Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-12-10
Letter From the Wolverine State.
Correspondence of the SPECTATOR.
ANN ARBoR, MICH, Nov. 80, 1888

Correspondence of the SPECTATOR.
| ANN ARBoR, MICH, Nov. 80, 1884
/ Mr.. DEMONSTRATING that the election
excitement is not yet sufficiently allayed tt
| give your readers any desire for areturn to
ordinary subjects, it is with some hesitation
that l send you a piece of dry correspond
ence from distant and comparatively un
| familiar State; and in order that my letter
may harmonic as nearly as possible with
the prevailing newspaper literature of the
| day, I will leave for some other occasion
the matter generally most prominent in ar
/ ticles of this kind, description of the
country, products, and people,-and viii
deal almosf exclusively with our politica
affairs, feeling certain that you cannot OBJ
| iect to further consideration of contest
followed by such gratifying results.
| For many years, as you no doubt remem.
Der, Michigan was one of the Republican
strongholds, ranking in that respect with
Iowa and Minnesota, but as years passed
and the majority of the ruling iarty be-
came smaller and smaller, the time came
at last when the tactics that proved SO sue
cessful in Maine were employed in Michi-
gan with similar effect. In 1882, the
year of the great tidal wave, the Demo
Gratis and Greenbackers formed a fusion
party, and succeeded in electing the pres
ent Governor, Hon. Josiah W. Begole, a
wealthy and influential Democrat of the
city of Flint; and while the Republicans
retained control of the legislature by a
small majority, the adherents 10 the his.
toIic party of the sage Of Monticello su.
perseded their adversaries in many a local
office Of trust or emolument. For this last
campaign the two parties fused again. both
supporting ths one State ticket, headed as
| before by Governor Begole, and arranging
to divide the electoral votes in some com
plicated way that | am unable fully to de
scribe. The Republicans were alarmed fol
| Blaine, as the Prohibition ticket was draw
ing its support principally from their al
| ready attenuated ranks, and with the hope
of overcoming this and other disadvantages
they entered the fight with more than usual
energy.
| Here in Ann Arbor, as the time for battle
drew near, we were entertained nearly ev
cry day with 2 political demonstrat ion o.
some kind, and in the work OF the univer
sity We could see the truth of the old say
| ing that coming events cast their shadows
before them" Il large number Of students
took advantage of the special rates Offered
| by the railroads to those going homo tC
| VCU4, anu lltS ICCiSdOiOHS III tnahy tiisli IC
NAMED would now not be allowed to pass
About the middle Of October small party
gathered at the depot to see St Johu, anC
week later the Pinned Knight himself
spoke from the car-platform to crowd Of
several thousand-not all Republicans
however, for when General Alger theil
candidate for Governor. undertook to fol
low Blaine the Kisses were as prominent a:
the cheers. Several days before the cleo
ton the Democrats held great rally, tho
procession beng augmented by bands ano
clubs from the neighboring towns, and by
few students of the university. Theii
principal speaker was General Rosecrans
of whom everybody has read in connection
with the Federal Army of the Cumberland
but who is far from being an accomplished
orator. On the last Saturday the Repub
licans made their grand final effort, having
several speakers of the highest order,
among them Hon. Frank A. Plumley, OF
| Vermont, and having also two or three or.
binary campaign talkers.-some of the
older denizens of the State, who were in
vited to take part on account of war servi
| ces, potent recommendation in the North
as we'll as in the South.
Election day was cold and gloomy, "a
bad sign for some party, and as no one
could tell to which ticket the omen referred
everybody seemed to take it for his own
candidate, causi G appearances to look as
if all were going to be defeated. The stu.
dents of the law department, who are the
most inveterate politicians in the universe
| ty, were favored with full holiday, but
| the other departments managed to keep UP
the semblance of work. During the whole
of Wednesday, the Republicans were ex.
travagant in their expectations, as was the
case with them all over the country, claiming
not only solid North, but also very i'm
portant part of what had been the Solid
South. | was unable to imagine what
could be the matter with Virginia: ina
ges of the old Kemper and Tilden MAORI
ties were fitting through my mind, and
was almost sure that the vote of Brooks
Gap, when finally heard from, would not
'bc sufficient to balance the five OF six I'll n
sand majority claimed in the somewhat pre-
mature telegram of the gentleman who at
least for the time was not sgise. Well, you
know the rest, which was the same all ovel
the land, how State after State was given
up, until it was only by the remarkable
tenaciousnesss Of the New York Tribune
and its associates that the grand old party
of progress and reform was enabled to hold
But must cease writing about what you
already know, and confine myself to the
affairs of Michigan. The Democrats made
a great ado over the victory not seeming
to care for their slight defeat in this State,
and at their Notification meeting an address
was made by Hon. Stephens Felch, former
ly Governor and United States Senator, an
old Democrat who has voted the straight
ticket ever since the time of the resOute
military President from the State of Ten
nessee. After this veteran had finished
the excessive patriotism of several of our
law-boys, who had cast but one presiden-
tial vote each, was allowed to burst forth
in maiden speeches. The Prohibitionists
also are well pleased, as Governor St. John
received a larger vote than they had antici-
pated, but the Republicans--well, they are
mad, and are trying to vent their spleen by
abusing St. John. Although the State
gave small majority to Blaine and Alger
the Republicans made only moderate gains
in the legislature, which is yet almost even
ly divided with the Fusionists, and the
Democrats still hold their share of the
county and municipal Offices
Notwithstanding the fact that very
large majority of our faculty and students
are staunch Republicans, free trade seems
to be the more popular side of the tariff
question. Protection must be theoretically
wrong at any rate, because it is upheld by
only one among eight leading American
colleges. This one is Penn University
our University of Michigan, Harvard, Yale,
Williams, and Amherst are free-traders,
while Columbia and Princeton occupy a
middle position. In lecture upon the
WOODEN industry and It's relation to legisia