USA > Maine > Maine; a history, Volume II > Part 32
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At the election for Governor the vote was the largest in the history of the State, Connor obtaining a majority of 15,000. The vote stood Connor 75,867, Talbot 60,423, Gage 520, scattering 13. The Republicans had gained 18,000 over the year before and the Democrats 7,000.
There was considerable comment on the election by papers outside the State. The Philadelphia Press, a strong supporter of Blaine, said that it showed the furore with which he would have swept the country had he been nominated for the presidency. The New York Evening Post said that the Maine election showed beyond reasonable doubt that the people had no desire for a change merely for the sake of change.
The result of the Presidential election was long uncertain and the country was threatened with civil war. On the face of the returns the Democrats had a majority in the electoral college but the returning boards in Florida and Louisiana threw out the vote of certain districts as vitiated by intimidation and counted in the Republican electors. If this were allowed to stand and certain technical questions regarding the election in Oregon were settled in favor of the Republicans, Hayes would be chosen by a majority of one. Double returns were sent from Oregon, South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana, and there was a violent dispute as to who had the right to decide which were the legal returns. The extremists on both sides opposed all concessions, the moderates demanded "a peace by agreement." It was finally agreed to refer the question of the disputed votes to an electoral commission consisting of five Representatives, five Senators and five Judges of the Supreme Court, seven were Democrats and eight Republicans. It had been intended that the odd man should be Judge Davis of Illinois, whose political affiliations were doubtful, but at the last moment he accepted an election as Senator and his place was taken by a Republican, Judge Bradley, who had given some decisions not in accordance with the theories of his party. The Whig utterly condemned the arrangement. It said:
"Many of its supporters acted hastily, led by their earnest desire for a settlement. No one could have doubted that the word 'compromise' would have talismanic effect upon the (Boston) Advertiser and other journals representing a certain type of Massachusetts politics. The word has always been all potent with them and the habit of yielding principle under pressure has not weakened since the days when the greatest intellect of the century, [Webster,] was induced by the truckling capitalists of his
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constituency to compromise with the greatest of human wrongs.
"The Republicans in consenting to this measure, must yield the strong safeguard afforded them by the Constitution, and with a clear majority of the electoral votes for Hayes and Wheeler in the custody of the President of the Senate, they must consent to waive the victory won in spite of Democratic frauds and to have the claims of their candidates shaken up with Tilden and Hendricks in a hat to be held by such an impartial Bourbon as Judge Clifford.'
After the bill had been passed the Whig said: "We submit that if Messrs. Edmunds, Conkling, Frelinghuysen, Hoar and their Republican associates really thought they were doing justice to their own party they were outwitted and humbugged in a manner that would disgrace a country debating society." It demanded that the thoroughgoing Democrats who would be placed on the commission be matched by thoroughgoing Republi- cans. "General Garfield is one staunch man from the House, and Mr. Hale's familiarity with the Southern cases should have given him the preference over Mr. Hoar."
The Argus, though favoring the bill, claimed that its party had made a great sacrifice for the sake of averting civil war, that they had yielded a moral certainty for a possible uncertainty, but declared that they had shown their patriotism and their faith in their cause, that it could not believe that the decision would be against them, but that should this be the case their conduct would give them an irresistible prestige over their opponents hence- forth and carry them triumphantly into power as soon as the people could be heard in the elections.
The Portland Press seemed to think that the commission was likely to fail but said that the people demanded that something be done. "The remedy may not be efficacious but it is better than no attempt at remedy. Sugar and water and bread pills are not disease destroyers but they calni a patient and tranquilize his mind."
In this case the remedy proved something more than a temporary tranquilizer. The commission gave its decision in favor of Hayes, the Democratic House accepted it, though some members resorted to fillibuster- ing to prevent a decision before March 4, and Hayes and Wheeler were duly declared elected and were peaceably inaugurated.
But the Democrats were most bitter over their defeat and insulted President Hayes by styling him not His Excellency but His Fradulency and His Accidency, and the rejoicing of the Republicans was mingled with much disappointment and anger. The make-up of the Cabinet was highly unsatisfactory to the men who had led the party and fought its battles with undeviating loyalty but with no great scrupulousness as to the means employed. An ex-Confederate, David M. Key, was appointed Postmaster- General, and what was far worse, Carl Schurz, a bolter in 1872 and a man
"The law provided that the senior justice on the commission should act as its president, and the judge of longest service was Judge Clifford.
