14 GOODWIN'S WEEKLY
I Presidential Campaigns Remembered By A Prititef -1884
B By LeROY ARMSTRONG
H ryiHERE was something Hamlet
Hi J promised not to forget whilet
! memory held her sway in his dis-
tracted globe. And anyhow that long
I will remember the campaign of 1884.
h These Democrats are the marvels
B of the world. I have heard of men
B who didn't know when they were
H licked. But Domoorats know when
1 that happens to them, and they come
back just as certain they are going
to win next time as if they never hart
lost anything on earth. That was tho
way with them in 1884. They had
. been beaten every time since 1856 but
B once, and had been jockeyed out of
HH that. And in 1880, just four years be-
Ei fore, they had been not only beaten,
Bl but the steam roller had backed up
1 after grinding them into the dust, and
K run over them again. They didn't
K seem to have had even favorable
H mention. But with Cleveland for
Hj their candidate they were as gallus
H and frisky and cocksure as a yokel
Hl who has nover had any experience.
HE And they had a good many of our
K people with them, to be plain about
H it. After several trials, Mr. Blaine
H was the nominee of the Republicans,
H and all that line enthusiasm his
H friends had been saving for him was
H on tap, and at his service. The Re-
H publican party seemed never to have
H been in quite such good fettle. And
B how the Democrats dared to expect
H victory was the biggest puzzle on top
B of ground. We had the candidate we
H had wanted for twelve years. We had
1' the prestige of many victories. We
had the record of worthy service. It
was near enough the sixties for us
still to remind the nation we had put
down the rebellion, and had freed the
slaves, and had the names of Lincoln
and Grant and Logan to conjure with.
And yet those Democrats trod on
our corns, and shouted with increas
ing vehemence for Cleveland. And
t Harper's Weekly was with them
H' shouting in colored double pages for
W the triumph of the sheriff of Erie
H county.
H Nothing stopped them. I was a lit-
B tie doubtful of the Marie Halpin story,
H and for once I was right. My objec-
H tion was that it savored a little of the
H personal. And I didn't think there
H was any profit in that. But when his
H campaign manager told Cleveland
H what the boys were accusing him or,
H and asked what he should tell, the
H country, Cleveland replied, "Tell the
H truth." And I guess he won the olee-
H ' tion right there.
H I was setting brevier type on a
H Springfield, Illinois, morning paper at
H the time, and jolting mutton quads
IH with the boys for the fat. Our fore-
H man was a limp-legged man nanled
H Cassidy, and the wildest Blaine Irish-
H man that ever lived. I remember ho
H flung his cane through the door the
H night Blaine was nominated, as a mild
H expression of his entire approval.
H Carter Harrison, the Elder, was the
H Democratic candidate for governor of
H Illinois, and his marching club came
H down from Chicago along in Octobor,
whon things were so warm I began to
wonder if the impossible could hap
pen. And that marching club wen',
down the one paved street of the
Sucker capital yelling staccato, as the
left foot fell, the letters of their lead
er's name "H-a-r r-i-s-o-n," and then a
swift repetition as either foot touched
the ground: "Harrison! Harrison!
Harrison!"
They had the best campaign songs
I ever heard, and the way they showed
up the iniquities of the tariff a
thing the Republicans had begun to
think had boon fostered long enough.
was enough to make our knood
tremble.
And yet it was, of course, impos
slble that Blaine could be beaten. 1
wasn't betting much then. I was try
ing to save money, for composition at
night was a sleep destroying Macbeth
for me. I used to go to sleep setting
up the word "the;" and waked only
when I found some pirate had robbed
my spacebox. Which hasn't anything
to do with the campaign.
Well, election day came, at last,
and to the absolute amazement of us
Republicans, and the yelling triumph
of the Democrats, the result was in
"I take the stand that there were 72 delegates in that
convention who were not entitled to seats. In voting to un
seat them, I do not believe that I violated the pledge of the
Republican convention at Provo. The delegates to the na
tional convention w ere pledged to use every honorable means
to nominate President Taft. If stealing is honorable, then I
violated the trust and confidence of the Republican party in
voting against these delegates. These delegates were Roose
velt delegates, and the leaders of the Republican party needed
them to nominate Taft and they were seated." Statement by
Colonel C. E. Loose of Utah.
doubt. It all turned on New York, in
which great state the revered Bur
chard had managed to turn thousands
of good Catholic votes against us.
And the Catholics of all nations wero
coming to the Republican candidate
that year for the first real time in the
country's history. That was ono as
the magic works of Blaine.
Our office fronted east, and ran
back more than a hundred foot, and
the composing room was at the rear
of the second story. The opposing
and consequently the Democratic
office fronted north, and its engine
room wns about the thickness of four
straws from the back door of out
composing room. The Associate-!
