Men of Wealth (1944) - Ludwig von Mises Institute

MARK HANNA 407
cited partisans of the period felt it to be so. And this fanned
their partisanship into the flames that made that whole campaign
one of the most heated in American political history. At this particular
moment Mark Hanna became the field marshal of the hosts
of property in one of the great decisive battles of our own history.
He segregated and organized big business on the side of the political
philosophy that was essential to its existence and he made it pay
the bills for the warfare he was waging.
Hanna's name will always be associated with the perfection of
that important art popularly known as "frying the fat," which is
only a picturesque way of describing the process of rendering into
campaign cash some of the suet which rich men are enabled to
accumulate through political favors. It was not at all a new business.
As business grew bigger and fatter and more at the mercy of
government, politicians soon learned how to make the prosperous
ones pay for immunity. William E. Chandler had learned
how to draw generous sums from men like Roach and Gould. Carter,
who managed Harrison's campaign, got $400,000 from the shipbuilder,
George Cramp. In the preceding struggle between Blaine
and Cleveland, Blaine's spectacular campaign was brought to an
end with that famous Royal Feast of Belshazzar when Gould and
Sage, Astor, Flagler, Mills, Carnegie, and some two hundred
"money kings" sat down to terrapin, duck, and champagne at what
the New York World called the "boodle banquet." Stephen B.
Elkins needed more money for the last big Blaine effort and the
money kings were brought together for the frying.
All this was just a loose way of doing what Hanna would do in
an orderly manner and on a large scale in 1896. He told corporation
executives bluntly that they got plenty of service from the Republican
party and ought not to hesitate to pay for it. He levied an
outright assessment on every bank. Later he denied a charge in the
Senate by Senator Teller that he had done this. But his official
biographer concedes that the assessment was one quarter of one per
cent. The Standard Oil gave $250,000. Other corporations contributed
in proportion. How much he actually collected and spent no