The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-07-05
NUMBER "a.
BLAINE,s "Nn THEORY.
Queer Study Of the Names of Preseden
tial Candidates, Now Revived by the Ac
Ofthe Chicago Convention.


tial Candidates, Now Revived by the Act
ofthe Chicago Convention.
WASHINGTON, June ELL April OF
last year Colonel Alexander McCurc's
paper, the Philadelphia Times printed q
very remarkable arti, lie regarding some
OF James G.. Blaine's fatalistic motions
and this has Just received a vastly in
creased interest from the Republican
nominations of Monday.
After referring to the parallel between
his case and Henry Clay's, the article
proceeded to aver, from the present
knowledge of the writer, that Mr. Blaine
had theory that the Republicans could
count on good luck whenever they nom
mated for President a man whose name
nded with the letter n He had a
further theory, according to this ac.
count, based upon the superfluous but
none the less fatal 'e,' " hich robbed his
own OF final ~, that If he ever secured
the Republican nomination he would BY
some mishap be defeated at the polls,
while if the Republicans should ever
win he would have been previously dc
feated in the nominating convention.
A critical examination of the results
OF Presidential elections, such as per
haps only Mr.. Blaine himself would
think of making, showed HIM upon
every occasion of Presidential election
the candidate whose name end,d with
the letter m was elected, and as this
letter m theory of Mr.. Blaine may play
a conspicuous part in the campaign Of
next year, ,fatalists and superstitious pol
iticians would do well to study the les
son Mr.. Blaine has already learned. In
1888 George Washington, a letter m
man, defeated John Adams by an elec-
toral vote SO to "a, and in 1902 Wash
lngton again beat Adams by a vote OF
l32 to n, In 1904, as Thomas Jelfer-
son and Aaron Burr has 70 electoral
votes, there was no election by the peo-
pie, and upon the thirty-sixth ballot in
the House of Representatives Thomas
Jefferson was elected. In 1903 Thomas
Jefferson and George Clinton defeated
Charles COiesworth and Rufus King by
an electoral vote of 162 TO 14-in this
case, the first In which candidates sfol
President and Vice President were
nominated and voted for, the last letter
of both the successful candidates names
ended with N In 1912 James Madison
for President and George Clinton for
Vice-President had 122 votes to AZ each
for @. G, Pinckney for President and
Rufus King for Vice-Presdent. Madi-
son was reelected four years later. In
1898 Andrew jackson and John c, CAL |
houn, both names ending with n de-
feated John Quincy Adams and Rich
ard Bush for President and Vice-Presi- |
dent by an electoral vote of 17S to SO, |
In 1882 the candidates for President
were Andrew jackson, Henry CLAY. |
John Floyd and William Writ Of Mary |
land, and the candidates for Presi- |
dent were Martin Van Buren, John Ser. |
geant, William Wilkins, Henry Lee. and
Amos Ellmaker, and of the 2SS electoral |
votes cast, jackson had 2l9 and Van
Buren, 1S9, both letter N fellows again |
winning.
In 1886 Martin Van Buren, defeated
William Harrison by vote of 40 to 70, |
and Richard Nj. johnson was elected |
Vlce-Presldent over Francis Granger, |
John Tyler and William Smith of Ala
bama, but in 1910 General Harrison de-
fea, ed Van Buren by a vote of 234 to 60. |
The next letter m candidate was
James Buchanan who defeated John G. |
Fremont and Millard Fillmore. In 1860
the candidates were Abraham Lincoln
and Hannibal Hamlin-both letter m
nominees, Breckenridge and Lane, |
Douglas and johnson, and Bell and
Everett, and in 1854 Lincoln and John
son against Mcclellan and Pendleton,
all names ending with the letter n ; the
Republicans winning by a vote of 212 to
u. The next letter m candidate was
Samuel j. Tilden who defeated Hayes
before the people by vote of 202 to 167
but which an Electoral Commission
with Senators Morton and Frelinghuys
en-, both letter N statesman, changed
to lo5 for Hayes and 1874 for Tilden.
There have been no letter N candidates
since 1876, and only bad luck, death and
defeat has attended the Republican can
didates since then.
Soon after the nomination of Grover
Cleveland | met James G. Blaine and
strolled with him frequently on the
banks of the Kennebec. On one of the
occasions after he had been planning
industriously to secure his election he
said in a tone of dependency that was
painful;
They call me the Henry Clay of the
Republican party. | believe | am and
like Henry Clay am destined to defeat.
Twice Henry Clay was defeated for the
nomination when he could have been
elected, and too have been twice re:
Jected when an election was certain.
Clay was nominated upon the third trial
and defeated by nobody, and it seems
certain that l am to be beaten by man
who five years ago was the sheriff of a
sixth class city
Roscoe Conkling is represented as say
ing when this Blaine theory of good
luck with the letter N was called to his
attention.; AS the successl of Maids n
and Clinton, jackson and Calhoun, Lin
coin and Hamlin and Lincoln and John
son was so pronounced why not make il
double m ticket in 1885? And that is
why the ticket of John Sherman for
President and Robert T. Lincoln or
Allison or Harrison for Vice-President
is gaining so rapidly in favor in New
York,
This curious statement of Blaine's
notion was published more than four
teen montho ago. If it represented him
truly, the famous Republican leader
must already have unused on the fact
that the combination of a double tick
ct for 1888 as Conkling expressed it, is
what has just succeeded Rt Chicago in
default of of his own nomination, which
his friends had desired.
But perhaps Mr.. Blaine also reflects
that the Democrats this year have one
n candidate on their ticket.