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Show I ft '" - r - " v W7 t ' - y. 'A f HI) V,l ZA -W V " '4 y- i -i , , " V J t - ' By ELMO SCOTT WATSON 6$ "StW ALK about the 1932 Presidential 1555 "S r g 1 campaign Is already In the air and SJ n ,. It won't be long now until the two 'wrTSj9ffe,,iF SSorwKdwSi,e SSSo S - iTs select the standard-bearers In next rjC r "I I -I L ff .J ii T feW year's race. So ,t Is appropr.ate I' , i U t j , 1 ,k 1 3 H at this time to recall that the first SCC- 14 4 1 1" si V4 M J$Lfi"& BgiX Presidential convention was held Vt 'j WW Just 100 years ago and the story of f - fp' fZ i fl S kj v ' f Vf 1SB that hlstorlc gathering Is one of , -J L L R H t sS I j Jl j V L the Interesting incidents in our na- v, S3 I J N fa i It L- g "P "? MJ tlonal history which is but little V - " ' s! " known to most Americans 'f! Most Americans, no doubt, be- ' rt 3 Heve that we have had Presidential nominating V V " ' N K v i-iV-s . , j conventions ever since American political par- " '-jSteilSiiS "V J ties came into existence and that such a meth- 5 aiM srv s' , od of selecting candidates was originated by J Z, '"A one of the two major parties which have al- I 1 ' -t-. " "A I ways dominated governmental affairs. But the k v " c " v V xv V v fact is that neither belief Is correct. The re- Is C " -tf Vff public had been in existence more than four de- MSaaefc-bj'.,--auremagBiateyfeat cades and had already chosen six Presidents &--vi ir&r?G Aoo when this nrocpdnrp. whlrh wna rpo-arriafl aa a (7Uai , J By ELMO SCOTT WATSON 0 ALK about the 1032 Presidential campaign Is already In the air and it won't be long now until the two major parties will be deciding where they will hold their conventions to fx select the standard-bearers in next ,V ,.V year's race. So It is appropriate bomSiS at this time to recall that the first Btj?vijJ Presidential convention was held S&iKW'fl Just 100 years ago and the story of that nlstorlc gathering Is one of vTjJ the Interesting incidents in our na-(ifflw) na-(ifflw) tlonal history which is but little known to most Americans. Most Americans, no doubt, believe be-lieve that we have had Presidential nominating conventions ever since American political parties par-ties came into existence and that such a method meth-od of selecting candidates was originated by one of the two major parties which have always al-ways dominated governmental affairs. But the fact Is that neither belief is correct. The republic re-public had been in existence more than four decades de-cades and had already chosen six Presidents when this procedure, which was regarded as a startling innovation at the time, came into existence. ex-istence. More than that, it was not the invention inven-tion of one of the then leading parties but it was brought Into being by an obscure organization organiza-tion which played a minor role in one Presl- . dentinl campaign and then quickly passed out of existence. Not even the fact that the two leading parties par-ties of that period Immediately adopted the national na-tional convention idea, as have all later parties, par-ties, until now it is an essential part of the American political scheme, has been sufficient to keep alive the memory of the Anti-Masonic party, a religious-political phenomenon, which In September 1S31 held in Baltimore, Md., the first authentic national Presidential nominating nominat-ing convention. And to round out the paradox of this historic incident which is filled with paradoxes, it should be recorded that the nominee nomi-nee of the Anti-Masonic party was himself a Mason 1 It is probable that a national nominating convention would have come about eventually In the process of American political evolution, even If there had never been an Anti-Masonic party. But it so happened that this organizatlo'n came on the scene at a time when the growth of the Democratic spirit in the American people was rising to a high tide and the dissatisfaction dissatisfac-tion with the previous method of choosing Presidential Presi-dential candidates had reached its peak. So whether by design or by chance, this party responded re-sponded to a popular demand with a new and acceptable method and thus gets the crtdit for Inaugurating a custom which is a milestone In American political history. During the first two decades of our history as a nation, it became the practice for each party to hold a congressional caucus and nominate nomi-nate candidates for President and vice president. presi-dent. But gradually the caucus grew into disfavor. The dictum of the party members of congress was not always accepted by everybody. In 1S0S two powerful competitors for the succession succes-sion to Jefferson appeared Madison and Monroe Mon-roe and both were put forward by state legislative legis-lative caucuses in Virginia. The congressional