El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-10-22

! own defeat for reelection. It was
| charged that Henry Clay had bar
/ gained away his strength to Adams to
I make Adams president in return for
/ the state portfolio. That the charge
/ was not true seems to be accepted by
! all historians But what a campaign
story it was. Had it not been said that
! the bargain was made, and were not
the conditions CT the bargain fulfilled
! to tee letter. The proof of the pud-
ding is in its eating, and the proof of
the bargain in its fuIfiument. Ger
/ tainly Adams had not Kept free from
/ the appearance or evil If he had not
/ appointed Clay the story Of the 'cOr-
/ rupt bargain" would have fallen flat.
! People for Jackson.
| The people felt that the defeat Of
J jackson was a thWarung Of the pOpu-
/ lar will He had won in the popular
/ election and had received the most
I votes in the electoral colleges. Adams
! was minority candidate all the way
] around, and yet he got into the presi-
! dency- This state of affairs aroused
| the country and led the people of every
/ state to insist on the selection of. cleo
| tors by popular vote Eighteen states
| mad chosen their electors that way in
! 1924, but in some of those states the
| ballot was so hedged about with quail
/ fications that the vote was not at all
Z rep GSG44LcL4N DuL IN 1910 all OF the
! a states except Delaware and South
/ Carolina gave the suffrage to the peO-
pie and many of them liberaliZed the
| qualifications Of the right to vote
| The campaign really began as soon
! as Adams was chosen Jackson has
| tened home and with a flourish re-
| signed his seat in the senate, saying
/ that constitutional amendment was
! going to be offered to guarantee to the
/ people the right to choose their presi-
/ dent, and that he would have to advO-
] cate 1t If he remained in the senate a
! course which his enemies would
! charge was pursued from selfish in
| terest Before this the Tennessee leg
[ islature had again nominated him for
J president and renewed the agitation
/ against the sale Of the presidency by
| Clay in return for the portfolio Of
! state
Van Buren, on Band Wagon.
% The game of the Jackson people now
| was to enlist the support Of the CraW-
| ford following for their candidate
] Martin Van Buren, and his friend Cam
/ breling, who controlled New York poll
| tics, percelving the plain drift Of pub
/ lie sentiment toward Jackson. got
aboard his bandwagOn before it started
/ and qualified as drivers Of the big car
( ~ all. They made a tour Of the south
J spreading Jackson sentiment and init
/ mating to the friends OF Crawford that
/ it was high time to climb aboard.
! There were some side issues in the
] campaign, but they were completely
| OvershadOWed by the issue of whether
/ Clay had made a deal with Adams. And
/ on that issue, finding Clay in posses
] sion Of the goods the people turned a
| deaf ear to all that was said to dis
/ prove it.. Clay received votes Of conf
/ dence wherever he went but still the
I story spread and grew, and one might
[ as well have tried to dam the Missis-
/ slppt as to counterfeit the story The
| jackson people made the most Of II
! everywhere. At musterS of the militia,
2 as
| everywhere, it was repeated with in
Vulnerable frills, and 1t was believed
! They rang the changes on the story
| everywhere John Randolph, In con-
| gress. exclaimed: Let Judas take his
/ 80 pieces of silver. Jackson was
! defeated horse, foot and dragons
I cut up and clean broke down
| by this coalition of Blifil and
/ Black George. by this combination, IN
! heard of until then, OF the Puritan with
the blackleS. This charge resulted IN
/ Clay's challenge Tor a duel Each
I fired one shot, escaped unhurt, shook
( hands and went back to their respective
places. with Clays honor satisfied
! But 'Blifil and Black George" and
! Puritan and Backlog went resOund-
ing through the country, making votes
for Jackson.
Jackson Enters Fight.
Now Jackson himself came along
| with a letter giving the weight of his
! authority to the story. He said a mem
Der Of congress had come to him in
Clay's behalf, and asserted that Harry
of the west" would come over to him
if he would promise to give the secre-
taryShlp of state. He declared that he
spurned the offer, and would go into
the presidential office untrammeled or
not at all.
This, in turn, was followed by a
challenge from Clay to Jackson to
name the congressman who had been
the messenger. Jackson named James
I Buchanan, afterward president Blu
/ chanan denied in q letter that he had
( visited Jackson as the representative OF
Clay, but that he had simply tried to
get "Old Hickory" to play a little poll
tics to insure his selection. In addi-
tiOn to this Clay produced a letter from
Lafayette, showing by the nofed
F'renchman that he had long before
said that If the election went to the
house he would support Adams over
Jackson.
But no -denials ever could Overtake
that story and counterfeit it. Let the
people rule" and Jackson and re-
form Were the rauying cries every
| where. For the first time in the his
! tory of the nation the masses had q
Z real hand in the political game. and
/ they were playing it with the zeal that
/ characterizes the child with a new toy
1 The Tammany society, founded as an
! 1nStrumentauty with which TO combat
/ the ariStOCratic society of the Cincin-
| natl, took part in the fight and by a
narrow chance missed taking the road
Z LuaL leu INTO lllt h4lS party rather
than the Democratic party. As far
] back as the first Madison election the
! two tickets in Ohio were known as
/ Tammany and -Tammany the
I Tammany ticket supporting Madison,
| and receiving two votes to one for the
anti-Tammany organization
Adams no Politician.
{ If Adams was not the popular choice
I in 1924 he had little chance to be 50
J four years later. He did not know how
/ to play politics, and he was an absO-
lutte failure as a cOnciliatOr- He al
1 lowed his postmaster general to use
| the patronage of the postal system
I against him, and when his advisers
! protested he said he did not think it
| right to remove a man just because he
| preferred some other candidate for the
! presidency. His diary gives a glimpse
J Of how he felt. When Richard Rush
preferred the mission to England to
/ being his running mate on the presi-
Dental ticket. he wrote: i can easily
I conjecture why it is-the preference
/ of the harbor to the tempest" Again,
/ when he was making an appointment
| which he knew would have a bad ef-
! feet. he wrote 1.-The effect will be bad.
/ probably violent and decisive, but why
should / require men to sacrifice them
/ selves for me"