ii ii inn r ii ii ii A 000664910 7 REPO-RT OF THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF Republicans and Independents. Presidential Campaign of 188^.. NEW YORK: PRINTED FOR THE COMMITTEE 1885. REPORT OF THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF Republicans and Independents. Presidential Campaign of 188 J^. NEW YORK: PRINTED FOR THE COMMITTEE. 1885. NEW YORK : BURR PRINTING HOUSE, 18 JACOB STREET. REPORT OF NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF REPUBLICANS AND INDEPENDENTS. To the National Committee of Republicans and Independents. THE nomination of Blaine and Logan was seen by many Repub- licans to be the final attempt of the opponents of reform and of political progress to resist a growing public demand for better government, which had for some years made itself felt alike in municipal, State, and national administration. This demand had, from time to time, found voice in appeals for " reform within the party." In Massachu- setts an increasing number of Republicans, associated some years ago in the Commonwealth and afterward in the Bristow Clubs, later on, from 1877 to 1880, in the Massachusetts Young Republican Clubs, which in 1878, 1879, and 1880 held important State Conferences, and more recently within, the Massachusetts Reform Club, had made evi- dent the New England feeling. In New York the Independent Repub- lican movement of 1879, known as the " scratching" campaign, proved, despite the use of a novel and derided method, the existence of 19,686 Republican voters in protest against machine methods ; and the Brooklyn Young Republican Club, organized in 1880 after the Garfield campaign, gave a strong impetus to Republican reform and took im- portant part, in co-operation with the Buffalo organization and a great body of Republican voters, in the revolt which, in 1882, defeated Folger and elected Cleveland by 192,854 plurality. In Pennsylvania many Republicans had done good work for municipal reform and in the revolt against the Cameron machine which elected an independent Reform Democrat governor in 1882. During the same period the organization of the Civil Service Reform Association in 1880, of the Society for Po- litical Education in the same year, and of local associations like the Young Men's Political Club of Providence, R. I., which made itself a local branch of both of these bodies, showed that beyond party limits there was a deep and wide feeling of the necessity for a political ref- ormation. It was a necessary reaction from the demoralization which almost inevitably follows a great war, and many took part in these later years who were boys during the war period, but who had im- bibed the spirit of patriotism of those days, and who felt that they ought to fight against the slavery of party tyranny as those before them had fought against a more brutal but not more insidious slavery. It is not impossible that the future student of history may find in this series of political movements the parallel of the revival of national literature which in earlier periods followed great wars. The Independent Republicans of Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania, with a few from other States, had been represented in a conference held at Chicago during the session of the Republican Convention of 1880, under the chairmanship of Wayne MacVeagh ; had succeeded in obtaining the introduction, through the Massa- chusetts delegation, of a Civil Service Reform plank, which, de- spite the opposition of the " machine" element, was carried by the help of the extraordinary outburst of Mr. Flanagan and the final support of General Garfield ; and had helped in obtaining the nomination of a candidate who could and did command the general support of Republicans. At that time it was voted to continue an Independent Republican national organization under the presidency of Mr. MacVeagh ; but his selection fora Cabinet position, the sudden end of General Garfield's administration, and the great changes that followed, prevented any further effort on the part of that organiza- tion. It was hoped and believed that the leaders of the Republican party would again, in 1884, heed this reform sentiment. That sentiment was early and distinctly declared, and no charge of " stabbing in the back" the nominee has any force. The reform Republicans gave notice that they would not, because they could not, support Mr. Elaine ; and the most of them kept their word. In the latter part of 1883 there were several conferences, one at Boston and others in New York, culminating in the dinner held in Brooklyn on the 226. of February, 1884, which was perhaps the most notable expression of reform Republican feeling previous to the Convention, and which was one of the special precursors of the Independent campaign. As the outcome of this, a Republican Conference Committee was consti- tuted, under the chairmanship of General Barlow, which, as well as the Brooklyn Young Republican Club, had a large delegation at Chicago, Speaking out clearly in opposition to the nomination of Mr. Blaine. The nomination, on June 6th, of the candidate most objection- able to the Independent element, was felt at once to be a supreme and final challenge of the managers of the Republican organiza- tion, who were bound to put an end to " reform within the party," by striking a death blow at " reform nonsense," although the nomina- tions undoubtedly commanded