the expense of legal proceedings, that the poor may therein be placed
on an equality with the rich, and the long delays which now result in
scandalous miscarriages of justice may be prevented. Since the ballot
is the only means by which, in our Republic, the redress of political
and social grievances is to be sought, we especially and emphatically
declare for the adoption of what is known as the Australian system of
voting, in order that the effectual secrecy of the ballot, and the
relief of candidates for public office from the heavy expenses now
imposed upon them, may prevent bribery and intimidation, do away with
practical discriminations in favor of the rich and unscrupulous, and
lessen the pernicious influence of money in politics.
We denounce the Democratic and Republican parties as hopelessly
and shamelessly corrupt, and, by reason of their affiliation with
monopolies, equally unworthy of the suffrages of those who do not live
upon public plunder; we therefore require of those who would act with
us that they sever all connection with both.
In support of these aims, we solicit the co-operation of all patriotic
citizens, who, sick of the degradation of politics, desire by
constitutional methods to establish justice, to preserve liberty, to
extend the spirit of fraternity, and to elevate humanity.
The Prohibition Convention of 1888 was the most notable assembly of
Prohibitionists ever held in the country. It met at Indianapolis on
the 20th of May, with several thousands in attendance outside of the
delegates. According to the report of the committee on credentials
there were 1029 delegates present. Among those who participated in the
proceedings of the convention were James Black, the party candidate
for President in 1872, Neal Dow, who was the nominee in 1880, and John
P. St. John, who led the Prohibitionists in the Presidential contest
of 1884. John P. St. John was the permanent president, and Clinton B.
Fisk, of New Jersey, was nominated for President, and John A. Brooks,
of Missouri, for Vice-President by acclamation without the formality of
a ballot. The following platform was adopted with great enthusiasm:
The Prohibition party, in national convention assembled, acknowledging
Almighty God as the source of all power in government, do hereby
declare:
1. That the manufacture, importation, exportation, transportation, and
sale of alcoholic beverages should be made public crimes, and punished
as such.
2. That such prohibition must be secured through amendments of
our National and State Constitutions, enforced by adequate laws
adequately supported by administrative authority; and to this end the
organization of the Prohibition party is imperatively demanded in
State and nation.
3. That any form of license, taxation, or regulation of the liquor
traffic is contrary to good government; that any party which supports
regulation, license, or tax enters into alliance with such traffic and
becomes the actual foe of the State’s welfare, and that we arraign the
Republican and Democratic parties for their persistent attitude in
favor of the licensed iniquity, whereby they oppose the demand of the
people for prohibition, and, through open complicity with the liquor
cause, defeat the enforcement of law.
4. For the immediate abolition of the internal revenue system, whereby
our National Government is deriving support from our greatest national
vice.
5. That, an adequate public revenue being necessary, it may properly
be raised by impost duties and by an equitable assessment upon the
property and the legitimate business of the country, but import
duties should be so reduced that no surplus shall be accumulated in
the treasury, and that the burdens of taxation shall be removed from
foods, clothing, and other comforts and necessaries of life.
6. That civil service appointments for all civil offices, chiefly
clerical in their duties, should be based upon moral, intellectual and
physical qualifications, and not upon party service or party necessity.
7. That the right of suffrage rests on no mere circumstance of race,
color, sex or nationality, and that where, from any cause, it has been
held from citizens who are of suitable age and mentally and morally
qualified for the exercise of an intelligent ballot, it should be
restored by the people through the Legislatures of the several States,
on such educational basis as they may deem wise.
8. For the abolition of polygamy and the establishment of uniform laws
governing marriage and divorce.
9. For prohibiting all combinations of capital to control and to
increase the cost of products for popular consumption.
10. For the preservation and defence of the Sabbath as a civil
institution without oppressing any who religiously observe the same on
any other day than the first day of the week.
11. That arbitration is the Christian, wise, and economic method
of settling national differences, and the same method should, by
judicious legislation, be applied to the settlement of disputes
between large bodies of employés and employers; that the abolition of
the saloons would remove the burdens, moral, physical, pecuniary, and
social, which now oppress labor and rob it of its earnings, and would
prove to be the wise and successful way of promoting labor reform; and
we invite labor and capital to unite with us for the accomplishment
thereof; that monopoly in land is a wrong to the people, and the
public land should be reserved to actual settlers, and that men and
women should receive equal wages for equal work.
