Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-04-12
A Glimpse ofthe reform" Campaign.

a Glimpse Ofthe Reform" Campaign.
The Cincinnati Enquirer publishes n report
of a conversation which n member of its staff
had on a railroad train, few days ago, with
Hon. Thomas Hendricks of Indiana, and Hon.
William Eaton of Kansas, and which gives an
interesting inside view Of the late Reform
campaign for the presidency. Mr.. Hen
bricks was very reserved in the expression of
his opinion on political matters, but Mr.. Eat
on, who is member of the national Demo
cratic committee, and has been ever since the
Charleston convention, seems to have talked
very freely He told the reporter that he was
firmly of the opinion that 1'ildens manage
ment of the campaign was as great botch rs
ever he had known. An ardent believer in
the greenback, he was not in favor of the
nomination of slippery Sam" at st. Louis,
and seeing that old Bill Allen had no chance
there he did all in his power to secure the
place of honor for Gov Hendricks" 1T
was no use. though" said he; "Tilden had
sent big fellow named Finley to the North
west, and backed him with plenty Of money
to use in his interest. He went first into
Michigan, and his line of argument was
that Tilden wa, ain immensely wealthy man.
worth over seven millions of dollars and that
he was willing to spend two millions of this
money in the campaign" Il know" contin-
ued Mr.. Eaton, in reply to a suggestion from
Mr.. Hendricks that Tilden was not as rich
as he was represented, yet the tale was be
lieved, and it had its effect. Finley went
from Michigan into Iowa, Wisconsin, Mime
.. Al. =
ceeded, by appealing to the cupidity of every
impeounious democratic editor, in enlisting
their assistance, they hoping to he remuner-
ated for their work after the nomination st.
Louis was filled with these clacquers when the
convention met, and their noisy gable in
duced the southerners, who were only anxious
to get the control of their State governments.
and to relieve themselves of military tyranny
to believe that he was the only man who could
be elected if nominated, and so he procured
theirsupport." Having thus disclosed the meth
onds by which the nomination was secured
by the great reformer Mr.. Eaton passed on
to speak of the work of the campaign. In
the course of these very free remarks, Mr..
Eaton asserted that Ohio had no right to com
matters We're concerned, declaring that he
was told by Mr.. Tiden himself that he paid
Ohio twice as much as he did Indiana, and
that one man got $40, 900 of it, which he
squandered on ''lot of dead beats" 1n an
swer to question: How much did Mr.. Til
den spend in the campaign Mr.. Eaton re-
piled Directly about $3.50, 600 though
Hewitt told me that he and Ed. Cooper his
brother-in-law, had spent about Sl2O, 600 adj
ditional I learned afterward that Mr.. Til
den did pay them all but about so, 900 apiece
of the sum which they expended, and he has
probably paid them in full by this time.
In discussion which followed of the
chances of the different candidates for the
next presidential campaign, Mr.. Eaton ex-
pressed the opinion that Tilden wits virtually
out of the race, as the people did not regard
him as leader fit to rally around, and his
candidacy did not arouse any enthusiasm
among them. On the contrary. he thought
that Gov. Hendricks had the inside track for
the prize, though he added, lin Washington
they are moving heaven and earth for Thur
man."
As intimated in the beginning, the CONVEX
sation thus outlined is chiefly interesting from
the fact that it let's in a ray of light upon the
inside working of the great Reform campaign
of 1876. Coming from the source they do, its
leading statements ought to be correct By
way of comment it only need be said that the
differences to be drawn from Mr.. Eaton's re-
marks only confirm the conclusion which
most people have all the time held-that the
Reform" element of that contest was exclu-
sively confined TO the loud and prolonged
professions of reform which marked its
whole course