the enthusiastic support of a great number of Republicans, especially at the West, who read only the surface indications of spontaneity at the Chicago Convention, and did not see the manipulation preparatory to and during its meeting. The platform was scarcely less objectionable than the candidates, since for the first time in its history the Republican party " dodged' ' on the question of "money, and the excellent civil service reform plank was made a mere hypocrisy by the record of the nominees. No time was lost by those who felt that this challenge must be accepted, and on the very day of the nomination telegrams were sent from one of the members of this Committee to other persons, especially in New York and Massachusetts, looking to immediate organization. Massachu- setts was the first to respond by a public expression of opinion, in the declaration of the Massachusetts Reform Club at its regular meeting on the Saturday (June 7) following the nomination. Steps were at once taken in New York to hold a general conference of those who had either determined on or were debating organized opposition, and the first private conference was held at a private residence in Madison Avenue, June ijth, 1884. This resulted in the appointment of a pro- visional committee, chiefly local in personel. Meanwhile it became evident that all through the East, and, despite the surface enthusi- asm, in many places throughout the West, there was " in the air" a feeling of indignant protest, which was determined to make itself felt. The organized movement was finally shaped at the conference at the University Club Theatre, on the 22d of July, 1884, at which about four hundred Republicans, representing many of the Northern States, were present. They determined to support the Democratic nominee, Grover Cleveland, for President. This conference resulted in the ap- pointment of the National Committee of Republicans and Indepen- dents, under whose management the ensuing campaign was conducted. The National Committee met immediately after the adjournment of the conference, and delegated its powers in the executive manage- ment of the campaign to an Executive Committee, composed chiefly of members resident in New York. This Committee recognized at once that the success of the campaign during the fall must depend upon the preliminary work of organization during the summer, and during the vacation period one of its members gave his time almost without interruption to that most important work. Headquarters were taken at 35 Nassau Street, and the necessary clerical force trained to its duties. After several unsuccessful attempts to find the right man for the place, the Committee was fortunate in obtaining the services of Mr. A. E. Walradt, who had formerly been the clerk of the Brook- lyn Young Republican Club, and his executive ability and untiring energy as manager of the office, from his appointment until election day, were a most important aid to the Committee. The success of any political movement covering so wide a field must depend largely upon the completeness and efficiency of its ex- ecutive machinery, and the distinction between such organization and " the machine," so called, is simply that the first is for the sake of expressing and the second for the sake of suppressing the will of its constituents. The Executive Committee found that its work must be : (i) to prepare simple and effective statements of the facts of Mr. Elaine's record and of the campaign ; (2) to reach with these facts every voter who could be influenced, and particularly that great body of voters who are beyond the reach of the regular press ; (3) to pro- mote organizations which should give to the individual voter the moral support so many require to stimulate their individual conscience. The greater part of the money raised for the campaign was accord- ingly spent in the publication and distribution of documents. In the regular series, of uniform i2mo page, fourteen documents were pub- lished, of which four were duplicated in German translation. Over 2,000,000 of these were issued, varying from two to thirty-two pages each. The largest number of single documents was nearly 600,000 of 5 Xo. 10, which included the points it was thought especially desirable to make in the latter days of the campaign ; 275,000 of No. 13, Mr. Beecher's address ; and 200,000 in English and 75,000 in German of No. 3, Mr. Schurz's Brooklyn address, which during the early part of the campaign was the document universally sought. Of the Harper's Weekly supplement, nearly 225,000 copies were circulated. Consider- able editions of this last and of some of the preceding documents were supplied to the Democratic Committee for distribution through their channels. The Committee also published a number of special docu- ments for local or specific use, including a catechism on Blaineism, a tariff circular for New Jersey, showing that the tariff was not the issue in the presidential campaign ; cards relating to pensions and the interests of workingmen, for use in New York and Indiana ; a circular contradicting the Beecher " bread-and-water" story, and letters of the Executive Committee circulating with the documents, amounting in all to over 500,000 more. The Committee also pur- chased and circulated a number of other publications, including the Evening Post pamphlet, the Boston Blaine record, etc. Besides the work done by the Executive