12. That our immigration laws should be so enforced as to prevent
the introduction into our country of all convicts, inmates of other
dependent institutions, and of others physically incapacitated for
self-support, and that no person should have the ballot in any State
who is not a citizen of the United States.
Recognizing and declaring that prohibition of the liquor traffic has
become the dominant issue in national politics, we invite to full
party fellowship all those who, on this one dominant issue, are with
us agreed, in the full belief that this party can and will remove
sectional differences, promote national unity, and insure the best
welfare of our entire land.
Another convention was held at Washington on the 14th of August,
composed of a few fragments of the old American party. The fact that it
polled in the entire country only 1590 votes for its candidates showed
that it was practically without constituents. It was natural enough
that the national convention of a party made up almost wholly of
ambitious and discordant leaders should have a split, and they managed
to get up a row and have a secession of the delegates representing
a number of States on the simple question of how the delegates
should vote. The seceders, however, made no nominations. After the
dissatisfied delegates had left the convention, only the delegates
from New York and California remained, but they were 80 of the 126
delegates all told. They nominated James Langdon Curtis, of New York,
for President, and James R. Greer, of Tennessee, for Vice-President.
Mr. Greer declined the nomination, and I can find no record of any one
having been chosen in his place. The following platform was adopted:
_Resolved_, That all law-abiding citizens of the United States of
America, whether native or foreign born, are politically equals
(except as provided by the Constitution), and all are entitled to, and
should receive, the full protection of the laws.
_Resolved_, That the Constitution of the United States should be
so amended as to prohibit the Federal and State Governments from
conferring upon any person the right to vote unless such person be a
citizen of the United States.
_Resolved_, That we are in favor of fostering and encouraging American
industries of every class and kind, and declare that the assumed
issue “Protection” _vs._ “Free Trade” is a fraud and a snare. The
best “protection” is that which protects the labor and life blood of
the Republic from the degrading competition with and contamination by
imported foreigners; and the most dangerous “free trade” is that in
paupers, criminals, communists, and anarchists, in which the balance
has always been against the United States.
_Whereas_, One of the greatest evils of unrestricted foreign
immigration is the reduction of the wages of the American working-man
and working-woman to the level of the underfed and underpaid labor of
foreign countries; therefore,
_Resolved_, That we demand that no immigrant shall be admitted into
the United States without a passport obtained from the American consul
at the port from which he sails; that no passport shall be issued to
any pauper, criminal, or insane person, or to any person who, in the
judgment of the consul, is not likely to become a desirable citizen of
the United States; and that for each immigrant passport there shall
be collected by the consul issuing the same the sum of one hundred
dollars to be by him paid into the Treasury of the United States.
_Resolved_, That the present naturalization laws of the United States
should be unconditionally repealed.
_Resolved_, That the soil of America should belong to Americans; that
no alien non-resident should be permitted to own real estate in the
United States; and that the realty possessions of the resident alien
should be limited in value and area.
_Resolved_, That no flag shall float on any public buildings,
municipal, State, or national, in the United States, except the
municipal, State, or national flag of the United States—the flag of
the stars and stripes.
_Resolved_, That we reassert the American principles of absolute
freedom of religious worship and belief, the permanent separation of
Church and State; and we oppose the appropriation of public money or
property to any church, or institution administered by a church. We
maintain that all church property should be subject to taxation.
The contest of 1888 differed from the Cleveland contest of 1884 in
its freedom from vituperation and bitterness. It was conducted with
earnestness and dignity on both sides. Neither of the candidates
greatly enthused the rank and file of their party, as did Blaine and
Hancock in former national conflicts, but they commanded not only the
entire confidence and respect of their parties, but also of the whole
country. Cleveland took little personal part in the conflict, but
Harrison made a most vigorous and telling campaign by his almost daily
speeches delivered to visiting delegations at Indianapolis, in which
he discussed every phase of the public questions of the day. These
addresses were doubtless carefully prepared and given to the associated
press, but they were not only very able, but they were singularly
versatile and adroit, and presented Harrison to the public in an
entirely new light. I cannot recall another Presidential contest that
was conducted on both sides with greater dignity and decency than that
between Cleveland and Harrison in 1888. Nearly equal respect was shown
to both candidates in the Garfield-Hancock contest of 1880, but the
famous forgery of the Morey letter to control the vote of the Pacific
States against Garfield and the Credit Mobilier scandal marred the
dignity of that conflict.
