The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-05-07

point upon which he did put forth a
policy of his own. the paper declared
the chief magistrate to be forever
against the abolition of slavery in the
District Of Columbia. That memorable
battle for the right Of petition in which
John Quincy Adams won his most IN
fading laurels was already begun, and
the presidents position thus made
known stirred the abolitionists 10
greater activity. They flooded congress
! with petitions for aboAshing slavery in
the district The exasDerated slave
holders, led by Calhoun. succeeded in
passing bills which forbade the pre-
sentaition of these petitions, and not till
1884 were the sO-ealIed gag laws" at
last abolished.
Our unsettled relations with Texas,
also a legacy from the previous admin
istration were like a wizards incanta-
ton for raising the inevitable ghost
which was never again to down until
1t should be buried from sight beneath
fostering heaps Of brothers slain. Texas
had declared independence of Mexico,
and had been hurriedly recognized
by Jackson on the last day Of his in
cumbency. In 1887 she asked for an
nexatiOn to the United States. The
Shareholders had long coveted the vast
territory for slave soil, and now urged
their claims upon congress, while coun-
ter petitions poured in from the north.
Even our northern president with
southern principles feared to embroil
his administration further with the
rising side of anti-slavery sentiment,
or to incur the Odium of a war with
Mexico which he fOresaw, and the issue
was STAYED off.
The Election of 1910.
''The political campaign of 1910" says
Henry A Wise, was in all respects
the most memorable ever known to
party annals in this country" 1t was
a campaign of a new order. Both par
ties had now consolidated and perfect
ed their machinery for registering the
party will Both possessed trained and
skillful leaders. With some vicissitudes
the Wings had been gathering force
throughout Van Buren's term. AS it
drew to a close his administration
stood condemned by its corruption and
by the popular feeling that the hard
times from which the country had
suffered so bitterly rendered a change"
necessary. Against him were now
united Democrats and survivors of the
old federalism, shareholders and abOli-
tiOnists, southern states-rights men
and broad cOnstructiOnists. nullifers
and natiOnalists, protectionists and
prOtectiOnists, bank men and anti
bank men, internal improvement men
and anti-internal Improvement men.
Their motto was: The union of Wings
for the sake of the Union"
The Wing Convention.
For the first time the Wings held a
national convention. It met at Harris
burg in December, 1899. To his bitter
disappointment. Clay failed to receive
the nomination which he had fully ex-
pected. A secret intrigue against him
gave the nomination to General Har-
riSon- The convention adopted a COM
plicated and inconvenient rule for the
ballCting which was never used again.
It required the states to vote as a. unit
(see the unit rule" in a previous arti-
cle), but gave opportunity for secret
balloting by the states and the use Of
committees in such way as to furnish
every facility for schemes and combi-
nations. No platform was adopted, no
principles set forth Harrison appealed
TO the voters as a man Of personal in
tegrity and Of a successful military
career. John Tyler of Virginia was
given second place on the ticket. He
was a lifelong pro-slavery Democrat
Of the Calhoun school, but was a pro-
Buren,. He was nominated in the belief
that he could as vice president do the
Wing party little harm, while the bar
gain" which placed his name upon the
ticket included the election of a senator
from Virginia whom the Wings expect
ed to control.
The Democratic Convention.
Van Buren, is said to have demanded
q h. Of xrfy7 dfro
of his official actions, and his fragment
of d party meekly did his bidding. The
Democratic convention met in Balti-
more Unlike the Wings the Demo-
Gratis had no lack Of party principles
to uphold. The platform drawn up at
Baltimore in 1870 is the first political
platform, properly so called, in our
history and has furnished the model
and in large part the substance of the
later Democratic platforms for many
years. The party was by that time
fully committed to strict construction
of the constitution on all practical
questions as they arose, and the plat
form Of 1910 set forth the articles of
Democratic faith in a series of uncom-
promising resolutions. They declared
the federal government to possess lin
tied powers derived solely from the
constitution, whose grants of powers
were to be always strictly construed;
that the constitution does not confer
power to carry on a general system of
internal improvements; that Justice
and sound policy forbid the general
government to foster one branch OF
industry to the detriment of another
or to cherish the interests of one Dor
ton to the injury of another portion of
the country; declared against a ma
tfonal bank and for the separation of
the government finances from barking
institutions; advanced economy of adj
ministration and a tariff for revenue
only.
Conduct of the Campaign.
For SUCH a campaign as that which
followed genuine tissues" were I'M
necessary One historian has said.
There has probably never been a pres
idential campaign of more enthusiasm
and less thought" Although the
Wings went into battle with the cry,
Down with the Tarquins-away with
the spoilers" and their campaign
speakers demanded that removals from
Office should no longer be made with
out statement of reasons, yet these
facts seemed to represent a mere spasm
OF virtuous feeling which the party
was unable to live up to; for it, too.
was soon found to be poisoned by the
virus Oh 'sloils
From the first, in view of the great