Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-12-18
WHEN HARRISON AND BLAINE
WERE AT CAPE MAY
Walks and Talks by Julius Chambers
MEMORIES RECALLED BY A CURRENT RUMOR

MEMORIES RECALLED BY A CURRENT RUM0R
Rum0rs Of friction between the President and his Secretary of State are
widely current 1t Washington. Similar gossip has been heard before; butthe
matter now takes different shape from that it previously had The eondi-
tons are said to be similar to those that existed during President Harrison's
term, between him and Secretary Blaine.
Mr.. Blaine had taken himself out of the running in 1888 by sending the
historic Florence letter to General Jones, positively declining to be a candi-
date. Despite that fact, many of his friends kept him in the field and he
received 48 votes on the fifth ballot General Harrison vas nominated on
the eighth ballot, and elected President. The Maine statesman was called
to the Cabinet as its Secretary of State.
President Harrison believed himself diviney chosen. He actually
said SO to Ingerson, and the answer. of the latter is famous After Blaine
had been in the Cabinet two years Harison's manner toward him became
noticeably higd at times. During Harrson's stay at Cape May Point I
passed several weeks there as correspondent, and saw both men every day.
My acquaintance with Blaine dated back to 1875, at Washington, when
he was Speaker of the House, and for many years we met with frank cor
dhaity. I also saw him several times during his long stay in Paris in 1887,
on one occasion passing an entire evening with him at the Hotel Binda,
where he stayed.
The President had been known to me az Senator from Indiana-indeed,
I frequently met him at Nordho's house on K street He and and Nord-
hof were both cold as ice, and for that reason they hatenhed.
Blaine came to Cape May at the end of each week, but always seemed
i'll at ease in Harrison presence.
The boardwalk at The Point was a crude affair, and not of much length,
but it vas the only place to stroll, and n a dull Sunday afternoon lit an
aher-dinner cigar preparatory to taking some exercise. Very few people
were out. Toward the western end, considerably ahead, noticed two
figures. The men were walking very slowly The broader backed of the
two had his hands behind his back and his head was down; the taller figure
looked straight ahead and gestured forciby with his right arm. When I
had noticed these peculanies, I suddenly realized the identity of the men.
I was about to retreat, in order to escape suspicion of having followed them
(Which was not a fact) when they suddenly reversed their, steps. To go
ahead seemed the wise course. When the intervening fifty feet had been
shortened to a few steps, raised my hat to the President who bowed glum-
y, and then spoke to MI. Blaine. He stopped, smiled cordially, and held
out his hand. He seemed almost disincnned to resume his walk; but the
situation became painful, and I hurried to close the interview. I returned
to my hotel convinced of the Presidents jealousy of his Secretary.
Charles Z. Russell confirms a belief l held at the time that Mr.. Patt
who hated Harrison, put the idea in Blaine's head of being candidate
against his chief in 1899. Russell says in his volume, "Shfhng Scenes"
that the GOODNESS between them arose from Harrison's refusal to advance
Major Coppinger in the Army over the the heads of older officers, but |
think the cause lay deeper than that. Harrison was conscious that Blaine
had thrown away the nomination at Chicago in 1888 and that he vas the
beneficiary.
Small men resent obligation.
Senators wolcott and Phtt had been secretly wgking for Blaine for
several months, but the Secretary took every public occasion to declare that
he was not and would not be a candidate. Such a secret as the Senatorial
activities could NOT be kept, and after three years of intolerable service, on
the Saturday preceding the assembling of the Minneapolis convention, Mr..
Blaine resigned from the Harrison Cabinet, thus becoming a ayowed candi-
date.
Quay at once declared for Blaine, which meant the entire Pennsylvania
delegation. In addition, Quay as chairman of the Republican National
Committee, and what he didn't know about getting delegates wasn't worth
learning. ~
The defeat of Baines nomination vas wholly due to Patfs cock-sure-
nessi I It's doubtful if Blaine could have beaten Cleveland in 1909, but he
could have secured the nomination had Wolcott paid proper attention to the
Southern delegates. The 1Sa votes c@t. for Mckinley were supposed to go
to Blaine on the second ballot; but, like the boy and the applecore, there
wasnt a secondi
Patt overpayed his hand by putting Mckinley in the field ito divide
the Harrison vote, IS he aferward explained.
The defeat of Harrison at the polls probably was the last real JOY Mr.
Blaine knew. I visited him several times at Bar Harbor during the eight
months that interviewed between his last defeat and his death. The finely
modulated voice of former days vas completely gone and an unmstakabe
tone of sadness was noticeable. He had suffered dreadful domestic grefs
in the loss of two sons, Walker and Emmons Baine-enough in itself to
crush the stoutest heart
1t was a solemn thing to sit at night upon his veranda, overlooking the
Ight-doted habor, and to hear the hours struck upon the bells of the
yachts, but more doleful still was the toning Off great ben-buoy at the bar.
Perhaps this took the form ola dhge in his ears.
1t was piful to me to realize that a man who had for SO many years
been a popular idol was dying practically deserted by all save his wife and
two daughters.
purposely refrain from making the obvious application. Nobody but
himself so far as l am aware, knows whether Mr. Bryan expects again to
be a Presidential candidate Eagle