The following table exhibits the popular and electoral vote of 1888:
══════════════╤════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╦════════════════════════
│ POPULAR VOTE. ║ ELECTORAL
│ ║ VOTE.
STATES. ├──────────────────┬─────────────────┬────────────────┬──────────────────╫───────────┬────────────
│Benjamin Harrison,│Grover Cleveland,│Clinton B. Fisk,│Alson J. Streeter,║ Harrison │ Cleveland
│ Indiana. │ New York. │ New Jersey. │ Illinois. ║and Morton.│and Thurman.
──────────────┼──────────────────┼─────────────────┼────────────────┼──────────────────╫───────────┼────────────
Alabama │ 56,197 │ 117,320 │ 583 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 10
Arkansas │ 58,752 │ 85,962 │ 641 │ 10,613 ║ ―― │ 7
California │ 124,816 │ 117,729 │ 5,761 │ ―――― ║ 8 │ ――
Colorado │ 50,774 │ 37,567 │ 2,191 │ 1,266 ║ 3 │ ――
Connecticut │ 74,584 │ 74,920 │ 4,234 │ 240 ║ ―― │ 6
Delaware │ 12,973 │ 16,414 │ 400 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 3
Florida │ 26,657 │ 39,561 │ 423 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 4
Georgia │ 40,496 │ 100,499 │ 1,808 │ 136 ║ ―― │ 12
Illinois │ 370,473 │ 348,278 │ 21,695 │ 7,090 ║ 22 │ ――
Indiana │ 263,361 │ 261,013 │ 9,881 │ 2,694 ║ 15 │ ――
Iowa │ 211,598 │ 179,887 │ 3,550 │ 9,105 ║ 13 │ ――
Kansas │ 182,934 │ 103,744 │ 6,768 │ 37,726 ║ 9 │ ――
Kentucky │ 155,134 │ 183,800 │ 5,225 │ 622 ║ ―― │ 13
Louisiana │ 30,484 │ 85,032 │ 160 │ 39 ║ ―― │ 8
Maine │ 73,734 │ 50,481 │ 2,691 │ 1,344 ║ 6 │ ――
Maryland │ 99,986 │ 106,168 │ 4,767 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 8
Massachusetts │ 183,892 │ 151,856 │ 8,701 │ ―――― ║ 14 │ ――
Michigan │ 236,370 │ 213,459 │ 20,942 │ 4,541 ║ 13 │ ――
Minnesota │ 142,492 │ 104,385 │ 15,311 │ 1,094 ║ 7 │ ――
Mississippi │ 30,096 │ 85,471 │ 218 │ 22 ║ ―― │ 9
Missouri │ 236,257 │ 261,974 │ 4,539 │ 18,632 ║ ―― │ 16
Nebraska │ 108,425 │ 80,552 │ 9,429 │ 4,226 ║ 5 │ ――
Nevada │ 7,229 │ 5,362 │ 41 │ ―――― ║ 3 │ ――
New Hampshire │ 45,728 │ 43,458 │ 1,593 │ 13 ║ 4 │ ――
New Jersey │ 144,344 │ 151,493 │ 7,904 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 9
New York │ 648,759 │ 635,757 │ 30,231 │ 626 ║ 36 │ ――
North Carolina│ 134,784 │ 147,902 │ 2,787 │ 32 ║ ―― │ 11
Ohio │ 416,054 │ 396,455 │ 24,356 │ 3,496 ║ 23 │ ――
Oregon │ 33,291 │ 26,522 │ 1,677 │ 363 ║ 3 │ ――
Pennsylvania │ 526,091 │ 446,633 │ 20,947 │ 3,873 ║ 30 │ ――
Rhode Island │ 21,968 │ 17,530 │ 1,250 │ 18 ║ 4 │ ――
South Carolina│ 13,736 │ 65,825 │ ―――― │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 9
Tennessee │ 138,988 │ 158,779 │ 5,969 │ 48 ║ ―― │ 12
Texas │ 88,422 │ 234,883 │ 4,749 │ 29,459 ║ ―― │ 13
Vermont │ 45,192 │ 16,785 │ 1,460 │ ―――― ║ 4 │ ――
Virginia │ 150,438 │ 151,977 │ 1,678 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 12
West Virginia │ 77,791 │ 79,664 │ 669 │ 1,064 ║ ―― │ 6
Wisconsin │ 176,553 │ 155,232 │ 14,277 │ 8,552 ║ 11 │ ――
├──────────────────┼─────────────────┼────────────────┼──────────────────╫───────────┼───────────
Totals │ 5,439,853 │ 5,540,329 │ 249,506 │ 146,935 ║ 233 │ 168
══════════════╧══════════════════╧═════════════════╧════════════════╧══════════════════╩═══════════╧═══════════
Cleveland lost his election in 1888 by his message to Congress,
delivered a year before, making the tariff and revenue question the
