The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1884-11-20

correspondent at Augusta had long con
versatIon with Hon. James &. Blaine Of
saturday afternoon. The defeated candi
date, who, by the way, appeared in thu
best OF health, said that, whatever nigh
be the final result OF the count in New
I DIRK, he had had from the first no Othe,
desire than that fair count should b.
made. SO far as he was personally con
cerned, he would be content with eithel
victory or defeat. Success would not elatt
him and defeat would not depress him
lie was engaged in c0ngenial and prOfita
Die work, which had been interrupted by
the campaign, and the deep regret that
| he would feel at a Democratic triumph
would be altogether for his party and his
country. not for himself.
II lived too near the presidency in 1851, ,
Mr.. Blaine added, after long pause
land have too keen sense Of its burdens
It's emDarrasSments and its perils to be
unduly anxious for the Office. u
THE INDEPENDENTS AND PROHIBITION.
lists.
When asked how he accounted for the
closeness in New York, Mr.. Blaine said
well, considering the loss by the bolt of
the Independent Republicans and the
larger loss from the action of the Republic
can PrOhibitiOnists, the wonder is at first
sight that the Democrats did not carry the
state by large majority. as they conf
IDENTIFY expected they would. This result
was prevented by the great accessions to
the Republlcan ranks of Irish and Irish
American voters, and workingmen of all
classes, who sustained me because of my
advocacy of protectiue tariff. They be-
ElleEey and BelieveMiselysk that Free Trade
would reduce their wages
You really think then that you got a
considerable Irish vote in New York ?''
DR.. BURcHARD's THREE ''R''s.
"Oh, l had thousands upon thousands, y
replied Mr.. Blaine, land should have had
more but for the intolerant and utterly
improper remark of DIR. Burchard, which
was quoted everywhere to my prejudice
and in many places attributed to myself,
though it was in the highest degree dis
tasteful and offensive to me. But lie,
you know, travels very fast, and there was
not time before election to overtake and
correct that one, and so | suffered for
it,
Mr.. Blaine was then asked if he thought
the Irish-American vote was organized at
all or had competent leaders Yes
said he, Il was deeply impressed by the
ability, the earnestness and sincerity of
ouOoC NlkOu1 l. lACGs 4uclc. 1OI luSLduCc.
is Patrick Ford, of the Irish World. He
is man of the most unselfish devotion to
any cause he espouses, possessing a..great
faculty for organization, with marked
ability and untiring energy, General Ker-
win, OF the Tablet, has in large degree the
same characteristics and is far-Sighted
and able man with a fine record as Union
soldier. Alexander Sullivan and John Fin
erty were very powerful on the stump and
did royal service. Both are natural ora
tors OF the fervid Irish type. Sullivan
tariff speech in Toledo contributed very
largely to the defeat of Frank Hurd.
These men, with others, whom did not
personally meet, have made break in the
Irish Democratic vote, one that I believe
will widen and increase in the future as
the full significance of the attitude of the
Democratic party on the tariff question
becomes understood and appreciated. Our
Irish, and Irish-American citizens will in
time get tired of voting in accordance with
the wishes of the English Free-traders.
MR.. BLAINE AND THE IRISH.
II said to Mr.. Blaine that the Irish in
Boston thought he understood the char |
8oter of their people better than any other |
that it would be egotistic for him to as |
sumo that, but said there was perhaps |
strong leaning of the Irish element tow |
ard him because of the fact that on his |
mother S side he was of Irish descent. In |
his native State, he had re- |
ceived an enormous Irish vote, some coun- |
Ties hitherto strongly Democratic having /
been completely reversed in their popular |
by the change of the Irish in /
his favor. This, however, was of course |
1ne in part to the fact that he stood so /
1istinctively as the representative of Pro |
lection to American industries, an idea
which prevails. with more force in Penn
sylyania than in any other State.
But, = said /, Ibid you not lose cores
p0ndingly in the German Vote
mot at ALL" replied Mr.. Blaine, ''all |
through the West the Germens supported |
me nobly. How else could have carried |
Chicago by 5000, Cincinnati by 5000, Cleye-
land by 5000? Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois |
and Iowa have the largest German popu-
ations in the West and | carried them by |
splendid majoritieS. Such able and inh- |
entail German editors as Markbreit, in /
Cincinnati, Kaufman, in Cleveland, Pra-
5orious, in st. Louis, and many others
brought great strength to the Republican
cause. There was immense effort made /
to prejudice the Germens against me, but |
it failed. They are wonderfully COOL
headed people, infiexibly honest in their /
and just in their judgments |
and have abundant reason to thank them
for their generous support. shall not I
soon forget it. At different points in the |
West found German and Irish clubs cor
Italy uniting in public demonstrations. a"
MISGUIDED PROHIBITIoNIsTs.
The correspondent then brought the con
versation back to New York, asking Mr..
if y,
were honest in their support of st. John. i,
II have never during the campaign y
replied Mr.. Blaine, reflected upon the |
motives of any man, and shall not do so. |
content myself with saying that think |
5he PrOhibitionists were mlsled and that |
they did not correctly measure the posi- |
Die result OF their course. | received from |
many of them the assurance that my cam
lidacy made their action difficult. because |
they really wanted to vote for me, but |
they seemed to be under the strange de-
fusion that the temperance cause could be |
best promoted by supporting their own |
presidential ticket, and by their course
they influenced prejudicially the national
issues which were really at stake
THE PHILOSOPHY OF NEW YORK.
"You attribute the close vote in New
Y DIRK solely to the action of the Indepen-
dents and HrOhlDltlOnlStS ~
No, not solely" replied Mr.. Blaine
According to letters have received from |
Central and Western New York it would |
seem that the rainy day lessened the Re-
publican vote. The Democratic MAORI
ties lie in the cities, where by few min
utes walk ON good pavement man
reaches his polling place. The Republican
are in the country, where large |
numbers live three, four, OF even vemiles
from the polling place, which on election
day had to be reached over muddy
roads and in rain storm. Had the day
been fair. the Republican majorities in
the rural districts would have been in
one good Judge writes me, prob
ably by 10, 900, but all agree by from 5000
to 5000. The actual difference between
the two parties in the final count will, per-
haps, not exceed 1000, about the one-twelfth
of per cent. of the total vote, one voter n
every twelve hundred for the entire State.
So if the Democrats have really carried
New York by this small margin, as the
latest news indicates, you can see how
easily fair day might have reversed the
result. But great political battles. like
military battles, are often lost or won by an
trivial incident or accident