Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1884-11-26
HISTORICAL PARALLELS.

preacher and an ill.advised dinner at q
fashionable restaurant may have caused
the defeat OF Blaine in his recent battle
for the Presidency, there Is no doubt
that il the Stalwart, or Conkl1ng, wing
of the Republican party in New York
had voted their regular ticket, the
Maine statesman would be now the
Presidenteleot. The official figures
show that $4,000 votes were cast in
New York for ST. John, the Prohibition
candidate, nearly every one of which
rightfnlly belonged to Blaine. They
were cast by Republicans of the Stall
wayt stamp. II Conkling did not
openly oppose his ancient enemy be
did so secretly, which IS less ercditable
10 him. His revenge WAS more impor-
tant to him and the little army Of
place.hunters who constituted the
source of his power while Senator
from New York, than the perpetuation
Of Republican principles and the
maintenance of the American policy
Of protection. Clay had his nemesis
in Andrew Jackson, as Blaine had his
in Roscoe Conkling. Jacksons griev-
ance lay in his belief that Clay was one
of those who cheated him out of the
Presidency in 1924, when the election
wos thrown into the House of Repre-.
sentatives, and when, through a CON-
bination, John Quincy Adams was
chosen, and Clay became his Secretary
of State.
What Il striking parallel there is
between the careers of Blaine and Clay /
Baine's difficulty began with satiri-
cal speech made on the floor of the
House when himself and Conkling
were members, in which he compared
.he later toa turkey cock, something
that man with less conccit than the
New Yorker would have laughed at as
joke. But Conkling never forgavc
the insult, as Jackson never forgave
Clay for the performance in 1924
Conkling followed the Maine states
man into two National Conventions,
and each time deprived him of the
honor of a nomination. Like Clay,
Blaine is the most distinguished par
Humanitarian his party has produced
Clay was a candidate before the Wing
Convention of 1910, and after a severe
struggle was set aside, as Blaine was
set aside forty years afterward, and
William Henry Harrison, the hero of
Tippecanoe, became the nominee
Harrison was elected with great hur.
rah, but, like Garfield, he died a few
months after his Inauguration. Four
years afterward Clay, like Blaine
forty years later, received the nomlna'
ton of his party, but, like the Maine
statesman, he was beaten By the vote
Of New York, which was then, as now,
the pivotal State. AT the succeeding
election the Wings returned to power
under the leadership of military man,
md soon after disappeared as Ma,
tional organization.
The parallel proceeds no further, but
il suggests vast number of thoughts
to the reflection. Blaine will probably
be known in history as the greater
man Of the TWO. Although Clay was
~raot orotar lnodor and ,orl;.p,apto
rian, he never left us any such speeches
and books us Blaine will leave. The
Maine statesman, however, may find
comfort in the fact that the really
great men IN both political parties
have rarely reached the Presidency,
and in only one case has any man
reached it through the Speakers chair
of the House of Representatives.
There has been thirty Speakers of the
House since its organization, in 1889.
James X. Polk, who occupied fireplace
during the Twenty fourth and Twenty
NTH Congresses, was the only one who
ever became President. The great
Wings who never secured the glitter
ing prize were John Marshall, Henry
Clay and Daniel Webster, the great
Republicans, Salmon p. Chase, Oliver
Y. Morton and William II. Seward.
The great men in the Democratic party
who have cast longing eyes at the
White House and seen mediocrity ele-
waited to that pinnacle of grandeur
during their lives are legion. John
C. Calhoun, William L. Marcy, Lewis
.Cass, Silas Wright. William A. Craw-
ford, Roger B. fancy, jeremiah S.
Black and Samuel j. Tilden were all
the victims OF antagonists, such as
have lately caused the defeat of Mr..
Blaine. Revenge and jealousy, those