Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-10-29

similarity between the preSloentidi Coin
paigns of 1852 and that of 1912. He mas
1T first in the democratic national con-
vention of 1852. which met in Baltimore.
There was a general feeling in the party
that a nomination was equivalent TO an
election, and therefore no dearth or can
didates and no lack of determination on
the part of the supporters OF each OF
them. There were Stephen A. Douglas,
Lewis Cass. William l.. Marcy, James
Buchanan and Sam Houston, with Frank
lin Pierce as a dark horse. Gen. Cass
started out the favorite, and after num-
Der of ballots had been taken he came
within hailing distance Of majority OF
the convention. But Immediately he De
gan to lose On the fOrty-ninth ballot
the convention stampeded 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 second ballot.
1t is asserted by some authorities that
the nomination of Pierce as dark
fore. under the guiding hand OF
his college chum and lifelong friend.
Senator James w. Bradbury Of Maine.
although it may well be doubted
IL any one StdSe SucH d oo
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 thirty-odd fruitless ballots had been
taken.-
The Whig convention met in the building
that lately had been the scene of the
democratic struggle. and
Deadlock of it also was deadlOcked.
Willard Fillmore had
VIC WINGS succeeded to the presi-
dency upon the death of Gen. Taylor, and
had Immediately aligned himself with the
liberal wings, direct reversal of the
Taylor policy. Some assert that Fill
more's quarrel with William H. Seward
over the patronage of the state of New
York was really responsible for Fill
more's recognition of the liberals as
against the Seward conservatives. Fill
more had 133 on the first ballot in the
convention, Gen. Scott, 131, and Dan
iel Webster -. The battle continued
hour after hour and day after day until
the fifty-third ballot, on which Gen. Scott
had twelve more votes than We're neces-
Sary. The convention then nominated
William A. Graham of North Carolina as
SCOTS running mate.
The free soiers held a convention in
Pittsburgh and nominated Hale OF New
Hampshire and Julian of Indiana as their
standard bearers. But the free sellers
had lost ground in four years. and al
though they kept Lewis Cass out of the
presidency in dS4S by dividing the New
York vote, they were not able to affect
the result in a single state in 1852.
:
The democrats had nominated a man
Of whom nothing particularly great could
be said and nothing very
Scott bad He was not the
o:1:, most brilliant of the men
AsAASuAVuS' who had rendered serV-
ice to his party, but it was a sort of
matching of quiet cOlors against gaudy
ones. for Gen Scott had long been known
as ''Old Fuss and Feathers" If the
wings had thought to win a third Presi-
dent on the war hero issue they reck-
oned without their host, for from the day
that delegate, Immediately following his
nomination, read a letter from Gen.
Scott accepting it-a letter SO plainly
written before the nomination had been
made-their war hero counteracted the
effect of hero worship by doing ridicu-
lous things. A New York paper pub
lished his stump speeches under the head
Speeches by Maj Gen. Winfield Scott,
Embracing a Narrative Of a Trip to the
Blue Licks and Back to Washington in
Search of a Site for a Military Hospital.
The Had of the Nineteenth Century
Scott did not want to appear as going
on the stump, for such a thing was I'M
popular in that day. so he had trip
arranged which would take him to Blue
Licks, KY, to locate military hospital,
and he swung around the circle to get
there. Much fun was made of his gush7
ing f1attery as he tried to cOunteract the
effect Of some of the letters he had writ
ten leaning toward the stopping of inn
migration. He told how he loved the
man accent of his auditors, and his eff
forts were so obvious as almost to laugh
the old hero out of court.
The democrats loved to tell ridiculous
hard worker, they asserted. One day he
was out of his office when the Secretary
of War came to see him. When he came
back he informed his chief that he had
been too busy for weeks to eat a square
meal at noon, and that he had lust
stepped out for hasty plate Of soup"
During the campaign he never heard the
end of that "hasty plate Of soup"
On the other hand, Pierce did not es
cape the ridicule of the enemy. He was
accused of being a
Charges Against drunkard, and Cir
cumstantial story
AASASc' was told of how
The had sworn off his convivial habits"
to his friends If they should land him in
the presidential chair. 1t was charged
that while a brigadier general in the
Mexican war he had tainted from fright
at the battle on the plains Of Cherubusco
and a campaign poem was generally cir
culated comparing the fainting Pierce
with the daredevil bravery of "Old Cha
pultepec-'
The candidacy of Scott did not strike the
popular chord, and try as they might to
capitalize on Lundys Lane and Chapulte-
pee the wings could not enlist any par
ticular enthusiasm for their candidate.
They decided to duplicate the great cele-