The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-11-07
kansas CITY STAR

"
One of the strangest. as we'll as one
of tho most picturesque presidential
campaigns in this country was the log
cabin, hard-cider campaign Of 1870.
when William Henry Harrison. the
candidate Of the Wing party. opposed
Martin Van Buren,. the democratic
candidate.
Harrison VAS nominated by the
Wings over Henry Clay. Clay was
popular and had a large number of
followers. but when Harrison received
14o votes on the third day Of ballot
ing. Clay's supporters backed him. The
abolition papers all attributed Clay's
defeat to his being a slave owner.
The Wings did not provide a plat
form at the convention for their OPP
ponents to attack. SO the democratic
press fell upon the man. and in sneers
at his poverty and humble occupations
as a farmer and clerk Of a court. gave
the Wings the most popular platforms.
A correspondent. writing to a Balti-
more newspaper. said that when a
friend Of Clay heard of the nominal
tioE Of Harrison he remarked that if
Harrison were given a pension of 81
900 a year. plenty Of hard cider and
a log cabin to live in he would eve
trouble n n about the presidency.
oSSduSo Vi SIllS, IIdIElSOu was
promptly dubbed The Log Cabin.
Hard Cider Candidate" an old granny,
a deserving old gentleman, doubtless.
but n his friends should be content
to leave in the peace of his log cabin.
The sheer log-cabin. hard-cider cam
didate, was just such a campaign cry
as the Wings needed. 1t was taken
up at once. and in a little while the
plain people the country over believed
that he really did live in a log cabin.
that he was a mar who never touched
strong liquor. earned his living by Gull
tivating his farm with his own hands,
and was, in fact. A regular Cincinnati
us. Van Buren,. on the other hand.
was pictured as living In ine mansions
and literally rolling in wealth.
Enthusiastic rallies were held in the
west. Of which the log cabin was the
symbol. When the Indiana state con-
vention was about to assemble in In
d~ianapolis the delegates came with
bands, flags. banners and notices, and
came in such numbers hat they form
ed a procession ii mile long. At an
other. in the western reserve. describ-
ed as the greatest ever known there.
were 5000 who had left their log cab
ins to cheer the log-cabin candidate.
At the convention in Columbus, OH
SOsVVO per
sc II was asserted, came from all
parts of the state. Some walked, some
rode, whole delegations arrived in ca
noes or log cabins or boats mounted on
wheels and drawn by six or eight hors.
es. All carried huge banners and mot
toes. On one banner was the Ameri-
can Cincinnatus. with his hand ON the
pillow. On another he stood at his
cabin door dealing out hard cider to
canal workers.
A company Of Mad river trappers
came In a log cabin decorated with
coon-skins: the men from Cleveland
had a square-rigged brig: a party ON
foot shouldered corn-shuck brooms;
on the roofs of some Of the log cabins
as they rolled along sat merry fell
lows eating johnny cakes and drinking
hard cider and singing patriotic songs.
With eight men marching abreast, the
procession was two miles long.
The west. it Wal truly said. was
afame. There is not a tree, moi 81
stone in all the west exclaimed one
enthusiastic editor. that does not own
to the Harrison cause. Women name
their children Tippccanoe, North Bend
or anything that smacks of Harrison,
We know Il drayman who has called