Committee of the National Committee, most of the State and many of the local organizations issued documents of their own, so that the entire literature of the campaign, of which a collection was carefully made, would together make a volume of nearly a thousand pages. The comprehensive statement of Mr. Elaine's record, compiled by Mr. Mooffield Storey, and that of his foreign policy-, compiled by Mr. Edward H. Strobel, issued by the co-operation of the Massachusetts Committee, were es- pecially valuable as mines of fact for the benefit of other writers. The second portion of the work before the Executive Committee was the distribution of the literature thus provided, the organization of meetings, and the supply of speakers. As soon as public notice was given of the organization of the Committee, names of sympa- thizers with the movement began to reach it. These people, and a great number of others whose names were procured through various channels, were communicated with at once, and slips were sent to them, one containing a statement of the intention to vote against Mr. Blaine and the other adding the intention to vote for Mr. Cleveland, so that the division on this point among Independents might not cause embarrassment in the enrolment. No name was entered on the enrolment lists which became very large before the end of the campaign unless the person enrolled had signed one of the slips or had in some other way directly signified his assent to the movement. Those enrolled were supplied by post with each document as it was issued, and they were asked to send from time to time the names of others who either sympathized with us or were open to argument. The latter class were listed on what were called the " document rolls," and each document thought likely to be effec- tive was sent to them, unless word was received from them, or from others, that no arguments would affect them. The increase of this work and of the relations with other organizations is best shown by the fact that the work which commenced in July with the services of three required before election day a staff of over seventy people. The burden of speaking during the early part of, and indeed throughout, the campaign, fell upon Mr. Schurz, the importance of whose efforts for this cause cannot be too much appreciated. His speech in Brooklyn, August 5th, was the first gun, which found after- ward so many echoes, and for a long time it supplied the literature of the campaign. Later on, particularly by the help of the Massachu- setts men, a number of speakers were secured, including Colonel T. W. Higginson, Josiah Quincy, and others, who did effective work in other States than their own. Neither Mr. Schurz nor any of these speakers accepted any remuneration for their services. The Committee cordially recognizes also the valuable services performed by volunteer speakers from New York, Boston, and other centr.es of the campaign, in their own States. Toward the end of the campaign the address of Mr. Beecher at the Brooklyn Rink, October 22d, followed by several speeches in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey, and the address of the Chair- man of the National Committee, Mr. Curtis, also at the Brooklyn Rink, October 3oth, were most important features of the campaign. The promotion of organization throughout the States where the balance-of-power-vote was active was largely covered within the States themselves, and in several instances the organizations had been started before the complete organization of the National Com- mittee. A brief statement of the salient points of organization and interest in each of the States must suffice for this report : In Massachusetts the first action was taken Saturday, June yth, the day after Elaine's nomination, by the Massachusetts Reform Club, one of whose regular meetings fell on that day. A public meeting was held at the Meionaon, June i3th, at which speeches were made by Henry L. Pierce, Charles R. Codman, James Freeman Clarke, Colonel Higginson, and President Eliot ; and the Committee of One Hundred, and a Committee to take part in the Independent Conference at New York, were then appointed. The Committee of One Hundred opened headquarters at 166 Washington Street, June 24th, and began at once to receive evidence of the great interest in the movement throughout the State. It prepared an important ad- dress to the voters of Massachusetts, issued August gth ; and the detailed Elaine Record, prepared by Mr. Moorfield Storey, and the pamphlet on Elaine's Foreign Policy, prepared by Mr. Edward H. Strobel, were issued with its co-operation. The Massachusetts Com- mittee sent men throughout the State to organize in the several towns, and before the close of the campaign almost every town was represented on the rolls by a considerable proportion of its Repub- lican voters. The work of local organization was very complete throughout Massachusetts ; more than thirty organized bodies were in communication with the central headquarters, and several hun- dred meetings were held during the course of the fall. The great meetings of the campaign were the opening meeting in Boston at Tremont Temple, October ist ; the occasion of Mr. Schurz's ad- dress, October 22d, at Tremont Temple, and the Business Men's Meeting, October 3oth, at Faneuil Hall. The receipts of the cam- paign were $22,009, of which $3000 was sent to the National Com- mittee, and $17,989 