The Washington times., 1904-07-31
MUSICAL
in

n Campaign of 1870.
campaign In it began the tendency 70
make the family of the candidate part
of his political history. The personality
of Abraham Lincoln--and. by the way,
he IS referred to at this time in ''Har-
per's Weekly" as ADRIAN Lincoln''-was
so picturesque and compelling that per-
haps the details of his life Interested the
people as they had never before been
interested IN such things. Moreover. he
was a man who could not have public
life and a private life. with a wall be-
tween. and his campaign was carried on
largely among people who had been his
lifelong friends and neighbors. No Won
der. then. that his comment on the news
OF his nomination has come down in
history, and that it was this:
There's a little woman down at our
house who would like TO hear this. iii
go down and tell her"
Hayes and Tilden.
The Hayes-Tilden campaign found the
country struggling with new problems.
Unforeseen conditions growing out of
old causes The history of this cam
paign is unique. 1t came just az the
psychological moment when Republi-
can rule ought TO weaken, and the two
parties We're evenly balanced for the
first time in at least one generation.
The campaign differed from the two al
ready discussed in being fought out on
the lines of prejudice and political man
agement rather than of genuine and de-
liberate popular convictions. 1t was the
first election IN our history to be car
ried on by two machines in good work
ing order, and the first in which news
! papers, cartoons, money, and general
ship practically suppianted the old-time
ma meeting. speechmaking methods
which came in thirty or forty years
before. 1t marked another turning point
in the history Of the country
The Administration OF Grant had just
demonstrated to the large middle-class
element of the country the dangers of
graft and shown TO many thinking
people that political wisdom as we'll as
moral character must be an attribute Of
the President. The problems which be-
set the people were more complex and
abstract than ever before, and to arouse
enthusiasm among the ignorant appeals
to prejudice were necessary. The negro
voter in the South and the immigrant
voter in the North were creating IN
precedented and unforeseen conditions,
and mixed with all these problems were
the prejudiccs remaining from a four
years life and death struggle for the
Union. and religious prejudices stirred
up by the political solidity of the Cath
Ole vote
Subtly guiding and using all these
blind currents of feeling were politicians
working Tor their own ends, and here
and there honest, intellisent, earnest
men. North and South. struggling
against the tide of political corruption.
1t was q Democrat of this type v 40
said In the bitterness of his soul:
Democrats Bitter.
when Hayes was declared elected, 1
| said to myself that II he was permitted
to take his seat 1 should cease to be-
| lieve in the Divine government OF the
world"
| In view of the fact that IT Is gener-
ally admitted even among Republicans
that without fraud Tilden would have
occupied the White House instead OF
Hayes, this state of mind in an honest
Democrat is not surprising.
| The men who engineered this stu
pendous political scheme did their work
so skillfully and the election was so
close, that the main body Of Republi-
/ cans never knew of the fraud.
| Moreover. IL was a time of passion and
prejudice and chicanery, and both par
ties had their share of men who held
that the end justified the means.
| Looking through "Harper's Weekly
for 1876 one finds abundant proof of this,
! 5v.eo -
party politics And one also finds some
thing else.
| The work of the first great American
cartoonist forms a history of the weak
| nesses of the Democratic party in that
year. The terrible pencil of Thomas
Mast raped on every weak point in
Tilden's career. The opposition frothed
at the mouth, but the diaboiicaI humor
of Mast continued to illuminate the cam
paign It was a time when the reform
cry was new in the North: the readers
of the papers were skeptical as TO the
need of reform and dlsinclined TO be-
lieve in Tilden as its apostle. and they
looked and laughed.
Early in that year the Democratic
tiger was depicted taiIless, turning
somersaults in the effort to catch the
Republican lamb. The elephant as a
Republican emblem was not yet born.
A little later the unfortunate beast APP
| pears minus a head, and then with a
head on each end. labeled The Demo-
cratic Deformed Tiger. Contraction and
Imitation" This was in July. A month
later the two heads were stretching to-
ward hard money" and soft money"
and the tiger became elongated. Late
in August the heads soft Soap" and
Hard Soap" are locked together by
the collar Red Tape" and the caption
reads:
by repeating they resume. By resum-
ats4