Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-09-05

|EM half a dozen nomi-
A&> nees for the presi-
dency, since WASH
| ington first assumed
that honor, had their efforts defeated and
| hopes blasted by some unfortunate slip Of
| the tongue or mistake Of the pen.
| For that reason political managers al
most invariably prefer that the candidate
| stay at home. In advising Mr.. Mckinley
| rot to go on the stump, Mr.. Hanna Is
| simply trying to profit by the experience Of
managers in previous campaigns who have
| had the wreath of victory torn from their
| hands at the very hour they were about to
place 1t upon the candidates brow by
| some accidental utterance, misunderstood
expression. unfortunate sentence or heed
less letter Of the candidate himself.
Great Stumpers.
If Mr.. Bryan Is elected he will be the
first successful candidate for the presi-
dency who went on the stump in the in
terest Of himself. Indeed, he has but four
predecessors among presidential nominees
of all parties since the Constitution was
| enacted who have thought 1t wise to go
before the public and plead their own
| cause. Those four were Stephen Douglas,
Henry Clay, Horace Greeley and James G.
Blaine. 1t may or may not be significant
|
| remembered that Mr.. Harrison said but
little in his first campaign. and won,
| whereas he charmed the country by his
rear platform speeches in 1892, but lost
| Yet 1t appeared then, as 1t appears now,
| that the course taken was the best that
| could be adopted. 1t certainly seemed the
| part of wisdom for Douglas to take the
stump in 1860 because of his great personal
| popularity, which seemed to promise that
| the more people he met the more votes he
| would win. Consequently he worked hard
| during the entire campaign and made
| speeches from Maine to California. Yet he
| was ingloriously defeated by Lincoln, who
1 had remained at home and maintained a
| silence as profound as that now being OBJ
served by the gentleman at Canton.
| Campaign of 1860.
| AS there were several tickets in the field
| for the campaign of 1860. just as there are
| today. and. as the present election promises
surprises and confusion, 1t will be inter-
esting to note the division of the vote in
| 1860. There were four candidates in the
| race, namely: Stephen Douglas, northern
| democrat; j. c. breckenridge. southern
| democrat: John Bell, whig, and Abraham
Lincoln, republican. Though Mr.. Douglas
| almost Eonopolized the attention Of the
| country by means Of his frequent speeches
| and continuous oratory, he was almost the
| last man in the race at the finish In re-
| spect to the popular vote he stood second,
| but in respect to the electoral vote he
| was found to be at the very bottom Of the
| list when the returns were complete hav-
| ing carried but one state, that state being
| amounted to 100000.
Bell received popular vote Of 100000
| and carried Maryland. Kentucky. Tennes-
| see and Virginia. Breckenridge received a
popular vote Of 100000, and the electoral
| vote of all the southern states not carried
| by Bell and Douglas. The popular vote
| for Lincoln was found to be 100000, and
he had the electoral vote of every northern
a ~11o T..
Lincoln's silence.
But note the course he pursued. It was
one Of silence and seclusion, as remarkable
| in that particular as the tactics pursued
| by Douglas were remarkable for their bril-
| liant aggressiveness. The managers Of
| Lincolns campaign were in a constant
state of fear that their candidate would do
| or say something that would irretrieva ably
| wreck his fortunes. Gov. Morgan of New
York was an active worker for Lincoln.
| He and Thurlow Weed practically man.
| aged the republican campaign. Both men
| were familiar with Lncon's history, but
| they did not know the man. They knew
that he was without experience in practi-
| cal politics. and they trembled lest he
| should make fatal mistake in word or
| action. Gov. Morgan's anxiety on the sub
| ject was so great that he induced Weed
| to go out to Springfield for the purpose of
| warning Lincoln against the dangers of
| presidential politics.
Il thought" said Weed. telling about
the trip afterward, that 1 was going to
| meet simple, rustic lawyer. with merely
| a little more talent than the average rus
| tic lawyer, and 1 had lot of things in
my mind which I intended to advise him
| to do 1 expected TO meet a man who had
everything to learn and knew nothing to
| teach. But I hadn't talked to him half an
hour before was asking myself. In aston
| ishment, What manner of man Is this?
| 1 knew that during his whole life he had
| never entered into active, practical politics.
l knew that he had never been consulted
| by local. state or national politicians for
advice. and was consequently altogether
devoid of practical experience. The knowl-
! edge of this had made me form an i'm
| preston that 1 had babe to teach, but 1
soon learned that he was giving me point
| managed to learn everything 1 knew with
out telling me anything he knew
Weed ConfOunded.
| AS 1t Is to be presumed that Mr.. Weed
| had pretty good idea of his own shrewd-
ness and subtility. 1t is easy to believe
! that he was astonished at Lincoln's gu
| perior talents In that lne but he was i'm
partial enough to admit to Governor Nor
gan. upon his return to New York, that
Lincoln knew more than he did. and could
be implicitly relied upon to do the right
thing and to refrain from doing the wrong
thing.
The rest is history.
| The first presidential candidate to defeat
himself by an unfortunate utterance was
Henry Clay. That was in 1914. Previous
! to that time candidates had been allowed
| to do pretty much as they pleased, and
according to custom Mr.. Clay enjoyed that
| privilege. It was a fatal privilege for
| him. Despite the fact that he had used it
freely from the beginning of the cam
pafgn his chances were excellent, and his
| election almost conceded; until he wrote
| that famous Alabama letter." which con-
| tanned an unfortunate allusion to the adj
mis- sion OF Texas as state. That was
received very unfavoraby everywhere but
with particular disfavor in New York,
where its effect so disastrous as to
| turn the state against him, and thus de-
| feat him.
Since that time managers of presidential
aspirants have tried to keep their candi-
| dates in the background. But certain
COZ ditions have occasionally operated to
| bring them into active participation, yet,
whenever such a course was pursued, the
result has been defeat Success seems
| to lie in silence. 1t Is said to have had
much to do with General Grants popu-
larity and success.
Ti1den's Sngncity.
Greeley appears to have been another
victim Of too much talk. His speeches
were the most eloquent ever made In