Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-11-01
TILDEN'S STILL HUNT.
How New York's shrewdost Political
Leader Won His Brilliant
Victories.
The Same Taoiico Doing Good Work FOL
Cleveland.

quot p1litichl campaign. 10 was he
who Invented the atiil hunt and no one
knew better how TO make 10 effective.
He mover believed In the skyrockct
aud Roman candle system and he
rarely used II, except when he Wished
10 divert attention from more serious
work. II there was still hunt going
on In Albany Tilden might permlt
some noise 10 be made IN Trey, nix
miles away, but ~ q rule he considered
brass bands aud orators waste OF
money and time. His nrst move
was To ascertain the tN ont Of
inc opposition, He mover both
cred with the sure voter of either
party, but paid his chief attention 10
the doubtful or undecided citizen.
Six weeks before election day MIR.
Tllden had secured truaty agent ln
every election district In the state.
who answered to an Rgentin the town,
who In turn was responsible 10 an
agent who had charge OF the coanty.
The election district agent had n list Of
every voters In the district, and six
weeks before election that list was sent
70 MI ridden, the names being claesl.
He'd IA irOn-clRd Democrats and iron-
clad Republicans, doubtful Democratic
and doubtful Republicans.
WORKING on TIE DOUBTFUL VOTERS
10 was tremendous undertaking.
but IL was carried out. No sooner hnd
the listH begun 10 come In than the
doubtful voters began 10 receive tlocu-
ments. They were selected with all
the art that Mr.. Tllden could com
mand, Newspaper organs that con-
tained some telling argument were de-
llvered from the pOst-oillce, and tracts
and speeches and pamphlets came
with them. Three weeks later the
agent made another can vass Of the Clis.
trlct with especial reference To the
doubtful voter. Some had been CON
verted, some had gone over Ia the
enemy and others wRvered. Their
names We're again classified, and the
ones who had deserted or who vet
held out, were bombarded with more
documents, More than that, the unn
was vinlted by some leading light i'm
Mr. Tilden's party, and quietly Invited
70 vote in the proper manner. Some
Democrats OF reputation In the state
might happen In town, and II 30, the
voter was pretty sure 10 be cast In his
way, and 10 have the honor OF shaking
his hand and of getting pleasant
word from him.
MT. Tilden was very confident OF
the efficacy Of this sort Of personal at
lention and he encouraged Its practice
Every sort OF civility that The local
manager could invent was thrust on
the unsusuecting doubtful voter. By
the time election day was only ten
days of this sort Of work had begun 10
tell. Then the final canvass was
madeand the third Lat of voters sent
TO the astute politician. A glance
would show how affairs stood In evoFy
district. There had been gains here
aud losses there By this time, too,
the agent was able 90 write opposite
each doubtful voter's name his
reasons for opposing the Democratic
candidate, and this was u great advan.
tnge. In 1876, when Mr.. Tlden made
the most perfect canvass ever made la
New York state, the roll read some
thing like this:
DOUBTFUL DEMOCRATS,
John smith: Thrown out Of work by
the canal reforms.
John Jones; For sale; price abOut g..
John Robinson: Angry because
beaten In primary elections.
John Doe: Dldu't get nominated for
constable
Richard Roe Republicans have
promised him work.
Peter Blake; His brother IL Republl.
can oannidRto fprsherin.
a SYSTEM THAT WON,
Then the real work began, A lob
was found for John Smith, arrange
menta were made 10 meet the difficult
~ In John Jones case; promises were
made 10 Robinson; Doe was 10 be given
IA ioremanHhip In the canal repairs and
40 on, A mighty effort was made 10
smooth over all trouble and the labor
was kept up with individuals, instead
Of with the muses., In nv Instance
did the victim know that an agent Of
MIR. Tilden WAS doing the favor ar ad'
vancing the argument. A week before
the election IL was known lust how
the vote through the state would 90
aud the night before the election of
1876 Mr.. Tilden marked ON n bit OF ia.
per what his majority, In hia opinion,
would be, aud he was a few hundred
only lower than the actual majority.
Hia work with doubtful voters was
kept up until the voter had been to the
ballot-boN, and II as the day waned he
had not appear carriage was sent for
him, Mr.. Iilden knew Just how many
votes needed GO be changed from the
last election or from the last canvass 10
give him the victory aud he went 20
work 20 change them at any hazard.
His system was complete and under
the perfect orga piEatlonithAt he had ef-
fected he could not loo mlHled a. ~ the
real situation. The advantage was
that lao did not waste time and money
on men HON mo- amount OF lombard. |
ing could influence and he always !
knew just how his canvass was pro, |
crossing.
riLpEN's AGENTS Al WORK FoR
CLEVELAND.
The men who aided Mr.. Tildeu In |
perfecilDR his organization OF the state |
are now running Grover Clevelanda |
canvass Roth Daniel Manning aud |
Daniel Lamont were Mr.. Tilden's con- /
tidential and trusted ngonta In 1874 |
aud 1870 They are the head and |
front this year OF the Cleveland forces. /
80 far az this stale Is concerned. They /
know every method aud every trick |
t.as HAL, NJ mliiaFa AafnaA asu.sfl ala 4