Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-18
THE PEOPLES CHOICE
Senator Elkins Talks About
Presidential Conventions.
WHAT CAMPAIGNS COST
DEMOCRACY COMES HIGH, BUT IT
PAYS ALSO.
A Billion Dollar Race Who Think in
Millions - Timely
Topics.
WHAT CAMPAIGNS COST

Copyrighted, 1904, by Frank G.. Carpenter)
DO our national conventions represent
the choice of the people?"
1 asked this question of Senator Stephen
B. Elkins as we sat together in the Ii
brary of his house on street this after
noon. We were discussing the political
situation, and the senator had been CIV
ing me some of his experiences in the
arrangements of presidential campaigns.
He has, you know, been one of the leaders
of the republican party for more than a
quarter of a century. He became a men,
Der of the national committee when he
was territorial delegate from New Mex
leo, at the beginning of Grants second
term, almost generation ago, and he
was chairman of the republican executive
committee in the Blaine Cleveland cam
paign of 1884. Senator Elkins has had to
do with the making of every presidential
candidate for the past twenty-five years.
He was a leader of the Blaine forces in
the conventions of 1876, 1880 and 1884, he
was at the head of the Harrison element in
1883, and he knows about much of the
inside history of national conventions as
any public man in the country.
How Presidents Are Chosen.
DO our presidential conventions repre-
sent the choice of the people?" Senator FL
then went on. II think not as a rule.
Som etimes they do, but the nominations are
made by the leaders of the party, many of
whom are animated by selfish motives and
who sometimes accomplish their ends by
finesse intrigue and combination. The re-
suit is that the candidate so made is often
not the man who is closest to the hearts of
the masses. Indeed 1t seems to me that
the presidential nominee is seldom the first
choice of the people.
Take the nominati ton of President Hayes
for instance" Senator Elkins continued. TT
was made at Cincinnati in 1876 notwith-
standing Blaine had a greater following
than him or any other candidate. 1 was
there as one of the Blaine representatives,
and knew all about the inside workings of
the convention.
THE chief candidates were James G.
Blaine, Roscoe Conkling, Oliver p Morton.
Hartranft of Pennsylvania and almost at
the tail of the list Rutherford B. Hayes.
The day before the nomination was made
everything was in Blaines favor. We
thought we had him nominated; but night
came on. the gas of the convention hall
had been tempered with. and we were
forced to put off the ballot which would
have secured his candidacy until the next
day. All that night the opposing forces
worked to defeat us. They finally united,
and, as a result, Hayes became the choice
of the convention. He was then an almost
unknown quantity in the minds of the
people,"
Garfield Said: "Not Yet"
1T was much the same in the convention
OF 1880. was it not?' I asked.
Yes replied Senator Elkins. THE cam
dfdates OF the people in that convention
We're Blaine and Grant. John Sherman had
some following, but he had no strong hold
upon the masses, and Blaine was more the
choice or the whole republican party than
any of the others. Nevertheless James A.
ms qS ha
resentative of the Sherman forces, became
the nominee. l don't think Garfield hoped
TO be the candidate until the convention
met.
When / saw him in New York. two
months before that he promised me that
If at any time it became impossible to
nominate John Sherman he would do all
IN his power to throw the vote of Ohio to
Blaine. The convention met, and the
Blaine forces and Grant forces struggled
and struggled in that famous deadlock,
with the sherman vote far In the rear.
There seemed no chance for Sherman, and
tried again and again to persuade Gar
field to give Blaine the Ohio vote on one
ballot at least, but he put me off with,
Not yet, not yet He then seemed to
feel that he would be nominated. The
speech he made for Sherman was a better
speech for himself than for Sherman, and
whether Intentionally or not it brought
sible candidate, The result was that he
was nominated, taking precedence over
Blaine and Grant, the candidates of the
people,
When Blaine Was Nearest the White
House.
when was Blaine nearest the presi-
dency?'
Mr.. Blaine received the nomination in
| 1884," said Senator Elkins THAT was
case in which the choice of the people be-
came the choice of the convention. think
| the same occurred in the nomination OF
| Mckinley in 1896 and 1900, and that will be
| the case with President Roosevelt in the
convention next week. In the national con-
| vention of 1884 there were several other
candidates. Arthur then President, had
considerable following. Senator Hawley
was presented by Connecticut. Senator
Sherman by Ohio and Senator Logan by
Illinois. Blaine, however, was easily nOmi-
mated, receiving 541 votes to Arthur's DOT.
/ Gen. Arthur pIcfessed himself satisfied, but
many OF his followers were lukewarm in
the campaign which followed
Il have said that Blaine was nearest the
/ White House them, continued Senator