expended under direction of the State Com- mittee, leaving a balance of $1019. The diversion of the Butler vote (24,382) prevented this work having its full effect, but a part of its influence is shown by the fact that the Republican candidate for governor received 12,621 votes more than Mr. Blaine, and that St. John polled 9923 votes, a gain of 8000 over the Pro- hibition vote of the previous year, the greater part of which came from Independent Republicans. Mr. Raymond L. Bridgman, who has published an interesting historical pamphlet on " The Inde- pendents of Massachusetts in 1884," estimates that Mr. Blaine had approximately 44,481 votes less than the normal Republican majority, reckoned on the basis of the Garfield vote with a propor- tionate addition for the increase of population. The Massachusetts 8 Committee also undertook such work as was done in Maine and in New Hampshire, and it helped the National Committee not only with money and speakers, but also by sending two active organizers into the West. In the State of Rhode Island the campaign was conducted jointly by the two local clubs in Newport and Providence. In both these centres a considerable proportion of the staunchest Republicans declined to vote for Mr. Elaine, and, as a result, Mr. Elaine polled four per cent less of the total vote than Mr. Garfield polled in 1880, while he lost also a considerable number of stay-at-home votes, which did not count in the total. The Newport Club edited two columns of the Newport Daily JVews, which were engaged for that purpose, issued an address which it sent to every Republican voter in the county, and expended about $1200 in its work. The result was that in New- port city in a poll of 2322, Mr. Elaine's majority was but 224, whereas Garfield had 583 majority in a poll of 1801. In Connecticut the campaign was under the management of the Committee of Twenty-Five at New Haven, and it presented several interesting features. The Committee maintained a reading-room at New Haven during the campaign, but its distinctive work was in its methods of action for stimulating local interest. In the early part of the campaign one of the members of the Connecticut Committee used his summer in travelling with a horse and wagon through several counties, asking the names of anti-Elaine Republicans, promoting local organization, and distributing documents. Later on, a second representative, whose expenses were paid in part by the National Committee, did excellent service in visiting the gounty fairs where the farmers congregated in good numbers. During the latter part of the campaign public meetings were held in New Haven, Hartford, Meri- den, Norwalk, Bridgeport, and other principal cities and towns, which were addressed in some cases by Mr. Schurz and other dis- tinguished speakers from other States. The Committee also caused Independent ballots, containing the names of the Republican candi- dates for State offices and of the Democratic electors, to be dis- tributed by mail or otherwise, to every Republican voter in the State, believing that many Independent voters might otherwise be pre- vented, by political or other pressure, from voting in accordance with their convictions. There was considerable fear of a workingmen's disaffection in this State, but the number of Independents was so great that the State was carried for Cleveland by a plurality of 1276, reversing the plurality of 2656 by which Garfield won in 1880. In New York the State organization was much less complete than it would have been, had not those members of the National Execu- tive Committee who were residents in New York been practically charged with the additional duties of State and City Committees. There were effective local organizations, however, in Brooklyn, Buf- falo, Rochester, in most of the smaller cities, and in very many of the towns. Besides these almost every township had its local Cleve- land and Hendricks Campaign Club with which the Independent Republicans and Independents of the locality united. A series of important meetings was held, especially on the line of cities on the New York Central Railroad, at which Mr. Schurz made an effective series of addresses. The investigation by the Committee in Buffalo of the scandals against Mr. Cleveland was of the utmost importance in the campaign. The Brooklyn organization was thorough and effective, and the most important series of meetings in the country was held under the auspices of its Committee of One Hun- dred, as has already been recorded. In New York City the nomination of Mr. Grace was in great part influenced and his campaign organized and carried on by men connected with the Independent Republican campaign, and the diversion of their work in this direction caused very great delay in the proper organization of the local work for the presi- dential ticket. A few weeks before the campaign closed, however, local headquarters were secured at 947 Broadway, and 85,000 sets of documents were sent out to the Republican districts within three days and two nights under the excellent organization there perfected. Among these were the Presidential ballot and the Constitutional Amendment ballot, which latter was printed and circulated by this Committee because it was found that the two regular parties had pur- posely or carelessly omitted furnishing this important ballot to citizens interested. The Local Committee also distributed quantities