The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1899-11-16
CAMPAIGN PARALLELS.
FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
AS A BASIS FOR PROPHECIES,

The Washington correspondent OF
;he New York Evening Post says As
;he Presidential campaign draws near,
there is much search for historical
parallels to the present situation, and
prophecies are made on the basis of
these comparisons. That there is q
good deal of nonsense in such mat
ters, no one doubts. For example,
;he Republicans in 1884 were cheered
by the assurance that no man whose
uame began with G ever had been, and
therefore none ever would be, eliza ed
President. That comfort was with
drawn for the next campaign, but in
1892 they were again confident of sue
3ess, since no President, ouce defeated
Tor reelection, had ever been re.
elected. SO it is not safe to rely upon
precedents. And yet there are certain
facts in history which are uniform and
reveal tendencies aud Influences,
These have fairly crystallized into
rules, which, however, like all the
other rules, have their exceptions.
Those who believe that President
Mckinley will be renominatod rely
dpon the fact that only ono man, after
having been elected Presi lent, ever
made an unsuccessful fight for renomi-
nation. This was Franklin Pierce. It
is true that Fillmore, Johnson, and
Arthur were candidates for the nomi-
nation, but they had been elected, not
Presidents, but Vice-P Presidents, and
lhatn, fotltpo tvo thn nott4rol rau,,lk ,f
the sudden shock of change, the intro
dCction Of new policies and new mon,
and the disappointments which these
entailed. 1t is we'll known that no
Vice-President who became President
was ever nominated for President at
the end of his term. John Tyler was
nominated by another party than the
Wings in 1874, but, after few months,
he withdrew from the race in letter
full of anger aud disappointment. The
nearest parallel to the case of Mr..
Cleveland was that of Martin Van
Buren,, who was elected by the Demo-
Gratis in 1886, was renominated by
them in 1910, was almost nominated
by them in 1914, and was nominated
ny lhO VI HGCtNlDk
Democrats, who would not work for
Lewis Cass, in 1S4S. So strong was
the "Little Wizard" that he received
more votes in the States of Vermont,
Massachusetts,, and New York than
Cass, although he carried no State.
Here are some interesting facts of
the political successes and failures of
our Presidents, conveniently arranged:
Presidents renominated and re-elect-
ed Washington, Jefferson, Madison,
Monroe, Jackon, Lincoln, Grant, and
Cleveland.
Presidents renominated, but defeat
ed for re election John Adams, John
Quincy Adams, Van Buren,, Cleveland
and Benjamin Harrison.
Presidents defeated for renomina-
tion-Fillmore, Pierce, Johnson and
Arthur.
Presidents who were not candidates
for renomination-Tyler, Polk, Bu-
chanan and Hayes.
Presidents nominated and renomin-
ated without pposition--W Washington,
Jackson, Van Buren, and Grant.
Presidents renominated without OPP
Observation-Disclosures j Jefferson, Mad
ison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams,
Jackson, Martin Van Buren,, Lincoln
and Grant.
Only one President was elected
without opposition, Washington being
so chosen twice. This honor would
have been given to Monroe for the
second term but for an elector from
New Hampshire, who voted for John
Quincy Adams because, he said, he was
unwilling to allow auy man to be hon
ored as "The Father of His Country"
had been.
In speaking of nominations, it
must be remembered that in the early
days of the Republic there were no
political conventions, and consequent
ly no nominations in the sense in
which we use the term now. There
were many candidates for the chief
honors then who would have figured
in the political conventions had they
been held. John Adams, it is said,
seriously considered himself an avail
able candidate for the presidency when
Washington was elected. Tho first
thing like convention for the nomin-
alton of candidate for President was
the caucus which convened in 1904,
consisting of the Republican Senator'S
and Representatives in Congress, and
nominated Jefferson. At other times
nominations were made by State Lee
gislatures. In September, 1912, an
unofficial political convention was held
by the anti-Madison Democrats and
the Federalists to effect q coalition.
The result was the nomination OF De-
Witt Clinton, of New York, for Pres.
ident, and Rufus King for Yice-Pre
ident. The coalition was much more
powerful than is generally supposed.
Madison received 12S electoral votes,
while Clinton received eigl,ty-nine.
Only two Northern States, Vermont
and Pennsylvania, voted for Madison,
In 1924 n minority of the Congress
men held convention and nominated
w. II. Crawford, Secretary of the
Treasury, for President. This was in.
deed an odd contest, the candidates
being three members of the Monroe
cabinet-John Quincy Adams, Clay
and Crawford--and Senator, Andrew
Jackson. As in 1900, the electors did
not decide this contest, no candidate
having n majority. The House of
Representatives, voting by States,
elected Adams. Had the electors been
ollownd 10 xota hu Gkotao IaoEuon