The herald., 1896-05-31
ENTHUSIASM AND VOTES

| ton urge that he would prove the
strongest candidate whom the Republi-
cans could present for the presidency
| because his canvass arouses more en-
| thusiasm among the masses of the party
| than that OF any other man. They claim
| that the mention of his name evokes
more applause in caucuses and conven-
| tionS than that of any rival, and from
this they argue that he would poll more
I votes than Reed. or Morton, or Allison,
| or dark horse"
The fact that there is more enthusi-
asm for Mckinley than for any, or in
| deed all. of the other aspirants for the
nomination must be conceded by every
candid observer. The GLORIOUS Tom
| Reed of 1890, who drew immense
crowds and unbounded applause wher-
! ever he went, has disappeared, and the
cautious speaker of today, whose pro-
gram for the session was the uninspiring
| one of doing nothing. does not stir the
pulse of his party. AS for Allison, Nor
ton and the still more remote possibili-
ties, not one of them has ever secured
q strong hold on the masses of the party.
We do not now consider the causes of
the enthusiasm for Mckinley, though it
! might be an interesting study to trace
It's succession back through the twenty
years when Jam1S G.. Blaine was the
favorite of the Republican party to
the even longer period when Henry Clay
was the popular idol of the Whig party,
| from which so large proportion of Re-
publicans came. Certainly it is true
| that since Andrew Jackson disappeared
| from the political stage Democracy has
been far less worshiper of men than
| the opposition, whether called Wings or
Republicans. Indeed, enthusiasm for
somebody has almost become Republi-
can trait.
The point to which we direct atten-
tion is the fact that there is no neces-
cnnnnctinn pDt c. a m
and votes; that man may carry every
thing before him in the contest for the
| nomination of the dominant party, and
yet be defeated at the polls by dark
horse" or mere upstart in pC.itics."
The two illustrations of this fact which
we shall cite are found in the candidacy
of the two men who aroused more en-
thusiasm for a longer period of time
than any other two asprants for the
presidency in our history.
The Wings carried the country for the
| first time in 1910, when the earlier Har-
rison was elected president. In 1874
there was no opposition in the nominat-
| ing convention to the choice of Clay as
the candidate. A motion to nominate
him by acclamation was carried with a
| great shout that shook the building in
| which the convention met" The enthu-
| sasm was unbounded, and the ratifica-
| ton of the conventions action by the
| people was taken for granted by the
| delegates. But long before election day
| the outlook had entirely changed. Clay's
| shuh1ing course regarding the question
| of annexing Texas and allowing it to
| come into the Union with slavery,
aroused first distrust and then opposi-
| ton among thousands of men whose
| support had been taken for granted.
| While a large majority of the anti
| slavery Wings remained with the party,
! they felt themselves reduced to an en-
| ~ r1,l cn6 Iafa cixra
Schurz's biography of Clay. Their en-
| thusiasm was chilled, and their ability
| to make converts gone" A number left
the party, and supported Birney the
Free Soil candidate. AS Horace Greeley
expressed 1T, the previous hold of
| ClayS advocates on the moral convic-
tions of the more considerate and con-
scientious voters of the free states was
| irretrievably gone" The result was that
In Massachusetts,, which had given Har-
| rison 72,S74 votes in 1910, Clay received
only 67,41S in 1874, despite the growth
in population; while New York, then, as
repeatedly since. the pivotal state
which had been carried for Harrison by
| 1920 over Van Buren, gave Polk, the
dark horse" 5106 more than the most
popular man of his generation, and
turned the scales against Clay.
Forty years later the lneal successor
of the Whig party nominated later
Clay for the presidency. There has been
| great enthusiasm for Blaine in many
Republican states in the canvass for the
| conventions of 1876 and 1880, but the
| wiser leaders, who could see beyond the
| walls of the convention hall, had sue
ceeded in restraining the party each
year. In 1884. however, the enthusiasm
could no longer be repressed, and the
shouters had their way. At last they
nominated the man who was variously
described by "the blind orator of Ohio
n G io Nr1 .~cx Il
"our Henry of Navarro" whose candi-
dacy would cause "the camp fires and
beacon lights to illumine the continent
from the Golden Gate to Cleopatra s
Needle" and for whom "the millions
who are now in waiting will rally to
swell the column of victory that is
sweeping on.''
That was only dozen years ago, but
a dozen years are enough to dim for
most people the memory of how, in state
after state that Lincoln and Grant had
carried each time that they ran, the Re
publican vote fell off from the figures of
| 1880, and Democratic pluralities were
rolled up for a man who had never been
heard of by the country in 1880. Gar
| field in 1880 and Harrison In 1888 polled
the votes of those who believed in Re-
publican principles and found nothing
IN the candidate for president to make
them hesitate; between them came the
Ajax lebanon" and Henry of Ma
varre." who aroused enthusiasm as did
no other man of his day. The cold fig
ures from four states. which we append,
showing the Republican vote in the
three successive elections. tell the story
of arrested party growth and actual
party loss in 1884 better than any words:
Connecticut ......., sHoit .a55 7l.5Si
Mas MassaGhpsetts %nrI ..1G5 2o5 1is72! 1s3 So
Indiana ............232, ,164 '23S, 1853 263, ,361
Enthusiasm, as the term is ordinar-
lily understood, may win victories in
nominating conventions. But the Re
publican party in 1896 needs to recall
and heed warning which it was foolish
enough to disregard in 1884, when ex-
Gov. John d. Long of Massachusetts
in urging Senator Edmunds as the can
didate. said:
whose name will carry in the coming
canvass that sense of security to which
at each presidential election, the coun-
try turns as to very rock Of salvation
Such a man. honest and capable. will
first master the sober judgment and ap-
proval of the people, and thenceforward
he will stir them to the only enthusiasm
enthusiasm of public confidence. New
York Post.
POLITICS PAST, PRESENT AND TO CONE
WASHINGTON, May 1S.-To those
hare brains of politics who rake the lake
for the moon, go forth with cobweb tt
seine for whales. and who would slay