Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-06-22
NATIONAL CONVENTIONS.
XVu-TF1E GREAT THIRD TERM FIGHT
XVuI-Tf1E BATTLES OF 1884.
BY Frederic J. Haskin.
PNovo3
BATTLES OF 1884.
BY Frederic ]. Haskin.

was mentioned this afternoon 1t was
| taken up with great cheering. OF course,
| that was not an accident. It was put
| up job. and an effective one. too Keep
your eye on Garfield
| Garfield had two chances He reported
the resolutions from the rules committee
that abrogated for good and all the unit
rule so far as republican conventions are
concerned. The Garfield report was
adopted by 479 to 276. the Grant men not
| standing solidly by Conkling this time.
But the better chance came later.
1t was Saturday when the nominating
| speeches were made. Four years before
Ingersoll had done his best for Blaine
This time Blaine was first to be nominat-
Ied-nominated in a speech made by James
F. Joy Of Michigan. He called his favorite
sometimes John G. Blaine" and some
| times James H. Blaine" but never
James G. Blaine. Frye attempted to re-
coup In his seconding speech, but 1t was
not successful The oratorical honors
When the name of New York was CALI
ed, the handsome Conkling leaped to the
Conkling Makes porter's ia
Hit With Delegates. smiled At
the convention while the welcoming
| cheers lasted, and then:
When asked what state he halls from,
| Our sole reply will be,
| He comes from Appomattox
| And its famous apple tree"
| The Grant men went wild. Conkling
1 kept his thumbs in his pockets and smiled
| until an expectant gasp brought silence.
And then he went on to praise Grant. The
anti-Grant men were panic stricken. The
| name of Grant was a name to conjure
| with, and here was a mighty magician
| using 1t as a wand. But Conkling was a
| bitter soul. and toward the end Of his
| speech he could not forbear to say a few
cutting words. accompanied with sneers
that set the teeth of every Blaine man in
| the convention. In the moment of triumph
| Conkling had worked his own undoing
He ended:
THE name of Grant will glitter like a
| star in the diadem of the republic when
| those who have vilified him have mol
dered in forgotten graves
\
| For full twenty minutes-then the high
water mark-the demonstration lasted
| and it was not arti-
Cheering Lasts fetal Never were
Twenty Minutes. en.nu.,a . .,,c ~ ,ry mnrs
ENTHUSIASTICALLY lOydI lHdu the dTdHt
| third-term men at Chicago in 1880.
| Garfield arose to nominate Sherman.
He paused, and asked: Whom shall we
have?" A delegate called out, Garfield"
A newspaper dispatch said of the incl
dent: 'Whereat, almost as if it had been
a put-up job. the ever-present idiot called
| out Garfield. OF course it wasn't a
put-up job. but it looked so.'
| The convention then adjourned until
Monday. The break came on the seventh
| day of the convention. On the thirty-fifth
| ballot Indiana voted for Garfield, who had
received one vote on almost every ballot.
Garfield arose and protested, hut of course
nobody paid any attention to him.
| Sherman was IN Washington. Foster
/ telegraphed him, What shall we do?'
Sherman replied, Stick to me as long as
you can. but go to Garfield when Ohio 9
vote will nominate him." That telegram
was showed around the convention hall.
On the thirty-sixth ballot the Blaine
column marched into the Garfield camp.
Garfield got 800 votes, Grant BOG, Blaine
| still had AZ. Sherman and Window 8.
That ended the convention fight, but the
| feuds 1t stirred up were not healed for
many day. And in all this fight the
only issues were those OF personalities
and patronage-no political principle was
discussed.
| The democrats In 1880 met at Cincin-
| natl The rank and file wanted Tilden
| and Hendricks-the
Hancock Named old ticket-on the is
n.,..,,4. sue Of the fraud Of
~ o'0 IT. But Tammany
| was again a power and the politicians
| were against Tilden. They nominated
Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, a war hero.
and went into a campaign in which they
| thought victory was certain.
| But Hancock was not a politician. He
| was a blunt soldier too free with the
truth. He said, The tariff is a local
| ISSUE" That hurt him. Garfield was
great politician. He persuaded Conkling
to support him and Grant to stump for
| him. In October republican defeat SEEM
| ed certain. In November Garfield won
nv the vote of New York-and Tammany
Hall had knitted the ticket 1t had Sc
| lected.
Although the democrats were success
full in electipg Grover Cleveland Presi-
,, dent In 1sS4-their first VIC
BATTLES of tory since the civil war
1t was the republican con-
1oo4. vention that year that was
most interesting. 1t was most interesting
at the time because Of the fear of
''mugwump bolt If Blaine were nominat-
ed, most interesting now because it marks
the first appearance in the national arena
of Theodore Roosevelt.
From 1874 to 1860 the real issue in
every election was slavery. From 1854
| to 1879 the real issue was reconstruc-
ton. In 1880 the only issue was patron
age The ms had the offices and the
| outs wanted them. OF course, there