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in their opinion, of fantastical, impractical notions, was made Secretary of the Interior. Mr. Blaine had a special grievance. He had given Mr. Hayes a prompt, cordial and extremely efficient support and he felt that he was entitled to name the New England member of the Cabinet. Mr. Hayes offered a seat to Representative Hale of Maine but that gentleman declined it. Mr. Blaine earnestly desired the selection of another Maine Represen- tative, William P. Frye of Lewiston, but the President refused because he was not personally acquainted with Mr. Frye. The New Englander finally appointed, General Charles Devens, was, however, the one preferred by Mr. Blaine among several considered by the President.
Even more offensive to the Stalwarts than the Cabinet appointments was the President's Southern policy. There were disputed elections for Governor in South Carolina and Louisiana and the same Returning Boards whose decisions gave Hayes his title to the presidency had decided in favor of the Republican candidates for the governorship. In both States an overwhelming majority of the property-holding and educated classes were supporting the Democratic claimants and only the presence of United States troops in or near the State Houses, which were occupied by the Republicans, prevented the instant overthrow of the carpet bag governments. President Grant had directed that the troops should protect life and property against mobs but had forbidden them to assist either claimant to the governorship. President Hayes ordered the soldiers to their barracks, a commission sent by him aided the Democratic House in Louisiana to obtain a quorum of members with uncontested seats, and the Republican Governors announced that they would no longer actively assert their rights.
The Republican press of Maine endorsed Hayes's course, though much of the approval was hesitating and cold. The Bangor Whig, now under the control of a radical and outspoken editor, Captain Charles A. Boutelle, vigorously attacked the President's policy. Replying to the Boston Journal, which had defended Mr. Hayes, the Whig said: "We say to the Journal plainly that had Rutherford B. Hayes announced during the campaign that he would appoint Carl Schurz and a Confederate Democrat in his Cabinet, he could not have carried Maine, the staunchest Republican State in the Union. Party leaders might have pleaded and party papers might have argued, but the Republican masses of the Pine Tree State would have refused to sanction the doctrine that the loyal Republicans of the North and South are unfit to furnish the members of a Republican Administra- tion."
The Whig headed an editorial on the abandonment of the Republican Governor of South Carolina, "The National Shame," and declared that "The whole question of right and law has been avowedly ignored and the new policy plainly announces itself to be that whatever faction can control
"Mr. Blaine wished to get Mr. Frye into the Cabinet in order to help Mr. Hale succeed Senator Hamlin, by removing a probable rival.
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sufficient arms and organization shall be permitted by the United States to overthrow the republican form of government and to usurp the rights of the majority of the people.""""
When the Republican State convention met, the committee on resolu- tions reported a set making no reference to President Hayes. General Chamberlain moved an amendment praising him, but in moderate and somewhat ambiguous language. He was supported by Anson P. Morrill, and Nathan Farwell of Rockland. Captain Boutelle offered a substitute strongly condemning Hayes's desertion of the Republican Governors of South Carolina and Louisiana. Mr. Blaine declared that the question was not now a practical one, that the passage of either amendment would divide friends and that for the sake of charity, peace and union he moved that both resolutions be laid on the table. The motion was carried. The resolu- tions reported by the committee were then adopted. They demanded the protection of all citizens both abroad and at home, expressed apprehension at the Confederates' sway in the South, claimed that the Republicans in Maine had always been in favor of wise civil service reform, and announced that they took pride in the fact that during the sixteen years of Republican power every national officer in Maine had done his duty. The recollection of Peck doubtless prevented any such statement being made concerning State officers. The convention declared itself in favor of "sound currency" and of a return to specie payments and demanded that the promise of the National Government be kept in an honest, straightforward manner, and that no backward or sideway step be taken. The convention opposed grants of more land or of subsidies to railroads and any radical change in the navigation laws, especially in the matter of admitting foreign built ships to American registry. The convention declared that South Carolina, Flor- ida and Louisiana were fairly and legally carried by the Republicans both for the national and State officers, that the title of Hayes and Wheeler was affirmed by the highest and most impartial tribunal, to whose establishment the Democrats had given their consent. "For the Democratic party now to raise the cry of fraud is both unmanly and dishonest, and if persisted in must be accepted as an indication that that party in its mad desire for power is willing to run all the hazards of anarchy and revolution." On State mat- ters the platform was very similar to that of the preceding year. Governor Connor was renominated by acclamation.
