Evening star., 1936-06-21

4oof.
The Republican party came into its
own when Lincoln, the Wing, became
Lincoln the Republican after the Whig
defeat in 1852. Tar barrels blazed all
over the North in the 1860 campaign.
Slogans were prolific. Millions for
Freedom, Not One Cent for Slavery"
Intervention Is Disunion," Free
Homes for Free Men," The Consti-
tuition and the Union, Now and For
ever" Let Liberty Be National and
Slavery Be Sectional" were few that
paraded up and down the land. With
the rail fence as the party emblem
and the zigzag march to symbolic it,
the Republicans rose to power.
THE Republicans, the famous black
I~ capped Wide Awakes, declared:
"Old Abe came out of the wilder
ness,
Out of the wilderness, out of the
wilderness,
Old Abe came out of the wilder
ness,
Down in Illinois"
Pro-slavery men derided Lincoln
as presidential timber. using foul
phrases to reflect upon his mental
and physical characteristics:
"Tell us he's a second Webster
Or, if better, Henry Clay;
That he's full of gentle humor,
Placid as Summers day.
"Tell again of the cordwood;
Seven cords or more per day:
How each night he seeks his closet,
There alone to kleel and pray.
"Any lie you tell we'll swallow
Swallow any kind of mixture;
But, oh. don't, we beg and pray you-
you-
Don't for lands sake, show his
picture"
When Lincoln became President the
opposition sang:
"Oh, amt 7 glad I joined the Re-
publicans,
Joined the Republicans, Joined the
Republicans,
Amt I glad I joined the Repub-
licans,
Down in Illinois"
Ulysses S. Grant, the Hero of Ap-
pomattox," was enthusiastically sup
ported by the Republicans, now the
Grand Old Party" in his anti
Greeley campaign of 1872. This was
a trouble year for the Democrats.
Horace Greeley. founder of the New
York Daily Tribune and Wing from
early youth, heading the Democratic
ticket, was enough to have evoked the
ghosts OF Jefferson and Jackson in
fiery wrath. Greeley is the political
enigma of our presidential campaigns,
the curiosity of our political annals.
AS editor of the Tribune, he said.
Not all Democrats are horse thieves"
and then asked to be chief of the clan.
Thomas Mast flourished in this
period. His cartoons in Harper's
Weekly treated Greeley unsparingly to
the last degree. Caricatures of Greeley
inscribed What know About Farm
ing, What I Know About Liars"
What I Know About Eating MY Own
Words" What I Know About Bolt
Ing" What I Know About Every
thing" danced before the peoples eyes. |
Mast during this era gave birth to |
the present symbols of the Democratic
and Republican parties-the donkey
and elephant
The Greeley comedy ended in trag- |
edy. The tremendous popular vote
polled by Grant was blow to Greeley's
pride. Before the electoral returns
were counted, Greeley lay in his coffiu
The Nation, shocked and sobered by
the grim tragedy, paused, forgot for
the moment its bitterness at "Old
Horace" and did him homage.
GROVER CLEVELAND attracted
the attention of the Democrats bv
his sweeping victory in the New York
race for Governor when the leaders
OF the party were searching vairly for
a winner in the forthcoming election
Of 1884.
Cleveland, pictured as 1.-THE Man Of
Destiny" led the Democrats to their
nrSt triumph following the Civil War.
Under the banners of Tell the Truth"
Turn the Rascals Out" "A Public
Office Is a Public Trust" the donkey
trotted into the White House.
Not until 1912 did the Democratic
party rise to control again the destiny
OF the United States.
Woodrow Wilson, college president
and Governor of New Jersey, seized
the opportunity created by the rift
in the Republican party and once
more the Democrats invaded the
White House. In the 1916 campaign
Bryan discovered the slogan, HE kept
us out of war" Wilson was a great
phraSemaker. He delighted in coming
catchwords. He reveled in neologisms.
TOO Proud to Fight" Watchful Watt
ing" open Covenants Openly Ar
rived At" and Make the World Safe
for Democracy" dripped from his elo-
quent pen
WARREN HARDING contributed
Back to Normally" to the 1920
political fracas. Cautious Cal"
Coolidge provoked a wag to say SKeep
Cool with Coolidge" and Coolidge
Prosperity" became by-wor
throughout the country.
In 1923 the Democrats told the
voJers to
'Put on your old brown derby,
For we are out to beat Herby,
No matter what they say;
ALI through the fields of clover
Well put AL Smith over
On election day."