The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1904-07-28
PEUDS 1nAT COST THE PRESIDENCY
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Deem GhWaPG@d by Personal Sm@ml@S

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licans, thus left without q, leader, fell
back to their party lines and gave the
vote to Louisiana and the Presidential
certificate to Hayes. 1t came out aft
erward that Conkling's failure to keep
his word was due to the influence and
caJolery of Mrs. Sprague, who thus
avenged the defeat of her fathers
nomination.
Payne and Thurman Foes.
In 1880 the unrelentlng animosity of
Henry B. Payne alone prevented Allen
G. Thurman from being made the
nominee of the Democratic national
convention. In 1857 Payne was can
dldate for the Democratic nomination
for Governor of Ohio. The conven-
ton met in Columbus, and Thurman,
then fresh from a period Of brilliant
service on the Supreme Bench of his
State, had friend in whose candidacy
for State Treasurer he was much In
terested. Some of Payne's lieutenants,
without his knowledge, promised
Thurman the support Of the Payne
forces for his friend in return for the
votes he controlled In the convention.
Payne won out by a handsome mar
gin; but the Thurman candidate for
Treasurer failed at the last moment
to receive the promised support Of the
Payne following, and was defeated.
Payne was not aware of the trick that
bad been played upon Thurman, but
the latter, who scorned double-dealing
in any form, was quick to resent 1t.
The quarrel ever after kept the two
men apart, and three and twenty years
later thwarted Thurman's highest am
bltion. In 1880 he was candidate
for the Presidential nomination before
the Democratic national convention.
Had he had the unfiinching support Of
the Ohio delegation, there Is little
doubt that he would have been the
nominee. The delegation was solid
for him on the first ballot. Then it
broke and the chances Of his nomina-
ton vanished into thin air. Payne
was behind the break. The delegates
from the district in which his influ-
ence was supreme led 1t and were
strongest in the claim which stam-
peded the convention toNa dark horse.
AS ONO was then an October State
and practically certain to 90 for Gar
field, the result would be disastrous to
the Democratic cause. That argument
defeated Thurman and nominated
Hancock, and the revenge of Payne
was complete.
The influence Of personal enemy
twice cost James G. Blaine the Presi-
dency. In 1875 he lost a nomination
that was equivalent to an election by
his refusal to give a certain man the
place he wanted on a certain commit
tee. John Cessna, Of Pennsylvania,
besought Blaine, while the latter was
Speaker, to make him chairman Of the
Judiciary Committee of the House.
Blaine declined and gave the place to
another man. When the Republican
national convention opened in Cincin-
natl, In 1876 Cessna was a delegate.
81 want to be chairman of the Com
mttee on Rules" said he to the anti
Blaine men, "and If l don't beat
Blaine you can take my head for a
football" Cessna was made chairman
Of the committee, and in that capacity
brought In a rule to the effect that
after any State had cast its vote for
President, that vote could not be
changed until the result of the whole
ballot had been announced. Few In
the convention were alive to the I'M
port of this rule when 1t was reported
and adopted-but 1t, and 1t alone, de-
feated the nominate Of Blaine. The
original plan Of the Blaine men was
to force choice on the first ballot
to get enough changes to their candi-
date to make his nomination certain
before the result was announced. The
stampede to Blaine could not be start
ed, and he was beaten. II guess"
said Cessna. as he witnessed the oper-
alton Of his scheme, "Jim Blaine Is
not much ahead of me now"
The Blaine ConklinR Feud.
But the most dramatic Of all the
political feuds Of the last forty years,
both in Its inception and its sequel.
was that between Blaine and Roscoe
Conkling. The two men entered the
popular branch of Congress at about
the same time, and both soon became
leaders In that body. There was, how
ever, little in common between them
save the gift of pre-eminent ability,
Conkling made Blaine the object of
his sarcasm whenever opportunity Of
fered, and the member from Maine
was prompt to retort in kind. Thus
the enmity grew until. in the course
Of one Of their many encounters,
Blaine, stung to the quick by an un-
just and ungenerous taunt, burst forth
in an onslaught on his tormentor
which wrought the House into a high
pitch Of excitement and marked the
beginning of a fierce struggle in the
Republican party that ended in the
humiliation of Conkling and the de-
feat of Blaine for President.
There could be no reconciliation
after such an onslaught, and the bat
tie was to the death. Defeated for
the Republican nomination by Conk-
ling and his friends In 1876 and again
in 1880, Blaine in the latter year threw
his following to his friend Garfield,
who, nominated and elected, made
Blaine his Secretary Of State and Off,
cial right hand. Then came the strug-
gle over the New York patronage,
which retired Conkling. and was fol-
lowed by the assassination of Gar
field. In 1884, when Blaine was final
ly the formal choice of his party,
Conkling was no longer In politics, but
the sequel proved that his was still
the will and power to strike mortal
blow. A detection Of a few hundred
votes in Conkllng's home county Of
Oneida gave that county, normally Re
publican, to Cleveland, and with II
the electoral vote of New York and
the President ConkIlng had rrin,a