Show oil I 1 T tales aes end and i traditions ir roof om american political history FRANK 1 HAGEN AGIN AND ELMO SCOTT scon WATSON EMBLEMS TF YOU lwe live in iwa a state i where they IF i 1 still allow party emblems on the billot ballot take a lookyat look at thern them as you ou mark yours that eagle soaring above the clouds at the top i afi of the republican column should remind you of gen john C fremont who was the first republican candidate for president back in 1856 li it may be reminiscent of the eagles which he saw when he was the pathfinder in the west Westi or it may mean i that the republicans Republic ani have havel been in power so long iong during the last 80 years that th atthe iahey figure they have a better right than any other party to claim the national bird that lordly crowing rooster at the head of the democratic column should remind you of joseph chapman of indiana whose ose habit of crowing over democratic victories la a century ago resulted in this symbol for his party that rising sun with its beams glinting over an ocean as though foretelling the day da when there win will be water water everywhere but not a drop to drink tells you that below were it are the names of the i candidates on the prohibition ticket those hands clasped against a background odthe of the earth tellof tell of the socialists dream of greater equality for mankind all over the earth that stout bare arm with the hammer in hand speaks for the labor party and that sickle and hammer remind you that the communists would ha have ve us follow the example of soviet russia rus sia there was once a tithe time when a B bull ull moose snorted defiance at the top of one column on the ballot that was when theodore roosevelt was seeking a third term under the progressive banner but since 1912 the bull moose has ben been 1 an extinct political animal or course it if you live in a state where they use voting machines the emblems may be slightly different the reason for these emblems on the ballot is a practical one besides their symbolical significance in the early days they were placed there to aid voters who had left their spectacles at home and nd who want to vote for the wrong candidates by mistake when the tides of immigration began pouring into the coul country itry millions of foreigners who were illiterate even after naturalization caturan 7 aaion these emblems were to them in their voting I 1 As new parties partie arose sarose the use of these symbols helped avoid contusion fusion and even though many efforts have been made to do away with them they are still in widespread use HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF IP IF EVER there was a ca case se of 11 history repeats itself in american ic an politics it was illustrated in the careers of henry clay and james G blaine separated by half a century those careers were almost exact duplicates of of f near achievement and ultimate disaster there were other resemblances also both men were magnetic in personality eloquent in speech and idolized by their followers both were master politicians and dominated the councils of their parties but both fell victims to a political enemy whose fateful vengeance fol lowed them all through their days of striving for the presidency andrew jackson was clays nemesis roscoe conkling was blaines early in his career blaine recognized his hii similarity to clay when grover cleveland then comparatively unknown was nominated by the democrats in 1884 blaine had a premonition of defeat 1 I am the henry clay of the republican party he declared to a friend clay was defeated in two conventions when he could have been elected and he was nominated for president when his competitor was elected that competitor polk was one who had not been publicly discussed as a presidential candidate before the meeting of the baltimore convention in 1844 1 I was vas defeated in two conventions when I 1 could have been elected I 1 am nominated no now w with a competitor alike obscure idith with the i competitor of clay then he head and murmured sadly 1844 11 his premonition of defeat was a tru eone one cleveland the unknown beat him in 1884 just aspock as Polk the unknown beat clay in 1844 2844 so among ill all the also ransby of american political history henry clay of kentucky and james G gt blaine of maine come down to us as the really epic figures that stand out but as tragic personifications of forlorn hopes 9 0 2 pit union |