Press reaction Most contemporary press accounts attributed Bryan's nomination to his eloquence, though in the case of Republican and other gold-favoring newspapers, they considered it his demagoguery. The pro-silver Cleveland Plain Dealer called Bryan's speech "an eloquent, stirring, and manly appeal". The Chicago Tribune reported that Bryan had lit the spark "which touched off the trail of gun-powder". The St. Louis Post-Dispatch opined that with the speech, Bryan "just about immortalized himself". According to the New York World, "Lunacy having dictated the platform, it was perhaps natural that hysteria should evolve the candidate." The New York Times disparaged Bryan as "the gifted blatherskite from Nebraska". The only paper to predict, after Bryan gave his speech, that he would not be nominated was The Wall Street Journal, which stated, "Bryan has had his day". The Akron Journal and Republican, no friend to Bryan, opined that "never probably has a national convention been swayed or influenced by a single speech as was the national Democratic convention". Campaign and aftermath The Pullman Company offered Bryan a private car for his trip home; he declined, not wishing to accept corporate favors. As he traveled by rail to Lincoln, he saw farmers and others standing by the tracks, hoping for a glimpse of the new Democratic nominee. He received many letters from supporters, expressing their faith in him in stark terms. One Indiana voter wrote, "God has sent you amongst our people to save the poor from starvation, and we no you will save us." A farmer in Iowa, in a letter to Bryan, stated, "You are the first big man that i ever wrote to." When McKinley heard that Bryan was likely to be the nominee, he called the report "rot" and hung up the phone. The Republican nominee was slow to realize the surge of support for Bryan after the nomination, stating his view that the silver sentiment would be gone in a month. When McKinley and his advisers, such as industrialist and future senator Mark Hanna, realized that the views were more than transitory, they began intensive fundraising from corporations and the wealthy. The money went for speakers, pamphlets, and other means of conveying their "sound money" campaign to the voter. With far less money than McKinley, Bryan embarked on a nationwide campaign tour by train on a then-unprecedented scale. McKinley on the other hand, opted for a front porch campaign. Both