Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-05-20
Five Minutes A DAY
With Our Presidents

By JANIEs MORGAN.

Il - Ohhy DEUtfhNNu EaNNINlDns
Our political system was put tC
three severe tests in the brief cours,
of Is years. and happily 1t weatheret
them all. The FIRST and greatest wa.
the Civil War. The impeachment 81
Andrew johnson was the second. Tn,
third was the angry controversy we
the Presidential election OF 1876.
The tidal wave which swept down
the Republicans In the Congressional
elections OF 1874 stu was running s.
strongly In the campaign OF 1876 that
Hayes himself never was confident OF
his ucces Nor was tho country sur
lprised to e In tho headlines the
morning after election that Tilden. the
Democratic candidate. hRd won the
race.
Tao Republican National Head
lQuartefs in New York city hut up
shop early election night. and the Re-
publican campaign managers went to
bed resigned 10 defeat. While those
politicians slept, four members of an
editorial stan in New York still scan
ned the returns and debated the head
line to be written for the waiting
presses OF the Times. one of them
vas stoutly insisting that the election
hould not be given up as lost when a
olegram anne in from the Democratic
Headquarters asking for information
s to the result. That symptom OF
uncertainty In tho camp OF the sup
posed victors decided the question.
While the presses of the Times
were roaring that the election was in
doubt, a member of the little editorial
ICouncil rushed over to the Fifth Ave
nue. Hotel to cheer up the Republican
Headquarters. As he entered the
hotel. he was well met by William
Il. Chandler. who was just coming in
from his home in New Hampshire.
Together they succeeded In arousing
the sleeping chairman, Zach Chandler
jof Michigan. who made the wires hum
and threw the country into a mad up
lroar the LEI day with this claim:
l"Hayes and Wheeler have 1S5 votes
and are elected"
The brilliant headliner of the Chi
lcago Times, q democratic paper, thus
recorded in flaming type the fluctua-
tions in the feelings of the Democrats
in the first three bewildering days
after election: Wednesday-"Glory
to God in the Highest; THURSDAY
lord We Believe; Friday-"Let Us
Pray"
Tilden was elected on the face of the
returns, with 203 electoral votes to
106 for Hayes, and had also a plurality
Iof 100000 in the popular vote. His
indeed rested on the same
basis as Cleveland's in 1884 and Will
sons in 1916. But In 1876 the Repub-
.licans had not yet acquiesced In the
suppression of the negro vote in the
South. And If the negroes had not
been persuaded" by various means
from going TO the poles. Tilden could
mot have been elected.
Both the Republicans and the Dem
Iocrats claimed to have carried Louisi-
ana, South Carolina and Florida, and
from those States two sets of returns
were sent to Washington. Who should
decide between them? The Constitu-
,tion provides merely Ina the Presi-
dent of the Senate shall, in the pres
lence of the Senate and House. open
the certificates. land the votes shall
then be counted"
But when there are two sets of.
votes, who shall say which shall be
counted? THE President of the
Senate" answered the Republicans
because the President of the Senate
was a Republican. The two Houses"
said the Democrats, because one of the
Houses was Democratic.
This. indeed. had been the way of
doing 1t. But ever If that practice had
been followed. the problem would not
have been solved. The Senate and the
Democratic House never would have
Iagreed. The result would have been
|. . two Presidents or no Presi-
dent at all presumably with Grant
holding on to the White House by
main strength.
Compromise was necessary to save
the Government from chaos and the
country from another civil 4 The
bitter dispute was left to Is men, one
third of whom were Senators and an
other third We're Representatives,
equally divided between the parties.
To guarantee a calm, judicial decision
the remaining third were justices of
the Supreme Court.
Nevertheless, the commission pro
decided to decide every essential dues-
ton In favor of Hayes by a strict party
vote of 8 to Z. Alas. the partisan zeal
of that feverish hour burned just as
hercely beneath the gowns OF the
justices as under the rock coats of the
legislators.
The Judgment of the commission
was without force in law until adopted
by the two opposing Houses, and some
disappointed Democrats in the House
baked at ratifying the decision
against Tilden. But representatives of
Hayes whispered to certain Southern
Democrats in q secret conference at
Wormley's Hotel that If they would
let the Republicans have the Presi-
dency, the Republican President
would let them have their own State
Governments. The bargain having
been struck. it vas kept. After a
turbulent night session of the House
the result of the election was declar-
ed at 4 o'clock in the morning of
March 2. 1877, just 56 hours before
the Inauguration.
| For three months Hayes himself had
been alternating from day to day be-
tween expectation Of success and de-
feat. Even when he started for
| Washington on March 1 he was still
SO uncertain that he frankly told the
people of Columbus In his parting
Ispeech that he might be back with
them In the Governors chair again in
less than a week.
This President-elect had passed
through an ordeal such as had tried
none of his predecessors. and he pass
cd through 1t with becoming self
restraint. 1t was a strange ordeal also
fol. the country. The capacity for self
government is measured by the readi-
ness of men and parties and interests
to compromise. to sacrifice. even to
abide a ~momentary evil for the sake
of the longer good. The American
lpeople had stood this acid test