sole issue before the country. His message referred to no other
question than the issue of reduced revenues and taxes. I saw him
on Saturday night before the meeting of Congress, and with Speaker
Carlisle, who was to be re-elected to the Speakership on the following
Monday, earnestly urged him to modify his message. Carlisle was quite
as positive as I was in assuring him that it would result in disaster
to himself and his administration. His answer was that possibly we were
right, but that it was a duty that should be performed, and while he
might fall, he believed the country would vindicate him at an early
day. He was a man who gave very serious thought to his official duties,
performed them with great fidelity, and when convinced as to his duty
none could dissuade him from his purpose. But for that message he would
certainly have been re-elected President in 1888.
Cleveland entered the Presidency enjoying the confidence and respect
of the country in a much larger degree than is usually accorded to
new Presidents. His record as Mayor of Buffalo, as Governor of New
York, and his political and official utterances generally were all
in the line of the purest and best politics, and the sturdiness with
which he maintained his convictions even against all considerations
of expediency compelled the respect alike of friend and foe. No more
conscientious man ever filled the Executive chair of the nation, and
I doubt whether any other President gave such tireless labor to the
duties of the office. His Cabinet officers were simply advisory as to
the direction of their departments, and every question of importance
came to him for final decision. I think he was as nearly capable of
giving up the Presidency to maintain his convictions as any man who
ever filled the position.
He certainly knew when he sent his tariff message to Congress against
the advice of nearly all of those upon whose political judgment he
most depended, that he was inviting political disaster, and that he
was inviting it when the Republican leaders freely confessed their
inability to defeat his re-election. He had inspired the interest of
the best political elements of the country by his courageous support of
civil service reform, that was then in its infancy. He did it with the
full knowledge that he had a party behind him that was most unwilling
to surrender the spoils of power to any sentiment, however sacred. I
met him very often during his first term, and was sometimes invited to
come to the Executive Mansion after ten o’clock at night, when he would
willingly converse until the small hours in the morning. These habits
were improved when the beautiful and accomplished wife came as mistress
to the White House, and it was delightful to see his ordinarily rather
heavy face brighten when he spoke of the woman who had brought into his
life a measure of happiness to which he had ever before been stranger.
I met him frequently during the contest of 1888, and while he hoped
that he might be re-elected he was not confident. I saw him soon after
his defeat, and no man ever bore great political disaster with such
serene philosophy. He knew that his tariff message had defeated him,
but he said that he believed it better that he should be thus defeated
than not to have faced the issue as he did.
