Evening star., 1932-10-26
Campaign Breaks

In every presidential campaign con-
Quoted in this country for the past
seventy-fiVe years party managers have
dreaded the possibility of break at
a critical time to the prejudice of their
respective candidates. No matter how
one-sided the campaign has seemed to
be, the chance of some untoward hap
pening, some indiscreet expression, has
hung over the heads OF the leaders like
a Damoclesian sword. Senator Borah
evidently believes that the speech OF
former Gov. Smith at Newark last Mon
day night was such break" making for
the advantage of Mr.. Hoover rather
than Gov. Roosevelt. in whose behalf
it was delivered Whether it will prove
to be thus harmful to the cause in
which it was uttered may never be
known precisely. even though the bal
loting on the 9th of November favors
the reelection of the President.
There were two such breaks in the
eighties, one favoring Grover Cleveland
and the other injurious to him. The
first one was in the campaign of 1884,
one of the closest fights ever waged in
this country. On the 29th of october,
just six days before the election. oc-
CURED the so-called Burchard incident.
A delegation of partisan clergymen
waited upon James G. Blaine, Repub-
lican candidate, at the Fifth Avenue
Hotel in New York to express in formal
manner their adherence to his cause
Rev. Samuel D. Burchard was at the
last moment substituted for the ap-
pointed chairman of the group, who
had been taken ILL., inexperienced in
politics. and with no conception of the
dire consequences of such a statement
and no coaching by party workers, in
his speech to Mr.. Blaine ne charac-
terized the Democracy as the party Of
rum, Romanism and rebellion Mr.
Blaine. wearied from a long speaking
tour and inattentive to the details of
the address. did not note this sinister
statement and failed in his reply to
reject It, His silence cost him the
presidency
Four years later, when Cleveland was
in September when the British Min
lister at Washington, Sir Lionel Sack
ville-West, received a letter signed
Charles F. Murchison," who repre-
sented himself to be an Englishman
who had become an American citizen
by naturalization. He asked the British
Minister'S advice as to how to VOTE
with regard to the effect of the Ameri-
can tariff upon British interests. Sir
Lionel, with no suspicion of the gen
uineness of the letter and no reflection
upon the improperly of reply in any
case, wrote to say that the election of
Cleveland would better serve the Brit
ish interests. The fact that the Muir
Gibson letter was a plant as vas
afterward proved, did not lessen the
i'll effect upon the Cleveland fortunes,
and at the end of october the corre-
spondence was made public by the Re-
publican campaign management. Har-
rison was elected
If Senator Borah is correct in his
estimate of Mr.. Smiths speech as a
vote-maker for President Hoover, the
former Governor of New York will take
his place with DR.. Burchard, the "vil-
lain of the 1884 campaign. and with
Sir Lionel Sackville-West, the goat"
of that of 1888. In campaign like the
present, in which psychological factors
are evidently playing an important part.
it may be that the vitriolic address of
the Happy Warrior at Newark, with his
vituperative references to his oppo-
nents of 1923, will indeed be material
if not a determining factor.