XXVII.

THE GARFIELD AND ARTHUR CAMPAIGN.

The Democratic Convention at Cincinnati-Declarations of the Platform-Nomination of Hancock "The Superb" on the Second Ballot The Tariff a Local Issue-The Greenback Candidate and Platform-Not a Bright Prospect for the Republicans-A Change After the Mentor Conference-General Grant's Good Work for the Ticket-Result of the October Elections-The Morey Forgery -The Campaign Ends With a Substantial Republican Triumph.

The Democratic National Convention of 1880 opened at Cincinnati, June 22, entering the campaign with strong hopes of winning on account of the feuds that existed in the Republican party. The platform adopted had a few high-sounding generalizations, together with the following definite though somewhat incoherent enunciations of principles and declarations:

3. Home rule, honest money-consisting of gold and silver, and paper convertible into coin on demand; the strict maintenance of the public faith, State and National and a tariff for revenue only. The subordination of the military to the civil power, and a general and thorough reform of the civil service.

4. The right to a free ballot is the right preservative of all rights, and must and shall be maintained in every part of the United States.

5. The existing Administration is the representative of conspiracy only, and its claim of right to surround the ballot boxes with troops and deputy marshals, to intimidate and obstruct the electors. and the unprecedented use of the veto to maintain its corrupt and despotic power, insult the people and imperil their institutions. We execrate the course of this Administration in making places in the civil service a reward for political crime, and demand a reform by statute which shall make it forever impossible for a defeated candidate to bribe his way to the seat of the usurper by billeting villains upon the people.

6. The great fraud of 1876-77, by which, upon the false count of the Electoral vote of two States, the candidate defeated at the

polls was declared to be the President, and, for the first time in American history the will of the people was set aside under a threat of military violence, struck a deadly blow at our system of representative government; the Democratic party, to preserve the country from a civil war, submitted for a time, in the firm and patriotic faith that the people would punish this crime in 1880; this issue precedes and dwarfs every other; it imposes a more sacred duty upon the people of the Union than ever addressed the conscience of a Nation of free

men.

The platform also declared against sumptuary laws; in favor of the separation of Church and State for the good of each; in favor of "free ships and a living chance for American commerce;" against "Chinese immigration, except for travel, education and foreign commerce, and therein carefully guarded." It also passed a eulogy upon Samuel J. Tilden, assuring him of "their confidence in his wisdom. patriotism and integrity, unshaken by the assaults of a common enemy, and they further assure him that he is followed into the retirement which he has chosen for himself, by the sympathy and respect of his fellow citizens, who regard him as one who, by elevating the standards of public morality, merits the lasting gratitude of his country and his party."

Only two ballots were taken for the nomination for the Presi dency, Gen. Hancock having such a decided lead on the second as to speedily bring changes enough to give him a large majority. The ballots were as follows:

For Vice-President William H. English, of Indiana, and Richard M. Bishop, of Ohio, were named, but during the first ballot the name

of Ex-Governor Bishop was withdrawn, and Mr. English was nominated by acclamation.

General Hancock was one of the best of the Union generals during the war, and of his military career General Grant said: "Hancock stands the most conspicuous figure of all the general officers who did not exercise a separate command. He commanded a corps longer than any other one, and his name was never mentioned as having committed in battle a blunder for which he was responsible. He was a man of very conspicuous personal appearance. Tall, well formed, and, at the time of which I now write, young and fresh looking, he presented an appearance that would attract the attention of an army as he passed. His genial disposition made him friends, and his courage and his presence with his command in the thickest of the fight won him the confidence of the troops serving under him." To a reporter in search of adverse criticism during the Presidential canvass, General Sherman said: "If you will sit down and write the best thing that can be put in language about General Hancock, as an officer and a gentleman, I will sign it without hesitation." On account of his splendid figure and bearing he had been called "Hancock the Superb," and he was at this time the most popular of Democratic generals. He had been before the Democratic Conventions of 1868 and 1872 as a candidate for the nomination, and had made a fair showing in each case.

Of his politics he said in a letter to a friend in 1861: "My politics are of a practical kind-the integrity of the country, the supremacy of the Federal Government-an honorable peace or none at all." In later years, like General Sherman, he was "a soldier, not a statesman," and was not well informed on the political issues of the day. But he was sufficiently well aware of that fact to be discreetly silent during most of the campaign. Revision of the tariff was then one of the main questions before Congress and the people. In one of the few attempts that he did make to express his views on pending issues, he referred to the tariff as "a local issue" which he had once heard discussed in Pennsylvania. This occasioned much ridicule during the campaign, although, in some of its phases the tariff has come a great deal nearer being a "local issue" than the theorists on either side would be willing to admit.

