Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1884-11-27
THE REASON OF II.
hzr. Blaine Submits to an Inter-
view.
No Discusses tho Causes OF HIS Defeat and
Ascltbes 1t 60 the Independent Bolt,
DE-. Burchard, the Prohibition
ists and the Weather.

ists and the Weather.
Tho Boston journal of the 18th prints
the following interview with Mr.. Blaine
by its staff correspondent at Augusta,
Me. Mr.. Blaine prefaced his analysis
Of the campaign by remarking that his
regret over the Democratic triumph was
for his party and country and not for
himself. He said:
81 lived too near tho Presidency In 1884," he
said, and have too keen sense Of its bur
dens, its embarrnssments and its perils TO be
unduly anxious for the Office"
:, How do you account for the closencss of
the result In New York; was asked.
81. w Iaa considering the loss BY the holt Of
larger loss from the notion of the Republican
Prohibitlonists, the wonder at first sight Is
that the Democrats did not carry the State by
q large majority, as they confidently expected
they would. This result was prevented by
the great accesslons 70 the Republican ranks
OF Irish and lrish-American voters and work
tngmen of all classes who sustained me be-
cause of my advocacy of protective tariff.
trade would reduce their wages"
"You really think, then, that you received
considerable Irish vote in New York;
"Oh, had thousands upon thousands" re,
many more but for the intolerant and utterly
improper remnr< of DIR Burchnrd. which was
quoted everywhere to my prejudice, and in
many places attributed to me, though 1t was
in the highest degree distasteful and offensive
TO me. But a lie, you know travels very fast,
and there was no time before the election to
overtake and correct that one, and so suf-
fered for it."
"But do you think the Irlsh-American vote
was organized at all, or had competent lead
"Ycs," said Mr. Blaine. at was deeply i'm
pressed by the ability, the earnestness and the
SINCERITY of those met. There: for instance
Is Patrick Ford, cf the Irish World He is a
man OF the most unselfsh devotion TO any
cause nc espouses,, possessing great fnculty
firing energy. General Kerwin. Of the Tablet,
has in a large degree the same characteristics,
and is farsighted and able man, with fine
record, and a Union soldier. Alexander Sui
Ivan and John Finerty were very powerful
on the stump, and did royal service. Both
are natural orators of the fervid Irish type
Sullivans tariff speech in Toledo contributed
very largely to the defeat OF Frank Hnrd
Those men. with others whom did not per-
eonaliy meet, have made IL break in the Irish
Democratic Vote-One that i believe will
widen and Increase i'm the future as the full
significance of the attitude Of the Democratic
party on the tariff question becomes under
American citizens viii in time get tired of
voting in accordance with the wishes of the
English FREQ traders. -
Republican leader"
ut would be egotistic for me to assume
fhat," responded Mr.. Blaine; "but there Is
perhaps, strong leaning of the Irish element
toward me, because on my mothers side am
OF Irish descent In Pennsylvania received
an enormous Irish vote, some counties,
hitherto strongly Democratic having been
completely reversed in their popular MAORI
ties by the change of tho Irish i'm favor of the
Republican ticket. This, however, is, of
course, due In part to the fact that stood so
To- American industries an idea which pre-
walls with more force in Pennsylvania than in
SHUT did you not lose correspondngly in
the German voter
mot ALL" replied Mr.. Blaine "An through
the West the Germans supported me nobly.
How else could l have carried Chicago by
1000, Cincinnati by 5,000 Cleveland by 5000?
Ohio. Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa have the
largest German population in the West,
and l carried them by splendid MAORI
ties. Such able and influential German ed
ttos as Markbrcit, in Cincinnati; Kauif-
mann, in Clcvelandi Praetorius in st.
Louis, and many others, brought great
strength to the Republican cause. There was
an immense effort made to prejudice the Ger
mans against me, but IL failed. They are q
MopdnrfIlllu- oaal-haaded- neonia infiexibly
Judgments, and have abundant reason TO
shall not soon forget It, AT different points
IN the West found German and Irish clubs
cordially uniting in public demonstrations"
The conversation here dIifted back to New
York, and Mr.. Blaine was asked IL he thought
the ProhibitionistS were honest in their sup
port of St John. II have never during the
the notions of any man, and i shall not do so.
i content myself with srying that | think the
Prohibitionists were mised, and that they did
not correctly measure the possible result of
this course. l received from many of
them the assurance that my candidacy
made their action difficult, because they really
wanted to vote for me, but they seemed TO be
under the strange deluson that the temper
ance cause could be promoted by supporting
their own Presidential ticket, and by their
course they influenced preiudicially the Ma
tional issues which were really at stake"
You attribute the close vote in New York,
then, Mr.; Blaine, solely to the action of the
Independents and Prohibitionists?"
mo, not SOLELY" replied Mr. Blaine. "Ac-
Cording to numerous letters / have received
from Central and Western New York il would
seem that tho rainy day lessened the Repub-
tcan vote. The Democratic ma1Orities lie in
the cities, where by fcw minutes walk on u
good pavement "A man reaches his polling
place. The Republican maior.tes are i'm the
ysdsrRSlr dayfhafsu rvthHoR.
over muddy roads md In rain-stOrm. Had
the day been fair, the Republican majorites
in the rural, counties would have been in
creased, ono good Judge writes me, by proba-
bly, ten thousand. The actual difference be-
tween the two parties in the final count will,
perhaps not exceed a thousand-about one.
twelfth of one per cent of the total vote or
one voter in every 200 for the entire State.
so If the DomoC rats have really carried New
YORK by this small margin, as the latest ncws
indicates. you can sec how easily fair day
might have reversed the result. but great po-
itical battles, like military battles, are often
lost or won by an apparently trivial incident
or accident which no human foresight can
guard against"
Mr.. Blaine appears to enjoy excellent health.
he spoke cheerfully throughout although his
best friends do not deny that he is suffering
the greatest disappointment of his life lie
says himself that he has entirely recovered
from thesiatigue resulting from his stumping