The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-05-20
1altsce11menms.
TALK WITH WATTERSON
HIS OBSERVATIONS AT GRAMER-
CY PARK
And Views on The Political Outlook Governor
TIlden's Health and the Certainty or
His Nomination.
rworld Interview with Henry Watson

was lOuT yehlS aBO' VI SOui~N ~ 49,"
old man, and he has looked much older
than he is. But he eats heartily and en-
joys his dinner and a glass of wine. He
does not drink as much as formerly, and
I presume that is done by the advice OF
his physicians, though l do not know. l
can youch for the fact that he eats a
u, good square meal and has an excellent
appetite"
"Is Mr.. Tilden troubled with a tremor
in the arm and handP"
Eyes, ne has it the same as all old
men have. At times it affects him a
great deal, and that is particularly the
case after he mas been hard at work, as
he has during the past winter with his
private business. 1t is simply nervous
ness. Mr.. Tilden is a very nervous man,
and works uutil he is worn out, and then
he has these spells. The trouble mani
tests itself in a palsied shaking Of the
hands"
II have heard it stated by an init
mate personal friend of Mr.. Tilden that
he recently had another slight stroke of
paralysis. Is this true2"
mo. That is, l don't know; but it
can't be true. I saw Mr.. Tilden in De,
Cember, and l don't sse any change in
him now. He looks as well as he did
then and as well as in 1875"
"YOu consider him, then, In sufficient
ly good health to run in the Presidential
race this fall ?"
"Most certainly. Why I have just left
him on Fourth avenue, where he took
the cars at the Central depot to go to
Greystone. He urged me to 60 with
him but l declined, because l knew just
what it meant. He is laying a lot of pipe
there, building sewers and altering the
rooms, and | knew that a journey there
meant being hauled wei the grounds
and up and down stairs to inspect alter
atoms and improvements until | was
tired to death. Last summer BigelOw
and | went up into the mountains with
him a fortnight and he tired us down
every day. He is a marvel of pedes.
trianism and his nervous vigor is amaz
ing"
"But why doesn't he show himself
more in public2 Why doesn't he make
friends with the people ard counsel with
the leaders?"
"Thore is the fault of his nature. Mr..
Tilden is no politician. He has no taste
for notor,ety and public attentions. He
is modest and retiring and prefers to al
low events to take their course. l know
he has been called a wire.puller, but he
is not enough of a wire. puller to suit me
or for his own good. The politicians are
not with him to-day, but that is his own
fault. He could have them at his call if
he wanted to. They would come in a
moment. Why shouldn't they Mr.,
Tilden is the foremost Democrat in
America, and they would naturally place
themselves at his disposal if he wished
it. The people are with Mr.. Tilden. My
own local delegation in the Kentucky
delegation to Cincinnati will vote unani-
mously for him; yet the Congressional
delegations are opposed to him. Why
Because Beck and the rest of them fancy,
for the reason that l am friendly to Mr..
Tilden, that if he is elected President |
shall have something to say about the
distribution of the Offices. This is alb.
surd. l am intimate with Mr.. Tilden
because l like him. / admire the man.
Probably if Mr.. Tilden were elected
President and l should 60 to him for an
appointment (but there is no appoint.
ment it would pay me in my position to
take) or official favor, he would quietly
say it was not iii the bond and l had no
right to ask any thing. l have no such
right. Mr.. Nlden Is free from any
pledges to day and is not the mar at all
to seek to appease hungry politicians by
promising any thing to them in advance.
II he desired to make bargains he could
have them all at his back"
WAS it untrue that he used money
to advance his own interests at 81, Louis,
as has been charged2"
There is not a word of truth in it.
The Southern delegates paid their own
bills like men of honor. l paid my ex'
penses, and 80 did an outside delegation
of $50 men from Louisville; but how your
New York outsiders met their bills l
don't know, only l know that Tilden
didn't pay any hotel bills-not even Dor
sheimer's. He will not pay any bills
now. He is not the kind Of a man to
pay his way into the Presidency, l have
no doubt there was purchasable material
in the Southern votes that were given to
Mr.. Hayes, but Mr., Tilden was too hon
est to take advantage of it or to search
for it. He knew that sooner or later
history would reveal any attempt to
tamper with the electoral vote, and he
would rather lose the Presidency than
gain it by any suspicious step. No doubt
great deal Of money must necessarily
be expended in anybody's canvass for
the Presidential Office, but none of it will
be spent this year by Mr.. Tilden in the
way of bribery and corruption. Nor will
there be any need for it."
"You think, then, that Tilden will be
nominated at Cincinnati ?"
II am sure of it. There has never been
the slightest doubt in my mind on that
point. The best men in the South and
West favor him, and in my mind the
nomination is to-day at his disposal,
There is no n else whom the Demo
Gratis can properly put forward as their
champion. Mr.. Tilden embodies and
emphasizes the Democratic protest
against the party's practical disfranchise,
ment through the Electoral Commission
Fraud. He embodies our one only issue,
If we let him 60 we have nothing left
His nomination, in my opinion, is a fore.
gone conclusion. If the Democracy do
not put him up as their leader and fight
out the battle already begun under him
four years ago, they will be demorrlized
and go out Of existence, They came
very near humiliation ID 1872 when they
committed the fatal blunder Of picking
up Horace Greeley. Nothing saved them
from oblivion but the terrible corruption
Of Grants second term, with his Bah
cock, Belknaps and Averys. Now, il
they hesitate about Tilden they are lost