William H. English was a shrewd politician, not of the highest order, who was, just then, at the head of the party in Indiana. His nomination was intended to carry that State, which was always doubt

ful, for the ticket, but on account of the party feuds and jealousies there, it seems probable that a strong candidate from another State would have been a greater help to the party.

The Greenback Convention met in Chicago, June 9, and adopted a platform that touched upon nearly every subject that was before the people. The utterances that were most distinctly characteristic

of the party were the following:

The Civil Government should guarantee the Divine right of every laborer to the result of his toil, thus enabling the producers of wealth to provide themselves with the means for physical comfort, and facilities for mental, and social, and moral culture; and we condemn. as unworthy of our civilization, the barbarism which imposes upon wealth-producers a state of drudgery as the price of a bare animal existence. Notwithstanding the enormous increase of productive power by the universal introduction of labor-saving machinery, and the discovery of new agents for the increase of wealth, the task of the laborer is scarcely lightened, the hours of toil are but little shortened, and few producers are lifted from poverty into comfort and pecuniary independence. The associated monopolies, the international syndicates, and other income classes demand dear money, cheap labor, and a strong Government, and hence a weak people. Corporate control of the volume of money has been the means of dividing society into hostile classes, of an unjust distribution of the products of labor and of building up monopolies of associated capital, endowed with power to confiscate private property. It has kept money scarce; and the scarcity of money enforces debt-trade and public and corporate loans; debt engenders usury, and usury ends in the bankruptcy of the borrowers. Other results are deranged markets, uncertainty in manufacturing enterprises and agriculture, precarious and intermittent employment for the laborer, industrial war, increasing pauperism and crime, and the consequent intimidation and disfranchisement of the producer and a rapid declension into corporate feudalism. Therefore, we declare,

1. That the right to make and issue money is a sovereign power. to be maintained by the people for their common benefit. The delegation of this right to corporations is a surrender of the central attribute of sovereignty, void of Constitutional sanction, and conferring upon a subordinate and irresponsible power an absolute dominion over industry and commerce. All money, whether metallic or paper, should be issued, and its volume controlled, by the Govern ment, and not by, or through, banking corporations: and, when so issued, should be a full legal tender for all debts, public and private.

2. That the bonds of the United States should not be refunded but paid as rapidly as practicable, according to contract. To enable the Government to meet these obligations, legal tender currency

should be substituted for the notes of the National banks, the National banking system abolished, and the unlimited coinage of silver, as well as gold, established by law.

On the first ballot for a Presidential candidate, J. B. Weaver, of Iowa, had a decided lead over six other aspirants, and he was then nominated by acclamation. For the nomination for Vice-President on the only ballot taken, Benjamin J. Chambers, of Texas, had 403 votes, and General A. M. West, of Mississippi, 311.

The Prohibition party met in Cleveland, June 17, and nominated Neal Dow, of Maine, for President, and Henry A. Thompson, of Ohio, for Vice-President.

There was also an Anti-Masonic ticket in the field, which nominated John W. Phelps, of Vermont, for President, and Samuel C. Pomeroy, of Kansas, for Vice-President. The votes for this ticket came chiefly from Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, New York. Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

During the campaign, beyond a little good-natured ridicule of Hancock's ignorance of economic and political affairs, the General was treated with the utmost consideration by the Republicans, who conducted their canvass on political issues and not on personalities Their main subject of discussion and attack was furnished by the Democratic Congress, and by Southern arrogance and greed. Southern war claims, which had been introduced in Congress in great numbers, and in sufficient volume to swamp the Treasury, were pointed out as an element of danger in case the Democrats should obtain possession of the Executive, as well as the Legislative branch of the Government. The Solid South, made so by fraud, intimidation, and false counting, and controlling the Democratic party, was held up as a constant menace, and the outrages committed on colored and white Republicans were feelingly portrayed on the stump. The Democrats tried to ridicule this down, by speaking of it as "waving the bloody shirt," but the arguments derived from it had not yet lost their force upon the Northern mind.

The Democrats, on the other hand, made many bitter personal attacks on the Republican candidates, particularly upon General Garfield. They accused him of disreputable connection with the Credit Mobilier, and the figures "329" which, it was said, represented one of his dividends from that Association, were not only used in campaign speeches, and in transparencies doing duty in torch-light parades, but they were chalked up on dead walls and on sidewalks.