caucus decided in favor of Madison. Several members of congress who did not favor Madison Madi-son appealed to the country, not only against the regularity of the procedure, but against the caucus system Itself. But the caucus won out In that instance, and Madison was elected President. Presi-dent. Though the congressional caucus continued to make presidential nominations until 1S24 "King Caucus," as it was now called, continued to be regarded with more and more disfavor. In 1S24, William IT. Crawford of Georgia was the caucus nominee of the Republican party, but the rank and file of the party refused to accept ac-cept him, and he came out third in the list of candidates In the election. So "King Caucus" was dethroned and Democratic America was ready for a new and more representative method meth-od of choosing its candidates for President. This was furnished by the Anti-Masonic party which was brought into being by the following events : In 1S24 a certain William Morgan settled in Batavia, N. Y. lie had been a Mason but, becoming be-coming dissatisfied with the fraternity, he published pub-lished a book which purported to reveal the secrets se-crets of the order. In 1S20 Morgan disappeared and the rumor was started that he had been abducted and murdered by the Masons. There was no proof that they had anything to do with his disappearance but the Incident was capitalized capital-ized upon by enemies of the order and through New York, New England and Pennsylvania1 spread the suspicion that the order, whose membership mem-bership was mainly from the wealthier clnsses, was a secret political society as well as a fraternal fra-ternal order whose influence swayed juries and legislatures. So America had a first class "menace" "men-ace" to get excited over and the politician were and had never renounced his allegiance to that order ! His letter of acceptance has often been cited as a "practical renunciation" of Masonry but it was far from that. In it he said in substance sub-stance that both in conversation and in letters to friends, he had spoken of the contentions over Masonry as a subject more fit for farce than tragedy and "had been grieved at seeing some of my friends involved in what appeared to me such a wild and unjust persecution against so harmless an institution as Freemasonry." Free-masonry." The candidate of the Anti-Masons then admitted ad-mitted his ideas upon the subject had undergone under-gone some modification, however, and that he did find some cause for alarm in the actions of "overzealous members of the order." Concerning Con-cerning the new party he was asked to lead, Wirt wrote, after describing his own affiliation with Masonry extending over a period of 80 years : "I had supposed that the very principles of your union was a war of Indiscriminate proscription pro-scription against all persons throughout the United States who had ever borne the name of Mason ; that you would put In nomination no persons who had ever been a Mason and who would not moreover pledge himself to become a party to such a war of Indiscriminate extermination extermina-tion and wield the appointing power of the office under your dictation ; who would not, In short, become the president of your party instead of being be-ing the President of the United States. I am happy to find that this Is an error." This attitude of their candidate was far from satisfactory to the more earnest of the Anti-Masons Anti-Masons and they became even more dissatisfied when the campaign got under way. For Wirt made no attempt to carry on on active campaign. cam-paign. How plainly he felt that an unpleasant job had been "wished oft on him" and that there was no hope of his being elected is shown by a letter which he wrote to Judge Carr, an intimate inti-mate friend. In it he said: "I had thought I had no right to object to the Anti-Masons proposing me to the consideration of the people for the office of President. Every other chance of uniting the opposition (to Jackson) had vanished. This alone remained and, faint as it was, I considered it my duty to permit the offer to be made. It has been made . . . the National Republicans have declared against the union, which alone I had in view, I can perceive neither dignity nor decency In continuing con-tinuing the nomination. "It is true that when I accepted the nomination nomina-tion I knew that this state of things might arise. But it Is not true that I knew, if it should arise, the anti-Masons would still persist in the nomination. nom-ination. It 'never entered into my imagination that they could wish to do so vain and foolish a thing. What end can it answer to themselves? It will only expose their weakness. They cannot carry a single state, except, perhaps, Vermont. ... In such circumstances what a figure will they and their candidate make in a Presidential