| Show A Campaign Is Coming and it win will bring gs Slogans Symbols and and- Slanders 9 I SYMBOLS OlF OF PARTIES POLICIES AND CANDIDATES By ELMO SCOTT WATSON DIES and gentlemen of Amer Amer- AmerL AmerIca AmerIca America ica I The greatest show on onearth Ii H II earth Is about to begin 1 I II L 11 Athis No this announcement hasn't anything to do with P PT T Barnum the Jingling 11 2 brothers Buffalo Bill Dill who hate or nn any of the others made circus history This Tills greatest show on onearth onearth earth Is the Quadrennial drama of a n Presidential election So hod hoid your our horses because The The animals In tile the political zoo are arc coming Watch them as they pass Theres There's an nn elephant with the letters G 0 O P Pon on Its side sille That stands for Grand Old Party for the elephant Is the tile symbol of the Republican Republican lican part party Theres There's a n donkey yes yes and a n c cn crowing row In n rooster Jooster Both Doth of them are symbols of the Demo Demo- Democratic Democratic Democratic cratic party although the donkey Is the Ule more familiar one Theres There's a n tiger albeit a rather subdued one Hes He's not nearly so fierce as he once was back In the tle tile days when his followers completely dominated New v York city had a n great deal to toMY say MY about who was the governor of New York state and exerted n a considerable Influence In national politics For the tho tiger titer Is the symbol of that powerful Democratic organization Tammany Tam Tammany many flail Theres There's a n camel the animal that can go a along along long time without a drink Naturally Its It's the symbol of the drys In the Prohibition party One animal however howen r Is missing from the parade and has bas been missing since l 1012 1912 12 That That's the Bull llull Moose the symbol of a party which rig L 4 ir R f fY Y A Ali TC The First Appearance of the Republican Ele- Ele Elephant Ele Elephant Eta 1874 was once powerful enough to send the Republican can elephant down to defeat and give Ive to the Democratic donkey the victory which It couldn't win Itself That was back In 1012 1912 when ex- ex President ex-President President Theodore Roosevelt led a n revolt In the ranks of the Republican party after aCter the nomi nomination nation of his former friend William WlIIlam Tart Taft and formed a n new third party which he be called the Pro Progressives The crowing rooster symbol which many Dem Dem- Democratic Dem- Dem Democratic Democratic editors run at the mastheads of their newspapers In campaign years ears and which ap- ap appears ap appears pears on official ballots In some states had bad Its orl origin ln back In 10 1810 In that year ear a certain Joseph Chapman was the Democratic candidate for the Indiana legislature from Hancock county Things were looking very ery gloomy for the Demo Demo- Democrats Democrats Democrats that year The country was still suffering from the panic of 1837 and of course the Demo Demo- Democratic Democratic cratic administration under Van Buren uren was be- be beIng being be being ing blamed for It Moreover the singing Whigs under the lead lead- leadership leadership of Gen Cen William WlIIlam Henry Harrison the nero Hero of or Tippecanoe were developing great In fact they were so successful In Inthe inthe Inthe the Hoosier state that George Pattison editor of oft e Indianapolis Constitution a Democratic pa- pa paper pa paper per wrote to a certain William Sebastian of Greenfield as follows I have e been lIeen Informed by a n Democrat that In one part of or your county 30 Van Buren men have bave turned for tor Harrison Please let me know If such be the fact I think such a deplorable state of of of fact cannot exist If It so BO I 1 will visit Hancock and address the people relative to the policy of ot t the e Democratic party I have bate no time timeto timeto timeto to spare but I will refuse to eat or sleep or orrest orrest orrest rest so Ion long as anything can be done Do for heavens heaven's sake stir up the Democracy See Chap Chap- Chapman Chapman man tell him not to do as he did heretofore lIe used to create unnecessary alarm he must crow we have ha much to crow over I will Insure this county to give a Democratic majority of or oo votes Spare no pains This Tills letter happened to fall Into the hands of the Whigs who promptly published It In an IndIanapolis paper as a means m ans of or ridiculing the Democrats However It had the opposite effect and Crow Chapman Crow became the slogan of the Indiana Democrats When the Indiana Sentinel was launched In fn 1811 It t carried at the top of or the front page the picture of a n rooster and under It the slogan of or Crow v Chapman Chap- Chap Chapman man mIlD Crow In time this symbol spread all over o the country and became the popular emblem of the Democratic party although the more widely widely- widely used used symbol by cartoonists Is the donkey The donkey donley seems to have ha first been used In 1837 1831 In that year yea r Andrew Jackson making his Lis farewell address as he lie retired from the tho 1 Presidency I esl dency had a great deal to say about the pros pros- prosperous prosperous condition In which he left lert the country As a matter of fact that prosperity was a 11 snare and a delusion Ills destruction of the United States