The Washington times., 1936-06-06

l
an important factor in the out.
come because the history of
American politics is filled with
cases where the ill-spoken word
has elected and defeated Presi-
dents.
Mr.. Farley was slamming Gov
ernor Landon on the ground that
the Governor was inexperienced,
that he had not been heard of a
few years ago and that he was
being put forward now as candi-
date for President because he
was elected governor of a typical
prairie State"
Then the deluge fell upon Mr..
Farley's head. Representative
Short, Of Missouri, said in the
House of Representatives:
"Mr. Farley asks who in the
world was ALI LandOn and who
knew anything about him two
years ago. 1 retOrt, who ever
heard Of Jim Farley two years
ago?"
Representative Lambertson, of
the Governors own State Of Kan
sas, got in his say in these words:
"Mr. Farley tries to belittle
LandOn because he is from a.
prairie State, indicating that
Farley looks with disdain upon
anything that might come out
of the Mississippi Valley"
/
A CENTURY AGO
It Is not quite 100 years ago
that a national political campaign
in this country was decided upon
such a phrase as who is he, he
come from a typically prairie
Slater" It was a Tammany man
who said it, too, one Of Martin
Van Buren'S lieutenantS.
The Whig Party had nominated
Gen. William Henry Harrison to
oppose Van Buren,, the Democrat
It seemed rather certain that
"The Little Giant" of New York.
the shrewdest politician the coun-
try has ever known, would be re-
turned for another four years IN
the White House. But one OF his
injudicious supporters, making a
speech, Tipped off this challenge:
''WhO is Harrison, why he
lives in a log cabin and drinks
hard cider"
That gentleman found out to
his sorrow that the spoken word
is often a boomerang. The Wings
took up the log cabin and hard
cider sheer and made it their cam
paign cry. Those were the days
when campaign songs were the
big thing, and the Wings OF the
country took to singing this re-
frain:
''Let Van from his cooler Of sill
yer drink wine
And lounge on his cushioned
Settee.
Our man in his buckeye bench
can recline,
Content with hard cider Is he.
Our man lives in a cabin built
wholly OF AOSS'
Drinks only his own cider, too.
He plOws his own grounds, he
feeds his own hogs
This hero of TippecanOe."
1t was in the Van Buren-Har-
rison campaign that another po-
litical phrase was coined, "How
Maine goes. so goes the nation"
Maine voted before the rest Of the
country, and the result, in 1910,
was put into verse, as follows:
"Have you heard how old
Maine went? She went helI-bent
for Governor Kent, And Tippe-
canoe and Tyler, too"
ANOTHER INSTANCE
Forty-four years after the log
cabin indictment occurred the
Rum, Romanism and Rebellion"
incident which deprived James G.
Blaine of the Presidency and
elected Grover Cleveland, the first
Democrat since Buchanan.
The campaign was near its
close, and Blaine was being
counted in when it was decided
that a reception should be held
for him in the Fifth Avenue Hotel
in New York city, where he would
meet the Protestant clergy.
There had been no religious is
sue in the campaign. In fact,
Names Plumed Knight was well
in favor with Catholics as well as
Professionals. But it remained for
the Rev. Samuel D. Burchard to
wax into a flight of alliterative
oratory and to tell Mr.. Blaine that
the gathering would never ally
itself with the party whose ante
cedents had been rum, RomaniSm
and rebellion.
Blaine did not refer to this al
fusion in his speech. In fact. he
had not heard it or caught its
significance. But it defeated him,
although the Roman Catholic
hierarchy urged that it not be
used against him.
It has happened before and it
will happen again that a catch
phrase is sometimes more impor.
tant in an election than great
issues.
Copyright 1895, by King Features
] Svndinata