The Democratic convention was again the scene of a sharp contest between the conservatives who wished to remain within the old lines and the radicals who desired to form a union with the discontented Republi- cans. Custom required the nomination of John C. Talbot, the candidate of the preceding year, and he was present in Portland where the conven- tion was held, but the Progressives put forward ex-Governor Williams of Augusta. The names of Garcelon of Lewiston, a former Republican,
"Whig, March 12, April 12, 1877.
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Haynes of Biddeford, and Andrews and Anderson of Portland were also presented to the convention. Mr. Anderson declined a nomination, saying that he considered that party usage and courtesy demanded the renomina- tion of Mr. Talbot, but in spite of his refusal he received considerable support. The three leading candidates were Garcelon, Talbot and Williams. Three ballots were necessary for a choice. The first stood, Talbot 151, Williams 146, Garcelon 116, others 123. The second gave Talbot 197, Williams 223, Garcelon 104, others 37. On the third, Talbot had 77, Williams 282, Garcelon 101, others 10.
The platform was brief. It reaffirmed the national Democratic plat- form of 1876, denounced the seating of Hayes, to which it said Democrats submitted in the interests of peace, as the most monstrous political fraud recorded in history, and approved his Southern policy as a just acknowledg- ment of the wisdom of Democratic principles.
Marcellus Emery and one other member of the committee offered two resolutions denouncing prohibition, and favoring legislation which would be in accordance with the bill of rights in the State constitution and best promotive of temperance. Mr. Rawson of Bangor defended the resolutions in a vigorous speech in which he charged that the law was enforced in Bangor in a corrupt and tyrannical manner and declared, "I have not found a single Democrat here today who does not at heart oppose the prohibitory law in its practical workings." Scarcely had Mr. Rawson's lips closed on the last sentence of his speech when Mr. Mason of Auburn sprang to his feet. He said :
"It seems strange and unaccountable to me, Mr. Chairman, that every time the Republican party sets a trap for us, we are sure to stumble into it. If we adopt this resolution so earnestly supported, in my opinion we make the greatest mistake in the history of our party. By so doing you may get a few votes in Bangor, but you will lose thousands elsewhere. Why there are 17,000 reform men in this State, all pledged to total absti- nence, of whom three-fourths are Democrats, and surely the adoption of this resolution would lose us the greater portion, if not all of their votes. In regard to the sheriff's going into your home and seizing your liquor you needn't have any there for him to seize and then all the disagreeable things spoken of will be avoided. Mr. Mason closed with a forcible appeal to the convention not to endorse the resolution, advocating the repeal of the prohibitory law, as it [the law] was a child of Republican origin, and if it was destined to die, let it do so on their hands."
The convention voted down the amendment "with much applause," and the resolutions reported by the committee were unanimously passed.
The Argus, which had for some time been calling for the nomination of Williams in the hope of winning many "liberal" Republicans, said, "The nomination is a remarkable tribute to the eminent ability and worth of the man. Mr. Williams is a gentleman of large experience in public affairs, of high culture and possessing all the qualities that go to
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make up the model citizen."" In evident reply to a possible charge that the convention had not nominated a Democrat, the Argus said: "He is a son of that old pillar of Maine Democracy, Hon. Reuel Williams, who for six years represented the State in the United States Senate, and though for some years he did not act with his party, he is now in full accord with it, and voted for Tilden and Hendricks at the last election."
The extreme conservatives, however, were hardly to be won over by such one-sided arguments concerning Williams' Democracy, and the Bangor Commercial in its first editorial on the nomination merely quoted claims made for Williams by his friends.
