El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-10-26

I points OL similarity DEL " cen
the presidential campaign of 1852 and
that of 1912. He finds it first in the
Democratic national convention of 1852
which met in Baltimore. There was
a general feeling in the party that a
nomination was equivalent to an cleo
ton, and therefore no dearth of can
didates and no lack Of determination
on the part of the supporters of each
of them There We're Stephen A
Douglas, Lewis Case, William L. Mar
! cy, James Buchanan and Sam HoustOn,
with franklin Pierce as q dark horse.
Gen. Cass started out the favorite, and
( after a number of ballots had been
! taken he came within hailing distance
| OF a majority OF the convention But
] immediately began to lose. On the
49th ballot the convention StamDeded
( to Franklin Pierce, thus ending one Of
the greatest deadlOcks in the history
| of Democratic national conventions
William r. King, of Alabama, was
nominated as his running mate on the
Claim 1t Was All Planned.
/ It IS asserted by some authorities
| that the nomination Of Pierce as a dark
/ horse had been planned weeks before
under the guiding hand of his college
/ chum and lifelong friend senator
| James W. Bradbury, of Maine, al
| though it may well be doubted if
/ any one could STAGE sucb a finale Is
| was witnessed 1t is evident. however,
/ that there was an agreement that the
! first support Pierce should get was to
! come from outside OF New England,
/ support which Virginia gave him after
| some 80 odd fruitless ballots had been
J taken.
4 The Wing convention met in the
/ building that lately had been the
/ scene of the Democratic struggle, and
I it also was deadlOcked. Willard Fill
/ more had succeeded to the presidency
I UnOn the death of Cen TaWLOT. and
/ had Immediately aligned himself with
/ the liberal Wings. a direct reversal OF
/ FIllmOre's quarrel with William H
| Seward over the patronage Of the state
] OF New York was really responsible
! for Fllmore's recognition Of the lib
! erals as against the Seward cOnser-
vatives- Fillmore had 13S on the first
I ballot in the convention, Gen Scott
/ 1S1, and Daniel Webster %. The battle
/ continued hour after hour and day
I after day until the SD ballot, on which
I Gen Scott had i more votes than were
! necessary The convention then nom
/ Carolina. as ScOtt's running mate.
The Free Sellers held a convention
| in Pittsburg and nominated Hale, OF
( New Hampshire, and Julian, OF Indi-
! ana as their standard bearers. But
/ the Free Sellers had lost ground in
| four years and although they &epU
/ 1913 by dividing the New York vote
] they were not able to affect the result
/ in single state in 1852.
/ Scott RidfcuIed.
( The Democrats had nominated man
/ Of whom nothing particularly great
| could be said and nothing very bad
I He was not the most brilliant OF the
men who had rendered service 10 ms
/ party. but it was a sort Of matching
( Of quiet colOrs against gaudy ones, for
I Gen. Scott had long been known as
I "Old Fuss and Feathers" If the Wings
7 had thought to win a third president
! on the war hero issue, they reckoned
without their host, for, from the day
that a delegate, Immediately following
I his nomination read a letter from Gen.
Scott accepting it-a. letter so plainly
] written before his nomination had been
! the effect Of hero worship by doing
/ ridiculous things. a New York paper
| published his stump speeches under
! headlines: .'The Modern Epic. Fifty
/ two speeches by Mai. Gen Winfield
/ Scott. embracing a narrative OF a trip
! to the Blue LicSs and back to wash
| ington in search of site for mill
/ tary hospital The Had OF the 1ytn
I century"
Scott did not want to appear as going
on the stump, for such a thing was
unpopular in that day. so he had a
( trip arranged which would take him TO
Blue Licks. Kentucky, to locate a mill
( itary hospital and ne swung around
the circle to get there. Much fun was
made of his gushing flattery as he
Z tried to cOunteract the effect OF some
/ of the letters he had written leaning
Z toward the stopping OF lmml eratlon-
He told how he loved the rich irish
brogue" and the sweet German &C
cent" Of his auditors, and his efforts
/ were 50 obvious as almost 10 laush
the old hero out Of court
Tho Democrats loved to tell ride
ulOus things about Gen Scott he
posed as a hard worker they asserted
One day he was out of his ofIlce Wnen
the secretary OF war came to see him.
When he came back he informed ms
chief that he had been too busy Tor
weeks to eat a square meal At noon, ana
that he had Just steDped out 1or a
hasty plate Of soup" During the com
paign he never heard the end OF that
( "hasty plate Of souD.
Pierce Docs Not Escape.
On the other hand. Pierce did not
escape the ridicule Of the enemy. he
was accused of being Crunkard, ana
a circumStantial story was told or now
che had sworn off his cOnvlV1aI nab
its" to his friends if they should land
him in the presidential chair II was
charged that while hrigadler gen
eral in the Mexican war he had tainted
from fright at the battle on the plains
Of ChurubuscO. and a campaign poem
was generally circulated comparing the
fainting Pierce with the daredeViI
bravery of cold ChapulteDec-
The candidacy of Scott did not strike
the popular chord. and try as they
might to capitalize on Lundy s Lane
and ChapuItepec, the Wings could not
enlist any particular enthusiasm Tor
their candidate. They decided to duDh-
I =
rfson campaign and the splendid affair
at New Orleans when Jackson was a
candidate. They did hold the celebra-
ton and tried to make it appear even
more successful than the Harrison or
the Jackson rally, but still the chilly
political atmosphere was everywhere
evident and the celebration at Nj
eeara Falls did not arouse the Niagara
of enthusiasm" that had been pre-
dicted.
As a matter of fact, the trouble was
that the platform and the candidate
did not fit well together. The north
ern Wings could accept the candi-
date but they declared that they would
split upon the platform" The south
ern Wings could accept the platform,
but did not like the candidate.
WhfE Party Wrecked
When the vote was taken II was
found that the Wings were indeed /
beaten to a FRAGILE" Only four states Z
fell outside of the Democratic col
umn and Gen. Scott went down to one
of the worst defeats in the history Of /
the country. The defeat was so great 7
that it tore asunder the foundations of (
the Wing party and prepared the wav
for another party which should fail |
heir to its strength and escape its !
weaknesses. a party that was destined
boil h I