bank and the distribution of the treasury treasur surplus had paved the way for a Hood flood of wild wildcat cat currency which led to wild speculation Jackson had sowed sowell the wind and Van Duren Buren his successor reaped the whirlwind of a severe financial panic A contemporary cartoon bearing the title of The uThe Modern Balaam and His Ass shows chows Jack Jack- Jackson Jackson Jack con son mounted on a 11 donkey across whose withers hangs a bag labeled Specie Currency Currency hating lating Circulating Medium A ghost labeled Bankrupts of o 1831 1537 Is causing the donkey to balk and Its rider Is belaboring It with a 11 cane labeled Veto eto Behind Be Be- Behind Behind hind them walks Van Duren Buren saying r I shall tread In the footsteps of my Illustrious lH de cessor From that time on during the disputes over the money question the donkey appeared frequently In the cartoons of the day and apparently be- be became be became came recognized as s a n symbol of the Democrats Democrat hut But It remained for a foreign born cartoonist to make the Democratic donkey so widely known that It has been heen accepted as ns the principal Demo Demo- Democratic Democratic cratic symbol ever eer since lie He also gave ga us the Republican elephant and the Tammany tiger That man was Thomas Nast ast perhaps the great grent- greatest greatest est cartoonist this tills country has hns ever eer known Drawing for Harpers Harper's Weekly during the war his pictures which stirred the patriotic blood of the North and sent hundreds of young men Dlen to join the colors hall had made him known throughout hout the country and President Lincoln was said to have declared once that Nast's cartoons were I the best recruiting sergeants on the side of the I Union After the Civil war var Nast cartoons came Into even even- even greater fame as he turned his attention to the heated politics of the times The great con con- contest contest toI I test at that time was between President Johnson and Edwin bL 1 M Stanton the secretary of war whom Johnson was trying trying- to remove from office Nast was strongly Johnson anti and pro Stanton pro Stanton died just after his elevation to I the Supreme court bench by President Grant the bitter feelings of the Stanton Johnson feud had by no means died lied down and southern Democratic I papers attacked Stanton even een In their obituary notices On January 15 1870 1570 Nast drew his first donkey cartoon It pictured Stanton as a dead lion kicked by a n donkey labeled Copper head papers papers- papers Underneath were the lines A Alive lire lIe Jackass kicking n a dead Lion and such a aLion aLion Lion I and such a Jackass I Nast did not Immediately repeat the donkey symbol He Ue had others for the Democratic party th the serpent In ID some cases and the fox In others Nast's Invention Im of the elephant as n a symbol of the Republican party came about In n a half half- half affectionate jab at nt his own political party In 1814 1374 the Republicans faced their first defeat sInce coming Into power In Jn IS O It was not n a Presidential year but In New York Samuel J Tilden ilden fighting against the Republican go warner John A Dix was making a 11 edged double fight for that olt office ollice ce Tilden appealed to all classes of voters oters for he lie had been a prosecutor of Tweed and he was also a member of the reformed Tam Tam- Tammany Tammany many Hall The strength of the Democrats lay not lot In any local Issue or In the power of their I candidate There was a national Issue at stake whether or not Dot a President of the United States should have a third thirll term President President Grant was believed to he determined to run for President again In 1870 1570 The principaL to the Idea was James Gordon Bennetts Bennett's New York Herald which shrieked Incessantly At this crucial moment Nast drew his cartoon showing t the e first Republican elephant It was called The Third Term Panic The rhe New York herald an ass dressed In a n lions lion's skin labeled Is braying loudly and all of the ani- ani animals ani animals mals In the forest are arc fleeing In alarm The Tribune Is s shown as a giraffe the World as an owl dropping an arithmetic book the Times as a unicorn with a monocle At the edge of an abyss barely hidden by broken planks marked Inflation Repudiation Reform Tammany and Reconstruction is a huge elephant marled marked Vote Nearby Is a 11 concealed halt half fox with features suggesting Tilden's and la labeled la- la labeled Democratic Part Party arty Two weeks afterwards Nast drew n a sequel to that cartoon It showed the elephant tumbling I HARRISON BARRISON A R R RA RS A S L 9 ANDT AND T TYLER Y L E E Eai LZ IN MANHOOD TH THE DEFENDER OF HER IN- IN INFANCY IN INFANCY FANCY tom e S t f I oJ rl I T Mci e JaI f i Knox County Indiana Whigs Once Wore This Badge down Into the pit lIlt with the rotten planks and the rejoicing animals foll following ln l und and It was called Caught In a n the Trap Trap the Result of the Third Term Hoax From that time on onIth Ith elephant was re re- re repeatedly repeatedly the symbol of the Republican rt pl party p In Inthe Inthe the Nast cartoons But Lut It was not until 18 1 S that he lie showed the lie donke donkey and the to to- to together gether definitely marked Republican party and um