The Republican papers did their best to make the Democrats dissatis- fied with their candidate. The Portland Press said: "Hon. Joseph H. Williams is a gentleman of unexceptionable standing, wealthy, aristocratic and cold. . . This new Democratic device to draw away discontented Republicans by nominating a respectable gentleman of no party, no affilia- tions, and few earnest convictions, will fail as such devices have always failed in the past." The Kennebec Journal said: "For a party that has said so much in denunciation of bondholders, capitalists, railroad men, as the Democratic party has, the nomination is an astounding one, as Mr. Williams is all these. The Democrats had better left him in his retirement to clip coupons."
There was a third ticket in the field, the Greenbacks nominating Henry C. Munson. The party had polled only 520 votes the year before and the Whig remarked that an Associated Press reporter had wasted time and newspaper space in telegraphing a report of the Greenback convention, "as the party is hardly large enough in this State to be made the subject of a good joke." The campaign, however, showed that the party was something more than a joke and the Republicans issued a circular stating that the election of Munson was regarded as impossible by his warmest supporters, that a Republican who voted for him voted for Williams and asked, "Is there a Greenback man in the State who desires the election of Mr. Williams ?" The Argus obtained a copy of the circular, quoted it, and with a hope of winning the more conservative Republicans gleefully remarked : "It will be seen that this is a direct bid for the Greenback vote on the ground that Connor is a better Greenbacker than Mr. Williams."
The campaign was a quiet one and the vote comparatively light. Con- nor led Williams by somewhat over 11,000, the official returns giving Selden Connor 53,585, and Joseph H. Williams 42,247; there were 5,291 Greenback ballots. The Argus declared that the Democrats had done very well for an off year. It admitted, however, that the result was a triumph for Blaine, said that the Hayes Republicans had no good, manly, outspoken leader, and that apparently Blaine would manage the party all his life, or until he ran it into the ground. Prohibition feeling had contributed to
"Whig, Aug. 16, 1877.
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Republican success. The Belfast Journal said: "The (Democratic) State convention did its work well. But scarcely had they adjourned when the miserable rum issue, which the convention had put its foot upon, was revived to create disorder and division." The Whig declared that for a year with no presidential or congressional elections, and when there had been no meetings or speeches, the result was a great triumph for stalwart Republicanism.
Chapter XXI
GREENBACK MOVEMENT-DISPUTED ELECTION
CHAPTER XXI
GREENBACK MOVEMENT-DISPUTED ELECTION
The campaign of 1878 in Maine was fought on a new issue, that of Greenbackism. The hard times following the panic of 1873 had caused a great cry for more money. The government was preparing to resume specie payments on January 1, 1879. It was claimed that this would make money harder to get, and a demand arose in many parts of the coun- try for a postponement of resumption and the issue of greenbacks to a large amount. Maine, situated at the extremity of the Union, often feels great movements late, and for her the greenback wave reached its height when it was receding in other States. The chief propagator, or perhaps one should say propagators of Greenbackism in Maine were Solon Chase, of Turner, and "them steers."
Before the Civil War, Mr. Chase had been a Whig, then for a time he acted with the Democrats. During the war he was twice elected to the State Legislature by the Republicans. He supported Andrew Johnson and was appointed by him a collector of internal revenue, but after holding the office for about six months was obliged to vacate it because the Senate would not confirm his appointment. He then returned to the Democratic party. In 1875 he was a delegate to the Democratic convention and offered a resolution in favor of soft money, which was voted down by a large majority.
Mr. Chase then established a Greenback paper and helped form a Greenback party, which in 1876 nominated Almon Gage for Governor and polled 520 votes. In 1877 a much better showing was made, the Green- backers polling over 5,000 votes. Their success was largely due to Mr. Chase's own efforts, aided by the same circumstances which made for Greenback success throughout the country. "Uncle Solon," as Mr. Chase was often called, drove over the State in an ox team, telling the farmers how they had been abused and plundered by the money power. Pointing to "them steers" he would explain that they had cost him $100, and that he would be glad to sell them for $50. Mr. Chase was a clever man, whose appearance and language were precisely such as to appeal to the farmers. To many of his opponents his manners seemed those of a demagogue, and his arguments those of a simpleton. But he was clearly acquiring great influence, and the Republicans were much alarmed. Many of them urged that some concessions be made, but others insisted that the party should stand firm for sound money, and this view prevailed. The convention declared that there must be no steps sidewise or backward in the matter of specie payments, and denounced a fluctuating currency.
