Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-05-02

~ Os
latter was ending his first term q
governor. Neither were Milwaukee
favorites. yet Taylor received ma
jority 10 the city of 1888 votes. Ii
1876, owing to the combined assault
of.he corporations,th personal pop
, ularity of Gov. Luding'on and til,
superhuman exertions of his friends
the majority was reduced to 70,
votes. Milwaukee cisy and county
gave him 1888 in 1873 and bat 81;
10 1875. Similar results attended
the canvass throughout the state.
| But in the presidential election c.
1876 local causes did not affect il
to much extent. A few reform re.
publicans returned to their first ale
gence, but in the mair the contest
was between the old republicans anc
democrats under straigh, party or.
CARNATIONS Each made fair stand
up fight for its principles As usua
victory perched on the republican
banner, but the state canvass gave il
majority of but 6 l4O against q
former average majority of Is 926
for the five preceding presidential
elections. Although disappointed
in some sense at losing the state.
!, democrats congratulated themselves
upon doing better than ever before
for twenty years at such au election
| The city of Milwaukee, although
just emerged from the demoraIizlng
personal campaign of 1875, doubled
her democratic msjorits on straight
platform. Other cities and localities
presented the same general features
and gave the same promises fer the
future.
But the demon of unrest had en-
tered into the democratic house hold
Ambitious leaders could not bide
their time. Dsmocrstic office seek.
ers bad grown weary 10 waiting for
democratic success New paths were
TO be explored. new doctrines prom
nlsated, new passwords ado .,.ed and
shall | say it--uew pretexts. de-
vices and DISCUSSES adopted to mis-
lead the unwary, catch gullible voters
assure the ascendency of the demo-
cratic party, and place new leaders
into place and power. In short it
was to be new departure, and all
things were to become new, The
old democratic statute of liberty
was to be dragged from her pedes-
tai. her classic costume exchanged
for the tinseled, bedizened finerv of
bawd,and all good democrats were
called upon to kiss the hem of her
bedraggled garments. Such was the
plan coEcocted by few discounted
democrats, first whispered from one
to another with bated breath and f.
nslly formulated aud promulgated at
Fond du Lac. Let US see how it
worked in practice. To begin: The
calling of the state convention to
meet at Fond du Lac was q mistake
"a blunder for two reasons. First
it was not central. and the politi.
clans had in addition to that come
to look upon Madison or Milwaukee
and the political centres and the on.
ly suitable places for such conven.
tons. Secondly, a large proportion
OF prominent democrats throughout
the state suspected that city was
designated in the interests of Messrs
Bragg and Bouck. and resented
it accordingly. [ happen to be in
position to know that so far as Gen,
Bouck was concerned be was not a
party to the selection of the city for
the meeting CT the convention and
that instead of being candidate
tor the guberpatorial nomination. as
was believed by many, he was per-
sistently rebuking his friends for
such unwarranted use of his name.
He greatly preferred his seat in con-
gress. to which he bad just been Sc
iected to any Office the state could
bestow upon him Nevertheless, the
calling of the convention at Fond du
Lac was not satisfactory, and gave
rise to much suspicion of unfair play
both before and after lis meeting.
Next, the adoption by the conven-
ton of the greenback platform and
the nomination Of an avowed green
back candidate for governor fell like
clap of thunder on the party
throughout the state, and Supplied
it for time into silence. Nothing
of the kind was dreamed of BIZ the
rank and file or had ever been al,1d
ed to as aremote possibility. Had
the question been raised in the urim.
airy caucuses and assembly and SEN
atorial conventions, very few of
those who clamored for the new de-
parture would have been sent to the
convention. 1t was sudden Md
night assault, and the citadel of dem
ocracy went down before it.
But there was a remnant of Israel
who would not bow the knee to this
modern Baal of democracy. Nota-
BILE and influential psrsonages in ev-
cry coanty expressed their indignant
dissent and avowed their determine
atIon 20 bolt tho ticket--at least to
the extent of not voting it. Many
WoTo CaIIiCo luituoE, auu Op0DlY
voted the republican ticket for the
first time in many years, if not in
their lives.
| In. certain localities whose classes
of democrats openly repudiated the
Fond du Lac nominations and plat
form, and either threw away their
votes on Allis,t the regular greenback
candidate or voted the straight re-
publican ticket, or remained away
from the polls altogether. Voters Of
German birth were nearly unani-
nous in condemning the greenback
policy and thus drew largely from
the democratic majorities in hither-
to reliable democratic counties.
Milwaukee city, which had never
given less than 727 democratic ma
jority, and this only in the excep-
tional case of Gov. Taylor's second
candidacy in 1875 when everything
conspired to reduce his vote, fell
back from 1.407 majority which it
had fallen to in 1876 to the beggarly
one of I'll votes. And this, too, in
face of the fact that Judge Mallory