New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1896-03-25
Wednesday March rs, 1896.
Observations.

-
gathering of1SSO at Chicago as the mos
interesting and exciting. It was a veri
table battle Of the giants, having Conk
ling, Garfield, Arthur, Harrison, Hoar o
Massachusetts, Frye and Hale of Maine
Butterworth, and host of notable me1
among the delegates. 1t was war from
the beginning to the close, with the Gran
column against the field, much as it nov
is with Mckinley. Grant had just re-
turned from the most triumphant tour
of the world ever enjoyed by a ny Ameri'
can citizen. Every honor which the
kings, quee ms and emperors of the OLD
world could bestow had been lavishly
heaped upon the ex- president and soldier
citizen. It almost seems surprising that
his own fellow citizens did not catch the
contagion of adulation waited from for
eign shores, and with loud acclaim call
upon him once more to be the head of
the nation. It was undoubtedly Conk-
ling's expectation that a wild enthusiasm
would sweep the country and there was
a shade of bitterness in this passage from
his speech nominating Grant:
Standing in the highest eminence OF
human distinction and having filled all
lands with his renown; modest, firm. SIM
pie and self-polsed, he has seen not only
the titled, but the poor and loWly in the
uttermost ends of the earth rise and un-
cover before him. Villifed and reviled
ruthlessly aspersed by numberless pres
ses, not in other lands, but in his own,
assaults upon him have strengthened and
seasoned his hold on the public heart.
The ammunition of calumny has all been
exploded. The powder has all been
turned once.
The convention assembled on the I'd
of June, 1880, and, while Grant was in
the lead, the ambitions of Blaine, Sher-
man and others and their friends were
encountered at the outset. It is note
worthy fact, that in all the preliminary
skirmishes "the field" defeated the Grant
forces, and this was the fcrerunner of
the final defeat. It was of vital impor-
lance for the Grant forces to secure the
temporary Craftsmanship, as he would
have great influence in the formation O.
the committees on rules and credentials.
The committee on rules meant every
thing to the Grant forces. They desired
to compel the convention to accept the
vote of states as a unit where the states
had so instructed. In New York such
instructions had been given, while the
individual preferences of the delegates
stood 81 for Grant to 19 in opposition,
II Of the 10 being for Blaine. Mr.. Conk-
ling's most hated rival. The Blaine men
were bitterly fighting the unit rule and
demanded that each delegate should ex-
press his individual choice. In Illinois
there was sharp contest over delegates
owing to the action of the state conven-
ton. When the Illinois delegates met
in state convention at Springfield, the
delegates from each congressional dis
trict formed themselves into district
conventions and selected district dele
gates, which they reported to the state
convention. The state convention ig-
nored this and appointed a committee Of
one from each district to select the dis
trict delegates. A portion of the dele
gates chosen by the improvised district
conventions were for Blaine, while the
other crowd were for Grant. Hence up
on the committee on rules and credentl-
ais reste1 the fate of Grant and Blaine.
Don Cameron, of Pennsylvania, an ar
dent Grant man, was chairman of the
national committee, and that body held
session after session to agree upon a tenn
porary chairman. Gen. John T. Averill
was the Minnesota member of the ma
tional committee, and his Indignation
over Cameron's course knew no bounds.
He would refuse to entertain any motion
inimical to Grant and for time rode
rough shod over the dissenting portion
of the committee. The fight became so
bitter that the Blaine lien proposed to
Call the convention to order and depose
Cameron. Rather than have fight pre-
cipitated in the open convention, the
Grant forces finally submitted to a com
promise, and Senator George F. Hoar,ol
Massachusetts, was chosen as temporary
chairman, with the understanding that
the rules and contests would be fought
out in the convention. This was the tirsl
of continuous series of victories which
'.the ticld'' secured over Grant.
The convention awaited the reports 81