contest. It will annihilate them and me, too", by the mere force of ridicule. ... He was a true prophet. Not only did Clay fail to beat Jackson, as Wirt had hoped, but, as he had also predicted, Vermont, with its seven electoral votes, was the only state carried by the anti-Masons. Even John Floyd of Georgia who ran as an independent, did better than that'. He got 11 electoral votes. After the election of 1832 this party disappeared from the national scene. Most of Its members were absorbed by the Whigs, although In Pennsylvania it continued con-tinued its identity for several years and elected a governor in 1S.15. But even though it played such a small part on the American political stage, the anti-Masonic party and its standard bearer, William Wirt, are deserving of remem hrance as the party which gave to the countrv the national convention system. ( by Western Newapaper Union.) quick to seize upon It to promote their own ambitions. The result was the formation of the Anti-Masonic party at a national convention held in Philadelphia In September, 1830, attended at-tended by 96 delegates from 10 states. There It was decided to hold a national nominating convention con-vention the next year. Of this party Prof. William O. Lynch in his book "Fifty Years of Party Warfare, 1789-1837," published recently by the Bobbs Merrill company, com-pany, writes: "The Anti-Masonic strength was greatest in the East. The movement made little lit-tle headway In the West, save Ohio, and was weak In the South. In the New England states, New York and Pennsylvania the number of Anti-Masons was great. The strongest leaders appeared in these commonwealths. Among the political leaders who had some prominence In the Anti-Masonic party were: William H. Seward, Sew-ard, Thurlow Weed, Millard Fillmore, Albert H. Tracy, Francis Granger, John Crary and Frederick Fred-erick Whittlesey of New York; Thaddeus Stevens Stev-ens and Richard Rush of Pennsylvania; Edward Everett and John Qulncy Adams of Massachusetts. Massachu-setts. Other leaders who looked with favor on the party were William Wirt, John Marshall, John C. Calhoun, John McLean and Daniel Webster." Andrew Jackson, who was then President, was a Mason and seemed certain of re-election unless some strong combination could be formed against him. So an effort was made to Induce Henry Clay to lead the new party, or at least to unite the Anti-Masons with the wing of the National Republican party, of which he was the leader, under his banner. The only trouble trou-ble with this effort was that Clay himself was a Mason and although he was not an enthusiastic enthusi-astic member of the order the efforts to get him to renounce It failed. In September, 1931, Clay wrote a letter in reply re-ply to a committee of Anti-Masons in Indiana who had asked him for his sentiments on Masonry, Mason-ry, which may possibly have vitally affected his political fortunes and kept him from realizing real-izing his fondest ambition of going to the White House. In this letter Clay , said that should he give his views on Masonry it would imply that individual sentiments on the subject formed a proper consideration in regard to voting for persons to fill federal offices. He declared that Americans should vote for President without regard to religious, social, benevolent or literary liter-ary associations. Further than that, he made a statement which was a criticism of Anti-Masonry when he said "If indeed you, gentlemen, will point to a provision in the Federal Consti- . tution which can legitimately be made to operate op-erate upon the subject in question, I would not hesitate to comply with your request." This was a definite turn-down for the Anti-Masons Anti-Masons and years later Thurlow Weed declared that, if Clay had not written this letter, the Anti-Masons would have joined the National Republicans and would have defeated Jackson. Such a combination, he declared, would have given Clay New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Georgia, North Carolina and Louisiana in addition ad-dition to the states that he did carry, enough to have insured him a safe majority in the electoral vottjg. Turning to their next best bet, the Anti-Masons Anti-Masons picked upon William Wirt of Maryland as their choice. Wirt had been one of the attorneys at-torneys who had prosecuted Aaron Burr for treason, had served as attorney-general in the cabinets of both Madison and Monroe and was widely regarded as an able and outstanding man. So when the first national nominating convention ever held In the United States assembled as-sembled In the old Athenaeum in Baltimore in September, 1S31, it sejeoted Wirt as its choice for candidate for President and named Amos Ellmaker of Pennsylvania as his running mate, for vice president. And this despite the fact that Wirt was a Mason of many year standing |