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Show THE CITIZEN 7 HOW TRIFLES WIN AND LOSE NA TIONAL ELECTIONS It is not always the paramount issue that decides a presidential contest. Sometimes national elections have been decided in a few close states by eleventh hour incidents bearing little or no relation to the leading issues. It was such an incident that. prevented the most brilliant Republican statesman of his day from becoming Endowed by nature and president. experience with faculties which promised to make him one of our greatest presidents James G. Blaine was defeated by rain on election day and, as he himself sardonically remarked, "by an ass in the form of a preacher. Toward the close of the campaign of 1884 Blaine welcomed a delegation of ministers of the gospel at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City. There were the usual felicitations and speeches and toward the close of the happy occasion which was to prove so fatal to the candidates chances the Rev. Samuel D. Burchard remarked that the Democratic party was the party of rum, Romanism and rebellion. By some unusual lack of attentiveness or appreciation of the political the remark Blaine was not particularly struck by it and made the effect of mistake of not saying something by neutralizing or nullifying it. It was just the kind of a blunder the Democrats needed to win back the Blaine Democrats in the ranks of the Irish. As governor of New York Cleveland had inadvertently alienated a part of the Irish vote and he nomination of Blaine had gone far toward taking all of this vote from he Democratic candidate. But the remark of Burchard, seized upon and exploited by the Democratic managers, had the effect of withdrawing from Blaine enough votes to lose him the state of New York and the election. Viewed in the retrospect it was a rivial incident, quite unworthy of deciding a national election, but it is enerally supposed to have had just nough influence to bridge the gap defeat and victory for Cleve-an- way of be-we- en d. Jouse One of the visitors at the White a year or so later was this ame r- - I'J' Samuel B. Buchard. The presi-en- t singled him out from among a roup of visitors and, shaking him by he hand, said with a laugh: "I am especially glad to see you. irt vA rk. to turn back the tide and election day remarked: found Harrison victorious. Apparently they have nominated a pocket handkerchief. Harrison was one of the ablest campaign speakers in our political history. When he was nominated many in his own party were dubious about his chances. Those who knew him well admired him immensely. He had the keen analytical mind of the lawyer and a profundity of knowledge which his reticence did not permit him to exploit. He was one who could think clearly and rapidly on his feet and his brief speeches during a trip which he made through the country after his election evoked universal admiration. He did not repeat as so many of our rear platform orators do. He always had something new and tren- chant to say. As a candidate he grew upon the people; as president he lost popularity by his unsympathetic personality. In reality he had a kind and noble nature, but he was not a genius. He was unfortunate in his lack of tact in conversation. Someone remarked that Harrison can make a speech to 10,000 people and everyone of them will go away his friends, but let him meet each of these 10,000 individually and all of them will go away his enemies. Most of us have forgotten what were the issues of those days in addition to the tariff. at The then British ambassador Washington was Sir Lionel Sackville-Wes- t. To him one signing himself Charles Murchison wrote a letter, stating that he was a naturalized Englishman and asking how he should vote. He pointed out that Cleveland, in the Canadian fisheries dispute and otherwise, had gained the reputation of being an enemy to Great Britain, but he wanted the ambassador to tell him whether, in reality, the presidents reputation in this regard had not been exaggerated. The ambassador fell into the trap and replied in a note in which he said that the Democratic party was still desirous of maintaining friendly relations with Great Britain and he spoke in eulogistic terms of Cleveland. On October 24 the Republicans sprang the correspondence. It was a bombshell in Democratic ranks. The campaign had been going ill with self-advertisi- The clouds of catastrophe were gathering. He could see that he must do something drastic if he would counteract this eleventh hour Cleveland. Often it is a auses disaster. witty remark that It is like the spark hich set the Greek fire ablaze in the 8phorus and destroyed an entire assian fleet in the eighth century. Allen G. silf cratic nominee for vice president, he Thurman who was ds running-mat- e in the second cam-n- , when Harrison won the presi-enewas noted for his large It was Senator Cleve- - y, ban-handkerchie- fs. Wdelberger who set the nation ,u6hing when, replying to an Inquiry to what he thought of the Demo He the of maneuver enemy. demanded that the British ambassador be recalled. Salisbury He did not see why demurred. the British envoy should be removed from office to meet the exigencies of an American political campaign. Then it was that Cleveland gave Sackville-Wes- t his passports and sent him out of the country. But it was too late In 1892 the contest for the Democratic nomination was between two New Yorkers Cleveland and Hill. Mr. Tracy of New York, about to leave Washington for the convention, remarked to a friend, we are going to nominate Cleveland or die. And the friend replied: Are you sure that you are not going to do both? It was a rather quiet campaign. Harrison, as has been indicated, had failed as a politician. By his rigid honesty, his hostility to crooked politicians and his refusal to play to the galleries he had made powerful enemies among his partys bosses and had not won the sympathy of the people. Among the bitterest of his opponents was Matt Quay of Pennsylvania who had stolen large sums from the state and yet had maintained himself in power as a boss. Harrison repudiated and scorned him and during the campaign Quay used all the devious tricks in his repertoire to humble his honorable party chief. In this campaign everything seemed to go well with Cleveland. From the beginning the Democrats were optimistic. They expressed their confidence and joy in a little song that ran something like this: Grover! Grover! Four more years of Grover. In he comes. Out they go Then well be in clover. The campaign of 1896 was revolutionary in character. All the old war horses of the Democratic party were set aside. It was a thrilling speech by a new orator that changed the whole course of politics. The events are too well known to need recording, but it is to be noted that it was an incident rather than an issue that made the campaign what it was. True, the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of sixteen to one, without waiting for the aid of any other nation was the issue that gave the campaign its intensity, dividing the east from the west by a clear line of clevage and leading to a savagery of campaigning which had not been known since before the Civil war. But it was Bryans crown of thorns speech in the convention which won him the nomination and Injected him, a young and magnetic leader, into-campaign which all but carried him to the White House. His speech voiced the yearning of the people for better times.' The Cleveland panic had left the country in a bad way. There had been three years and more of hard times and the people were grasping at any straw that promised to bring them relief. In his peroration the young champion from Nebraska said: Having the producing masses of the nation and the world, the laboring interest, and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them, You shall not press down upon the brow of labor a crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of a gold. The east was skeptical, defiant, derisive. It awaited the coming of Bryan with impatience because of his flaming reputation as an orator. With an unwisdom which sometimes amounts almost to madness in political campaigns the notification had been arranged New for York This in a City. put Bryan difficult position. To make the proper impression it was necessary for him to fulfill the high expectations of the New Yorkers and to succeed in this he must outdo his Chicago performance. .Here was a manifest impossibility, for a great speech depends as much upon the occasion and the temper of the audience ins upon the gifts and skill of the speaker. Bryan chose the wise alternative; like Lincoln on a similar occasion he would read his speech. But it was wise only in the sense that the other alternative would be an attempt to achieve the impossible. The effect was disappointing. His enemies passed from fear to hope, from hope to jubilancy and from jubil-anc-y to sneers. Bryan became the . Boy Orator of the Platte, the target for witty or bitter Jests. Try as he might, he could not, after that, measure up to the standard the east had set for him. Bridgets Caller How would you like to have a home of your own? Cook Fine! Im tire Vasin oth- er peoples families. Boston :iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHniiii S Thomas Insurance & Investment Company Insurance Of All Kinds Telephone Wasatch 3164 v E i 3 i Boyd Park Bldg,, Salt Lake City 1 iiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiitiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiHiiiitiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiininHiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittiiiiuiiiiiiHiiimiiiiiiitiiinniiiuiiuiu? E |