The Pacific commercial advertiser., 1908-11-05

letter. more attacks on Governor
! Haskell. and further interchanges OF
courtesies between President Roosevelt
and William J. Bryan, the presidential
campaign just closed would have re
| sembled the campaigns of 1880 and
1854, when the platform issues were
forgotten in a large measure and per
sonal attacks were of paramount inter
est to the public. In those campaigns
sensational letters also figured, some of
them genuine and some forged There
were also sensational incidents that
probably affected the result of the elec-
tions. Garfield, the Republican candi-
date in 1850, was obliged to abandon
the campaign issues for a time and give
his attention 10 defending himself
against the attacks made upon him on
account of his alleged connection with
the Credit Mobilier scheme, the so-called
salary grab. by which the salaries of
members of Congress were increased.
and the charge that he had, while a
member of Congress, accepted $4,000 to
vote in favor of a bill of the Board of
Public Works in Washington to pave
the city with the DeGolyer wood pave
ment. Toward the end of the campaign
he had TO spend much of his time in
denying the authenticity of the famous
Morey letter, says the New York Post.
In 1884 James g. Blaine, the Repub-
ican candidate, was forced to devote
most of his stump speeches to explana-
tions of the - Mulligan letters He
had explained in detail, while he was
Speaker of the House of Representatives,
but he had to go all over the matter
again when he was presidential can
didate. Moreover, he met with several
unfortunate incidents in the course of
his campaign, notably the Burchard in
cident, which, his friends have since
asserted, was responsible for the loss
of New York State and his defeat. More
letters turned up in the campaign of
1888 which attracted public attention.
Among these were the Dudley ''blocks-
of-fve' letter and the Sackville-
West' letter; both undoubtedly had
some effect in the campaign of that
year. Sensational letters and incidents
have also figured in State and in city
campaigns.
The Morey letter referred to above
was intended to injure Garfield On the
Pacific Coast. In 1880 the Chinese i'm
migration question was agitating the
country. On October 81, twelve days
before the election, a New York news
paper published letter purporting to
have been written by Garfield on Jan
uary % of that year to one H l..
Morey of Lynn, Mass. The eommuni-
cation appeared to be a reply to a let
ter written to General Garfield for the
purpose of obtaining his views on Chi
nese cheap labor, and was as follows:
House of Representatives,
: Washington, D. c., January %, 1880.
Dear Sir.-Yours in relation to the
Chinese problem came duly to hand L
take it that the question of employees
is only a question of private and cor
pOrare economy. individuals or com
panies have the right to buy labor
where they can get it the cheapest We
have a treaty with the Chinese govern
ment which should be rehgiously kept
until its provisions are abrogated by the
action of the general government, and
am not prepared to say that it should
be abrogated until our great manufac-
turing interests are conserved in the
matter of labor. Very truly yours,
81. A GARFIELD.
''TO H. L. Morey, Employers Union, !
Lynn, Mass -
The letter, which was in handwriting
like Garfeld's, was headed
personal and confidential, - and was
Ieproduced in newspapers throughout
the country. 1t produced CONSERVATION !
in the Republican ranks, as it was
feared that the letter, whether genuine
or not, would lose General Garfield the /.
electoral votes of the Pacific states, I
where there was such a strong senti- (
nent against Chinese immigration that !.
party allegiance was likely to be for |
gotten.
The day after the publication of the !
letter in New York. Garfield sent the
following telegram from his home in
Mentor. O., to Marshall Jewell. chair .
nan of the Republican national com !
nittee: q viii not break the rule /
have adopted by making & public reply .
to campaign lies, but I authorize you .
20 denounce the so-called 'Morey' let !
ter as a bold forgery both in language
md sentiment. Until its publication 1 .
never heard of the existence of the .
Union Of Lynn. Mass, nor .
If such person as H. L. Morey.' I
On October %. when Garfield re- .
,eived a copy Of the New York news /
paper containing a photographic fac
smile Of the alleged letter, he tele-
,raphed 10 Mr. Jewell as follows:
Publish my dispatch of last evening
f Won think best The letter Is the
work Of some clumsy villain. who can
not spell nor write English, nor imi-
ate my handwriting. Every honest
and manly Democrat in America, who
5 familiar with my handwriting, VIII
lenounce the forgery at sight. Put the
,ase in the hands Of the ablest detec-
ives at once and hunt the rascal
lown. An investigation showed that
no such person as H. /. Norev lived at
" near Lynn, Mass, at the time the
etter was dated. and that no such an
,- -..nization as the Employers Union
s~e- existed IN Lynn.
Garfeld appeared to have come out .
# this trouble with flying coIors: but,
n the opinion Of some voters, he never !
answered satisfactorily III. Credit-No /
1ilier and other charges which were /
remarkably like the charges now
against Senator Foraker and Governor /
Haskell. They were all 10 the effect /
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