Press was sending bulletins of the
count by precincts in upper New
York. I don't know yet why the
agony of that recount wns so pro
longed. But it went for days, while
little towns that no ono over heard of
before got on the map.
The foreman of our job room was a
big man named Davenport. Ho worked
all day, went homo to what he
called supper, came down and got on
a box In front of our office, and read
these bulletins from all the Podunks
from Schorahie to Schenectady: "Cat
taraugus, Blaine, 214; Cleveland, 221.
Republican gain of three." And then,
our crowd out there in front would
shout, and the fish horns would blow,
and the overflow of the mob back in
the alley under our windows would
cheer and screech and beat bad
drums and generally raise Cain.
Then the bulletin reader over in
front of the opposition office would
read this one: "Piscataqua, Blaine,
119; Cleveland, 221. Democratic gain
of 17." And then lhe engine room
whistle of that beastly- opposition pa
per would start, and the bally engi
neer would tie it down till the next
bulletin with a Blaine gain. I will
never get the roar of that condemned
whistle out of my ears till all sounds
cease. We had two Democraic com
positors in the office, and both of
them were sorry every time Cleveland
made a gain.
But the fat man won, after all. I
think he took all the heart out of us
when he told the country that he
would wait till the end of the counr,
and if he had been elected president
he would be president. That made an
end of all tentative speculation on rt
peating the Hayes Tilden program.
Somehow, that man from Buffalo
didn't lend encouragement to any fool
ishness. And on the Saturday night, I think,
that followed the election, the Dem
ocrats made celebration all over tnu
nation. You must havehad one hero.
I know Illlnois-rwhich didn't elect
Harrison, by the way went Cleve
land imad. I put on a sub that last
night, and took the wife down town
just to convince her what a lot of
lunatics mon could become over pol
itics. Wo stood on the corner of two
streets while a big brass band with
fifty pieces wont by. Thoy wore In
the middle of the street, and we clung
to a lamp post. The streets were not
of Utah width, and that band was not
over twenty-five feet from us. But so
loud and constant was the cheering
that not one note of horn or drum
could reach our oars. It was tno mad
dest, happiest multitude of bedlam
ites I ever saw. And one will bo
enough.
Thoy marched around the old cap
itol square, and some of the notables
-General John M. Palmer, General
McClernand and Congressman Spring
er, with others climbed up in a littlo
balcony, and dollvored speeches.
Springer had been in congress when
Tilden was counted out. He tried to
compare the nation to a ship of state
from the sides of which the Demo
crats would now scrape the barnacles.
He came up to that word "barnacles
three times, his voice split with ex
citement, his arms tossing, his whole
being too small to hold his sense of
his party's victory and then he yelled
"carbunkles" where he wanted
"barnacles." He couldn't think of the
word to save his life. And it went.
Everything went. They stayed thore
around that old state house, which
was the capital in Lincoln's day, un
til 3 o'clook In the morning, and what
they did to the business part of town
wjis a shame. Never was a Hal
lowe'en night so mad. Never wero
pranks so extreme in their lawless
ness. And nobody seemed to care a
whoop. The Democrats were so glad
that merchants of that faith rolled
cases filled with goods that had never
been opened, and let the bonfires have 1
them. And the Republicans didn't 1
have tuck enough left in them to say I
a word. 1
But it broke Blaine's heart. I think 4
he could have borne it to be beaten
by Bayard, or by John Palmer but
this "hangman of Buffalo" that was
one of the things we called him was
too much; and could not summon his
philosophy. He acted in a pettish
manner which made us apologize for
him. It was his one great chance. He
was, perhaps, the best equipped man
in America. I believe he was as hon
est and as well intentloned as any
one else. And he did want to be
president
But he never won to that goal. And
maybe it is just as well. Ho lives
adored in the hearts of thousands
who might not have quite approved
him as a nation's chief executive.
So Cleveland was elected. We got
up next day fully expecting to see tha
sun had forgotten to rise. We really '
were surprised that business went on.
We couldn't believe that the govern
ment would be turned over without
disaster. But as the fourth of March
came around, everything seemed set
tled, and nobody was as bad hurt 'as
he had expected to be. And, for the
matter of that, not all the Democrats
wero as greatly blest as they had an
ticipated. Whereby hangs another
tale. For Cleveland was elected
chiefly on the issues of the tariff and
civil service reform. And he didn't
turn the rascals out and put good
Democrats in their places. An old
Illinois printer I knew, one who han
been waiting for the salvation of the
Lord for forty years, looked in vain
for his appointment as postmaster,
and when I reminded him of Cleve
land's promise of offce for merit, and
dismissals only for Incompetence or
dishonesty, the old man sighed and
said: "Yes, but I thought ho meant
it in a Pickwickian sense'
After Lincoln, that was the mot
important preside tial campaign I can
remember.