The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-11-08
HEARST LETTERS NOT THE FIRST TO PLAYA
PART IN MA TIONAL POLITICAL CAMPAIGN

umphant nevertheless. He was said
to have been associated IN a discredit-
able way with the De Golyer contracts
for pavement for the city of Wash
ington in 1872 GARFIELD was the at
torney for the De Golyer company and
received a fee of 5000, for which he
did no work warranting any such pay
ment. The charge therefore, was that
the money was given TO him as bride
for his influence as a MEMBER of con-
greSS. Then, too, the Credit Mobilier
disclosures of 1878 came up to impede
him. 1t was charged that he received
money in connection with the building
of the transcontinental railroads and
3329, the amout which was traced TO
him, figured on the posters and in the
democratic newspapers during the
campaign of 1880. 1t was said at the
time that these charges seriously en-
barrassed him, though whether they
took away many votes from him can
not now be told with any confidence.
A far more serious blow to Garfield
was the canard known as the Morey
letter, which appeared near the end of
the canvass. 1t was in the shape of a
note, purporting to have been written
by Garfield to H. L. Morey of the En-
ployers' union of Lynn, Mass, and
dealt with Chinese labor, then a burn
ing issue. In 1t the writer said that
individuals or companies have the
right to buy labor where they can get
it the cheapest He added that our
treaty of immigration with the Chin
csc government should be "religiously
observed" until abrogated, and de-
clared moreover, that he was not pre-
pared to say that it should be abro-
gated" at that time. The letter ap-
peared in New York daily paper call
ed the Truth, was published two weeks
before the election, and millions OF
copies of the paper were circulated
all over the country by the democratic
national committee. Many hundreds
of thousands of them were distributed
throughout the Pacific coast. Large
ly on this account Garfield lost Cali
fornia, all except one electoral vote,
and also lost Nevada. He carried
New York, however, and enough other
states to elect him. Immediately af-
ter the publication OF the letter Gar
field declared it to be a forgery, but
many persons who were familiar with
his handwriting said that the sigma
ture looked to be genuine. 1t was
learned on the Investigation that there
was no such person as H. L. Morey
in Lynn, and a person who swore
to the genuineness Of the letter was
sent to the penitentiary. But the cleo
ton of Garfield did much to end the
prosecution. and cases which were be.
| ing prepared against some Of the dem
ocratic leaders were abandoned. This
Morey letter Is now recalled by the al
legged article by former President
Cleveland, recently published, in
which Cleveland was made to urge all
of his element of the democracy to
vote for Taft instead of Bryan. Some
persons, however believe. that the
withstanding a few suspicious circum-
stances connected with its advent. Al
any rate, such inquiry as has been
made thus far does not show that IL
was bogus. s.-s .s..I. ..... .-
| The Triangular correspondence
among Clay's whig enemies to defeat
him for the nomination for 1910 fig.
ured prominently in the chronicle Of
the time, but it was not revealed early
enough to help Clay. The whig con
vention which was to put up ticket
for 1910, was to meet at Harrisburg
in December, 1889, and several per
sons were mentioned prominently in
connection with the candidacy. BY fal
the most popular of all these was Clay
He had been in public life, with Z
1906. Next to ex-President Jackson
then at the Hermitage, Clay was the
most conspicuous man In the country
/ But Thurlow Weed ana some of thu
other whig politicians believed tina
Clay was an unluclSy candidate, anc
they were on the searchc for some
body woh could carry the country
even though he lacked Clay's claims