that he had a bet of $5,000
on another candidate and was predicting Hughes' defeat by 50,000. But
enough of this. I'll switch off and tell you something that has hurt
me for the last three or four years.