Democratic party In this tills cartoon the elephant lay asleep before the White House while the tho donkey was jumping over o a cliff Into financial chaos despite the efforts of Senator Bayard to pull It back buck by the tall as he exclaims Hold on and you OU may walk wall over the sluggish animal up 1111 there yet ct Other cartoonists were quick to adopt Nast's symbolism and for the last 50 fiO years yeara the Republican lican elephant the Democratic donkey and antl the tiger have been Jeen commonly accepted commonly members of our national political zoo But nut these animals have not been the only party symbols The fhe use of symbols as graphic portrayals of beliefs poll political creeds moral Issues and eco eco- economic eco economic policies began early In our history One J The Democratic Donkey as Depicted by Thomas Nast In 1870 of the tho earliest was the black cockades which the Federalists wore In their hats hata In 1793 1703 to distinguish them from and as a rebuke to the Republicans the forerunners of the modern Democrats who were wearing the color tri or of France as evidence of their sympathy for the new republic across the Atlantic When Andrew Anrew Jackson was the Democratic candidate for President his partisans revIved his popular nickname Old Hickory gained dur dur- durIng during ing the Indian wars and md the War of 1812 and made the hickory their symbol They carried hickory canes In Imitation of the one which Jackson alwa always s 's carried They held tumultuous rallies around hickory poles set up on the village green town common or public square or set one up on a wagon which headed their campaign processions In these processions marched Dem Dem- Democrats Dem- Dem Democrats Democrats carr carrying ln hickory boughs and companies of Hickory Buds little boys hoys In jumpers white i un underclothes and broad white collars and little girls In white white dresses with blue and red rell sashes Perhaps the most fam famous us campaign In which a symbol played an Important part was the Log Cabin and Hard lIard Cider campaign of 1810 1510 A Democratic newspaper had repeated a sneer sneer- sneer log ipg remark that had been made about the Whig candidate Gen William Henry Harrison the Hero of Tippecanoe It said Give Ghe him a barrel of hard cider and a n pension of two thou thou- thousand thousand thousand sand a i 1 year and our word for It he will sit the remainder of his days In a log cabin by the side of a sea sen coal fire and study moral philosophy The Whigs joyously accepted the symbols thus suggested Everywhere E the voters turned they saw a 10 log cabin with a n barrel of cider In front of the door and a coonskin tacked on Its walls or a live coon perched on the roof There were log cabin badges watch charms earrings medals handkerchiefs shaving soap etc and und wash wash- washwomen washwomen washwomen women advertised that they would do up gens Jen- Jen gen gentlemen's tiemen's shirts In log cabin style The result of this plu the songs sons and slogans In praise of Tippecanoe and Tyler fler Too was the over over- overwhelming overwhelming overwhelming whelming victory of Harrison the Indian fighter and frontiersman over Martin Van Yan nuren Buren the aristocratic New Yorker who was the Demo Demo- Democratic Democratic Democratic cratic candidate In this campaign too appeared the prelle predecessor predecessor cessor of the full dinner pall symbol of later campaigns It appeared In the form of or this slogan of the Whigs Vans Policy Fifty Cents a Day and French Soup Our Policy Two Dol Dol- Dollars Dollars lars a Day and Roast toast Beef neer Closely akin to the appeal of the log cabin In 1810 18 was the symbolism of the campal campaign n when fence rails were the emblems of the lie ne- Re Republicans publicans who had nominated Abraham Lincoln the Illinois splitter rail for the Presidency Sim Sim- SimIlarly Sim- Sim Similarly Similarly the fact that Ulysses S Grant had once engaged In the lowly occupation of a tanner was used In his behalf when he was a n candidate for President In Tanner clubs bearing sm sym symbols bols emblematic of the trade marched In his honor shouting Bring on tho the enemy and antI well we'll tan his Ills hide I In these parades also appeared men wearing shaggy and antl obviously fur coats In fact one of the most remarkable things about the symbolism of a 11 Presidential campaign Is the number of times some form of ot wearing apparel has been an Important element In n the appeal to the lie voters The fringed hunting shirt and leggings of or the frontiersman worn by men signing The Hunters of or Kentuck Kentucky were much In evidence during the campaign to elect Old Or hickory Jackson A coonskin cap fashioned after aner the he favorite headgear of Old Tippecanoe Harrison was worn sworn by every loyal loal Whig In la the campaign of or 1810 When Horace Greeley was the candidate of the Democrats In 1872 1812 his followers wore white beaver hats lints In n Imitation of the favorite headgear of tho tiro famous New York editor In the Cleve Cleve- Cleveland land campaign of his running mate Senator Thurman gave his Ills supporters a n colorful emblem the red bandanna handkerchief Thurman was the last senator benator to use the snuff box and he lie was famous for the grand with which ho swept his Ills |
