The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-17
Presidential Campaigns
XVIII. The clsv.land-Harrison- Ws~osrRses of 1892
By Frederic J. Haskin.

over to the Democrats once more. giv- ing them the largest majority that any party has ever had in that body. That tremendous victory. which swept over States that had never elected Demo crat to any office. disheartened the Re. pubiicans and gave courage to the Democratic hosts. Then came the great light for nominations.
 Harrison was renomlnated at Min neapolis by an overwhelming vote. The Federal ofice holders machinery was loyal to him and the opposition was divided. Blaine had made the great blunder of resigning his posi- tion as Secretary of State to make the race. It was as hopeless as was Clay's candidacy foi the WhiE nonlina- tion in 1s4s. William Mckinley was made permanent chairman of the con- vention and at the last moment the wAverlng opposition settled on him. But Harrison was named on the first ballot. Biaine.s and McKinley's vote being equal The blow was too much for Blaine and he died soon. broken in heart and spirit.
 Cleveiand's third nomination was ac- complished only after one of the hardest ante-eonvention fights ever known. He was opposed by the solid New York delegation. Governor Hill and the Albany machine joining hands WttH A6Eitu6uJ bU Sl6y thGAt 0eRAiA1h enemy. Hill had held a convention very early in the year. q snap" con- vention as 1t was called, and 1t had instructed the New York delegation for iiim.
 In the convention Bourke Cochran leaped into fame as an orator by his famous speech denouncing Clevelands General Bragg, of Wisconsin, voted the sentiments of the Democratic voters with his shout: We love him for the enemies he has made.' The matchiess skill of that arch politician William c. Whitney. accomplished the appar- ently impossible. and Cleveland was named as the Democratic standard bearer for the thrid time. When the convention adjourned there were knives in the boot legs of a majority of Democratic leaders and 1t seemed that Republican success was absolute ly assured.
 Both parties had "straddled" the money question. The silver issue was becoming more and more persistent. but as both parties were divided on it. side of the controversy. It was ex. aetly as in the ante-belium days when slavery was the only real issue, but when neither Whigs nor Democrats dared to touch the question.
 So the Peoples Party. soon given the name of Populist. was born. The populists said everything they be- lieved and some more. A series of meetings of Western and Southern radicals. captained by old Greenback. CTS and young men of new genera tion. resulted in the formation of q new party and the nomination Of James B. Weaver of Iowa for Presi- dent. He has the distinction of be- ing the eniy .third-party candidate who has received vote in the eiec- toral colleges since the civil war.
 In the Democratic Southern States the Populists fused, with the Republi- cans to overcome the Democratic ma jorities:, and In the Republican West ern. States they fused with the Demo- crats. The result was that Weaver re- eelved twentY-two electoral votes. be- Ing the entire votes of Colorado, Ida ho. Kansas and Nevada. and one vote These fusions helped Cleveland great Iy and took from Harrison i've of the twenty votes the Republicans planned to receive from the new Western States.
 For the third tims in the history of the country. a presidential electors pledge was broken. The first instance was when a New Hampshire eiectof In 1920 voted against President Monroe. declaring that he had done so that Monroe's election might not be unau- imous. and that he would not. there- fore. stand in history by the side of George Washington. The second ln- stance was in is2x whan three Clay electors chosen fby the New York Leg islatura voted for Adams aud Cfaw- ford. The third was h 1se2. when one of the Cleveland electors In North Dakota voted for Harrison, SO that the first electoral vote cast by that State would be counted: for Cleveland for Harrison 1. for Weaver i.
 The tide of the election turned from Harrison to Cleveland after the great Homestead strike at the Carnegie Steel Works. The Mckinley bill had not given the iaborers the increased wages they expected and there was serious labor trouble all over the country The use of troops at Homestead and the employment of Pinkcrtona in the Far West enraged the laboring peo- pie against the administration.
 Until the last the Republicans had confidence. all of them except a few