Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-06-28

nobody launches an active campaign
for the nomination.
Most prominent men who have been
talked of for the position during the
last half century have tried to escape a
nomination. One man, John G. Cal
houn, resigned the office after serving
in it for some years to take a senator
ship. Three who have been actually
nominated have declined it. John Lang
don Of New Hampshire was named In
1912 to stand with James Madison, but
refused, and Elbridge Gerry Of Massa-
chusetts wassnamed in his stead. ST.
las Wright Of New York in 1874 was
so indignant at the failure Of the DEM
ocrats to nominate Martin Van Buren
that when he was nominated for vice
president he instantly ordered the
withdrawal of his name, and George
M. Dallas Of Pennsylvania was substi-
tuted.
In both cases the declining candidate
threw away an election as we'll as a
nomination, though Mr.. Wright by
ming for governor in New York the
same year and carrying the state by
the immense influence Of his name
brought the Democratic electoral tick
ct in on the same wave. thus defeating
Henry Clay and shaping the history
Of the country for considerable pc
riod of years. The third declination
was that of Benjamin Fitzpatrick of
Alabama, nominated in 1860 on the
Douglas ticket.
Notable Men Declined.
A number of notable men, without
waiting for an expression Of the senti-
ment of a convention, have refused to
allow themselves to be nominated for
vice president. who If they had con-
sented, could have become presidents
by succession. Chief among these was
General Benjamin F. Butler Of Massa-
chusetts, who in 1864 was strongly
pressed to take the second place on the
ticket with Mr.. Lincoln. He rejected
all overtures, and Andrew Johnson as
cended the ladder in his place.
They tell story Of the offer of the
vice presidential nomination to Will
liam p. Frye of Maine on the ticket
with Garfield in 1880 and of an acci-
dent which took him out of the race
apparently of his own initiative. Mr.
Frye always asserted, too, that he could
have had the nomination in 1900, when
ii went to Colonel Roosevelt, but that
he declined to consider it because he
regarded his seat in the senate as a
much prouder place.
Perhaps the worst slough into which
the party managers ever drifted WITH
regard to the vice presidency was the
practice, continued for a number OF
years, of using the nomination as
consolation prize to hold the good viii
of the faction which had been defeated
in the contest for the higher honor. A
typical instance was the nomination Of
Chester A. Arthur in 1880. He stood
suuarely by his obligation to the domi-
nant faction in the campaign, honestly
striving for Garfield's election himself
and holding his followers to theil
work. But when after inauguration
the new president proved by his us'
of patronage that he did not intend t(
put the party organization in New
York state into stalwart hands, Mr.
Arthur rebelled and became one of th'
most active insurgents till the tragedy
of the I'd of July and his elevation t
the presidency.
Aces of Some Candidates.
AS to the ages of the men named foI
the vice presidency. the Oldest of th'
successful candidates was Elbridg'
Gerry. who was sixty eight years o
age; the next oldest William Rufus
King. siXty-six. George Clinton ant
Thomas A. Hendricks were both six
ty-five, Levi P. Morton was sixty-four
and Henry Wilson was sixty. Henry g
Davis, the octogenarian, who ran will
Judge Parker in 1904, was probably tn
oldest man ever nominated for tn
vice presidency, and Allen G. Thurman
who at seventy-five years shared MI
Cleveland's defeat i'm 1888, was proba
bly, the next Oldest OF the unsuccessful
candidates.
BY way of emphasizing the import
ance once attached to the vice-presi
dency it is an interesting fact tina
the two thirds rule" which has play
ed havoc with so many Democrats
ambitions, had it's origin in desire t
limit the chances of candidate, no