The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1912-10-02
ORIGIN OF DEMoCRAToC EMBLEM
How I'll Came About That the Rooster
, was Accepted as Emblem Of the
Democratic Parry,


Democratic Parry.
Ever work in country printing
officer" he said. well, the rooster
was used on all the papers of 80 or 40 |
years ago as sign of victory af- |
ter every election. T he Democratic |
opposition papers had booster with
they ran at the top of the editorial
page when the party won, while the
opposition papers had a roster with
dropping feathers and trailing wings
that they used when the Democrats
got licked"
The hunter of the real story saw
then that he was as far away as ever,
so he sought out Col. John w. Clifton.
head of the Clark forces. But the
Colonel didn't know and he doubted IL
anybody now in town knew. But
Champ Clark would know, he said, and
he suggested that the telephone be
| used
A Harmon supporter agreed with
Colonel Clifton.
Give credit where credit is due. ,"
he said. "If there's one man in the
country that knows the origin Of the
party emblem, it's Champ Clark"
So the Speaker was called up over
the telephone. He was found at the
Capitol. Eureka! He knew the story!
According to Speaker Clark. the
rooster came to be adopted between
1872 and 1914 which shows that Con-
gresham Talbot and Colonel Martin
made pretty good guesses.
Back in 1910 said the Speaker, there
was man named Chapman in Indiana
who enjoyed considerable local fame
through the fact that at every meeting
of Democrats he crowed like a rooster.
SO faithfully and realistically did he
crow that the Indiana Democrats re-
garded 1T as a paean of victory.
In 1912, after the Democrats had
carried an election in Indiana, Chap
man received letter in which the
writer urged him to crow. Grow,
Chapman, crow!" became political
by-word In indiana, and from There
1t spread to other parts Of the coun-
try. Coincident with it's spread came
the adoption of the rooster as an en-
blem Of the Democratic party.
1t is probably that the rooster was
nationally adopted as an emblem at
the convention held in Baltimore in
1914, when James x. Polk, Of Ten
nessee, and George M. Dallas, of Penn
sylvania, were nominated and Martin
Van Buren, started to bolt So popu-
ar had it grown in every part of the
country that it came to be known as
the sign of democracy
In time the rooster was printed on
the ballots in the days when the party
emblem adorned them. In many cam
paigns it took the place of the Jack
son and Liberty" emblem, with the
history tree, the portrait of Jackson
and the harp.
While on the subject of the party
embelm it might be said that the don
Key, the standby of atter-day car
toonists in depicting the Democratic
party, had its origin in the days of
the old token money"
the coinage of the country was not
entirely sufficient for its needs, the
custom was to give when change was
lacking. a check or token for certain
specified amounts, which could be re-
deemed either in trade or in silver
when there was enough on hand. Inn
keepers, merchants and ever railroads
had their own token money.
Finally man in Missouri, to dis
tinguish his token money, had fig
ure of the famous Missouri mule en-
graved on his brass tags. In later
years, when the subject of the curren-
cy was one of deep Importance, this
donkey OF the old token money was
applied to the Democratic party.