The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-11-20
COL. WATTERS0N SAYS NUTMEG
STATE MAN SPIl LED THE BEANS
IN T|LDEN-HAYES CONTROVERSY,


ton of hubbub. hue and cry and fren-
zied mental arithmetic now absorb
ing this great, numerically. nation
isn't the first of it's kind. We are not
near a revolution. 1t will not be nee
essary to call upon the militia to re-
store order. The duma and the
Reichstag will not be dissolved, nor
will parliament be prorogued. Nor
will our own dear and much beloved
congress- be adjourned. 1t can't very
well be, for 1t isn't in session.
No, this isn't the first time that
the thing has happened, We seem
fated, as a nation, to go through this
sort of thing every forty years or so.
Witness the equally dramatic. similar
ly hubbubish. huely-and-cryey little
affair we Democrats staged in the
year of grace. 1876.
We seem to run by SKIES. Just now
we are at skies and sevens. In IT'S,
1t may be recalled by research work
ers intimate with our country's his
tory, our party's distinguished found
en-. Mr.. T. Jefferson, spilled quite a
little pot of political beans by making
the astounding assertion that we were
really At to govern ourselves. In
1916 we patched up a peace with
Great Britain and Andy Jackson, for
whom some OF US still vote, licked the
British in New Orleans. We made
him president at later date. In 1856
we pussyfooted on the slavery and
states-rights question, and sent Blu
chanan to the White house.
That was our last crack at the
presidency until -
Well. some OF the more old1fash-
toned Of US maintain that we elected a
Democratic president in 1876. The
chances are that we did, but the
president we elected never took Office.
and his picture adorns none Of the
school histories by means Of which we
fill our children's minds with misin-
formation about their fatherland. A
Republican gentleman, whose gentility
in accepting the presidency under
such circumstances was very much
questioned at the time, took office,
Took" Is right, as some Of the old
timers will indignantly snort.
All Of which is in reference to the
celebrated campaign Of forty years
ago. when Mr.. Samuel J. Tilden of
New York and Mr.. Rutherford B.
Hayes OF Ohio locked horns in one of
the most desperate political grapples
known to science, history, religion or
ethics. It was a buster. Friends re-
pudiated friends, fathers. forsook their
families, brothers foreswore their kfns-
men, men of all parties forsook their
allegiahee}and, at this date, it
seems that the free and untrammeled
presidential electors of the sovereign
state Of Louisiana forswore their orig
inal convictions. Also, it seems that
several highly esteemed gentlemen
forswore their consciences. That is,
IL they had them to start with.
In those days, the electoral college
wasn't alb large as it is now. 1t was
a. small x reshMater institution COM
pared IS the great university 1t is to-
day In 1876 there were only, 369
votes in It; to-day there are 531. But
they were hustled for. just as hard as
they are being hustled for to-day.
Now the point and pith and bear
ing of this tale is this:
When the returns from that cleo
ton day. in the fall Of 1876 came in,
it was. found that Samuel j. Tilden of
New York. had, on the face Of things,
2o6 electoral votes. twenty-one more
than a. majority, and a popular vote
of 4,3o0.31 "a majority over Ruth
erford B. Hayes of Ohio Of 1890.
And then the trouble began.
Now, no less an authority than
Marse Henry Watterson. the genial. at
times, editor of the Louisville Courier
Journal, who was active in the cam
raign of 1876, on Tilden's behalf, lays
the whole blame on Connecticut
man. the late Senator William H. Bar
mum, who was at that time the finance
head Of the Dem ocratic National Com
mittee. = Senator Barnum sent tel
egram And, according to Col. Wat
terson, that telegram changed history.
1t was this way The morning
newspapers published on November 8,
1S76-for the election day, curiously
enough, was on Tuesday, November z,
papers. both Democratic and Republi-
can, Conceded an overwhelming vic
tory for Tifden That is, all but the
New York Times. 1t sent its first
edition to press leaving the result in
doubt, but inclining toward Democrat
ic success It was Republican then,
was the Times; nowadays it's trying
to make up for its early errors.
Now the later editions Of the Times
changed their tentative attitude. They
made the statement that Hayes lacked
the vote only of Florida, claimed by
the Republicans, to be sure OF the 1S5
votes requires for majority in the
electoral college. And how they came
to do 80 was this:
After that early edition had gone
to press, the staff of the paper, much
cast down by the returns. was sit
ting at supper, when in came a tele-
gram from Senator Barnum, asking
for their latest news on Oregon, Loui-
siaffa, Florida and South Carolina.
This, to the minds OF the Times men,
was significant e Colonel Watterson
claims that, except for that unlucky
telegram, Tilden would probably have
been inaugurated president of the
United States.
The story of that hectic night in
the Times office is told by Colonel
Watterson in an article about year
ago in the New York World, by per-
mission Of the Manhattan club Of New
York. The article was written in
commemoration of the fiftieth ami
versary of the club. In it the dough-
tyFColonel says:
'@The Times people, intense Republi-
can partfsans, saw at once an oppor-
tunity. If Barnum did not know,