Although Governor Connor had served the customary three years, he ME .- 38
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was renominated without opposition. It seemed the safest thing to do. Apparently other names which had been suggested had met with small response from the people. But if there was little enthusiasm there prom- ised to be no lack of candidates, there was rivalry between the eastern and the western parts of the State, and the managers probably felt that the party had a hard battle before it, and that it would be dangerous to go into the fight with any faction disappointed and sore. All or nearly all could unite on Connor without serious mortification, and accordingly he was nomi- nated.
The Republican convention met late. The Greenbackers and the Democrats had already unfurled their banners and placed their candidates in the field. The Greenback convention met on June 4. They declared their opposition to every measure looking to the resumption of specie pay- ments and to the issuing of government bonds, and demanded that the money hoarded for resumption be used to pay outstanding bonds. They, however, denounced "the red flag of communism imported from Europe which asks for an equal division of property." They also called for bien- nial sessions of the Legislature, and the abolition of imprisonment for debt. For Governor the Greenbackers nominated Joseph L. Smith, a successful lumber man of Old Town. The Kennebec Journal made the very pertinent remark that Mr. Smith was a bondholder, that it made no objection to him on that account if he obtained his bonds honestly, which it supposed he did, but that it would like to know how Greenbackers could honestly vote for such a bondholder and coupon clipper.
The Democratic convention met on June 18. They declared against the further issue of bonds which were privileged in matters of taxation. On the financial question they advocated one currency for all, which should be redeemable, and stated that they were opposed to "the present national banking system," and that they favored "the gradual substitution of green- backs for national bank bills." They declared themselves in favor of biennial sessions of the Legislature, and of the abolition of the Council. For a candidate, following the example of the Greenbackers, they chose a convert, Dr. Alonzo W. Garcelon, of Lewiston. He was nominated on the first ballot by a vote of 220 to 119 for various other candidates. The leading unsuccessful candidate was F. W. Hill, of Exeter, who received 49 votes.
Alonzo Garcelon was born on May 6, 1813, at Lewiston, Maine. He graduated from Bowdoin in 1836, and from the Ohio Medical College in 1839. He was hospital surgeon of Maine in 1861, and chief surgeon in 1864. He had served in the Maine House and Senate, and was mayor of Lewiston in 1871. In 1868 Dr. Garcelon, who had formerly been a Repub- lican, accepted the Democratic nomination for Congress, but was defeated by Samuel P. Morrill.
The Greenbackers made a vigorous campaign. Solon Chase and his steers were much in evidence. The Republicans, with the exception of
Alanya Gordon
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some of their newspapers, did little until early in August, then they made considerable effort, but it was too late to save the day; indeed, in the state of the public mind it is doubtful if anything could have saved it. For the first time since 1855, the people failed to elect a Governor. The official count gave Connor 56,554 votes, Garcelon 28,208, Smith 41,371, scatter- ing 36.
The Senate stood: Republicans, 20, Greenbackers II. The House contained 65 Republicans, 61 Greenbackers, 15 "sound money" Democrats, and 10 "fiat money" Democrats. The Greenbackers and Democrats united in selecting Smith and Garcelon as the two candidates from whom the Senate must choose a Governor. The Republican minority voted for Con- nor, and Frederic Robie, of Gorham, who had received 71 votes, enough to make him the fourth constitutional candidate. The Republicans had lost the prize, but it was still in their power to bestow it, for they con- trolled the Senate. There had been some negotiations with Smith. He appears to have offered to say nothing on the financial question in his mes- sage, and to take strong Republican ground in the matter of the suppres- sion of the Republican vote in the South. But a rumor of the proposed arrangement became public, and some Greenbackers, angered at this deser- tion, threatened to join the Republicans in sending up the name of Con- nor. Smith now told the Republicans that he must mention the financial question, but outlined a treatment which they might regard as practically harmless, though unsound theoretically. The Republicans, however, finally decided to elect Garcelon rather than Smith. They regarded Garcelon as a weak man, not firm on the money question, and one whom the Green- backers could use, but throughout the country he was believed to be a hard money Democrat, and rather than the story should go abroad that Republi- cans had rejected such a man for a Greenbacker, it was decided to make Garcelon Governor. Accordingly, when the day of choice came, all the Republican Senators voted for him and he was duly elected.
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