In reviewing the contest, he said that he had but a single unpleasant
memory of it and its results, and that was that the malicious scandals
of some of his most unscrupulous foes relating to his domestic
life had brought sorrow to the “dear little woman,” to use his own
expression, who deserved the respect and protection of every one. Some
of the desperate Tammany leaders had formulated the scandals against
Cleveland’s domestic life, distributed them broadcast in a circular at
the St. Louis convention, and there are always many whose political
prejudices make them welcome and accept such assaults upon a political
nominee. I was much with Cleveland during his first and second terms of
the Presidency, and also during the interval, and a more affectionate
and devoted husband I have never seen. He was not a man to exhibit the
arts of the demagogue, for to them he was an entire stranger, but I saw
him tell the story of his home life more eloquently than words could
ever have given it, when, on the 4th of March, 1893, as he was about to
leave the large parlor of the Arlington, crowded with his many friends,
to go to the inauguration ceremony, he stepped up to his wife, gave her
a hearty kiss and affectionately patted her on the head, as he bowed
himself off to accept the highest civil trust of the world.
Greatly as Cleveland’s tariff message had obstructed his election, he
would have succeeded but for the perfidy of Tammany. He carried the
country by nearly 100,000 popular majority, being much larger than the
popular majority he received in 1884, but the electoral vote of New
York lost him the Presidency. The betrayal of Cleveland by Tammany was
clearly evident by the returns of the election in that State. Cleveland
was at the head of the Democratic ticket for President, and Governor
Hill, the favorite of Tammany, was on the same ticket for Governor, and
he was re-elected by a majority of 19,171, while Cleveland lost the
State by a majority of 14,373. Tammany and Mr. Dana, of the _Sun_, that
was then the Tammany organ, had their revenge.
THE CLEVELAND-HARRISON-WEAVER CONTEST
1892
President Harrison had anything but a tranquil administration. Soon
after his inauguration bitter factional strife was developed, and he
seemed never to be able to get into anything approaching close and
sympathetic relations with the leaders of his party. He was much like
Cleveland in his conscientious devotion to his public duties, and he
was poorly equipped and had little taste for political direction. He
was generally respected by the people of all parties, but he held
the political leaders of his own faith at arm’s length. Senator Quay
called upon him soon after his inauguration, expecting to receive the
generous thanks of the President for his management of the desperate
campaign that had given him and the party victory; but Quay’s
political trust in his chieftain was greatly chilled as the President
congratulated his Field Marshal that Providence had been with them
in the contest and carried them safely through. While Quay is of the
same old-school Presbyterian stock as Harrison, and had the training
of his Presbyterian minister father, his faith in foreordination was
not so rugged as to assume that Providence would have carried Harrison
through if Quay had not exhausted all political resources, regular
and irregular, to wrest New York from Cleveland and give Harrison the
victory. Cameron, who had served in the Senate with Harrison, while he
had entire faith in the integrity and ability of the new President, had
no faith in his political usefulness, and from the start there were not
the most cordial relations between the Pennsylvania Senators and the
administration.
Harrison had failed to carry the popular majority over Cleveland, and
the Republican majority in both Senate and House was regarded as too
small for the present and future safety of the party. It was this
political necessity that led to the admission of the six new States of
North and South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Wyoming, which
were expected to bring 12 additional Republican Senators, 7 additional
Republican Congressmen, and 19 additional Republican electoral votes.
How sadly the Republican leaders miscalculated on these new States
is shown by the fact that Idaho and North Dakota voted for Weaver,
while Montana and Wyoming were saved by nominal majorities, and all of
these States, with the exception of North Dakota, voted against the
Republican candidate for President in 1896.
The small Republican majority in the House was rapidly and ruthlessly
increased by admitting Republican contestants regardless of the merits
of their claims, and the whole policy of the Republican leadership,
outside of Harrison himself, who did not inspire it, was to maintain
Republican supremacy by might, regardless of right. Not only were six
new States added, but a new Force bill was decided upon to restore
Republican supremacy in the South. The attempt to revive such a
measure was simply midsummer madness, as it was opposed by the entire
conservative Republican element and arrayed the South in implacable
hostility to the administration. Blaine had defeated the Force bill
when it was urged under the Grant administration, and Senator J.
Donald Cameron defeated it under the Harrison administration. Cameron
had decided the contest between M. C. Butler, Democrat, and David T.
Corbin, Republican, of South Carolina, in 1877. Corbin was one of the
ablest of the South Carolina carpet-baggers, and was elected by the
Republican Legislature, that had been finally dispersed by President
Hayes refusing to support it, and Butler had been elected by the
Hampton or Democratic Legislature.