of Mr. Schurz's speech in German districts during the Saturday night pre- ceding the election, and otherwise accomplished a great deal of effec- tive work, the results of which showed on election day. . It is estimated that more than 75,000 Independents voted in New York State, the smallness of the plurality for Cleveland being caused by the disaffec- 10 tion among certain classes of Democrats upon which the Elaine man- agers had built their hopes of carrying the State. In New Jersey a most interesting campaign was fought by the State Central Committee, with the help in Southern New Jersey of the Philadelphia Committee. The apathy of the Democrats during much of the campaign threatened the loss of that State, and the final re- sult was mainly due to the work of the Independent Committee. The Committee occupied headquarters in Taylor's Hotel, Jersey City, close by those of the regular parties ; twenty-two local organi- zations reported to it, and over forty meetings were held in the State, Mr. Beecher and Mr. Schurz being the leading speakers. Organized efforts were made by the Elaine Republicans to interfere with these meetings. Ballots were printed and circulated, and in Hudson County, particularly, special arrangements were made to keep the polls supplied. At the close of the campaign the Committee learned of preparations for wholesale bribery and trickery at the polls, and in consultation with the National Executive Committee it was de- cided to put several of Pinkerton's detectives at work in the State, with orders to do'everything that they could to prevent corruption, no matter which party might be hit. This action served as a notice to those engaged in this nefarious work that their plans were more or less known, and it undoubtedly prevented its continuance on the scale planned. The result of the work in New Jersey was shown by a plurality for Cleveland of 4412, despite a considerable defection of certain classes of Democratic voters. It is estimated that in Hudson County alone the Independents polled over 3000 votes, and it is reckoned that not less than 15,000 Independent votes were cast in the State. In Pennsylvania work was confined chiefly to that of the Philadel- phia Committee, which, of course, attempted to do no more than bear testimony to the cause of purity in politics and of true Repub- licanism, and give what assistance it could to its co-workers in other States, by pecuniary support of the National Committee and by the organization of meetings and the supply of speakers in Southern New Jersey. But the existence of this Committee in Philadelphia, headed by Mr. Henry C. Lea, was of great use in other States, as showing that the opposition to Mr. Elaine was not based on merely political or economic questions, but on the deeper ground of public II honesty. The Committee printed 25,000 copies of a State address, besides circulating 49,100 other documents, and raised $1765.43, of which $600 was sent to the National Committee. The increased majority of Mr. Elaine was due in part to the apathy of the Demo- cratic State Committee, and in part to defections illustrated by the fact that the five leading anthracite counties, which polled 79,503 votes in 1880 and 86,561 in 1884, or 9 per cent increase, converted a Democratic plurality of 5233 in 1880 into a Elaine plurality of 4250 in 1884, a change which made nearly a quarter of the total change in the State, though in only one tenth of the State vote. In Ohio the work of organization was carried on from the three centres of Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. The insistance by the Elaine Republicans that a large Republican majority in Ohio in October meant the election of Elaine in November, compelled the National Executive Committee, against its will, to take part in the State campaign culminating in that month. It should undoubtedly be a fundamental principle with Independents that at each election, whether municipal or State, the contest should be over the candidates actually before the voters, rather than with reference to more remote contin- gencies ; but it is notorious that'll has been impossible to carry out this principle in the case of the October States a fact which furnishes the best of reasons for doing away with the system altogether. Ohio is now the only State adhering to this plan, and it will be a battle- ground for the worst politics and a hot-bed of corruption, until this last October State places itself on the roll to which West Virginia has been added this year. Mr. Schurz made an effective series of ad- dresses in Ohio in the early part of the campaign, but the defection from the Democratic ranks was so much greater than was expected as almost to obscure entirely the Republican revolt. The Republican candidate for Secretary of State, however, received in October a plurality of only 11,242 and was in a minority on the total vote, and the majority of Mr. Elaine was but 15,554 against 25,155 for Mr. Gar- field. Counting the increase of population, the Prohibition vote, and other elements, it is probable that not less than 20,000 voters in Ohio can be reckoned as Independents. In Indiana a vigorous campaign was conducted by the central organization at Indianapolis, under great disadvantages. Mr. Schurz's address at Indianapolis changed the tone of the campaign 12 in that State, and over fifty other speeches were made by Independents. The Committee printed 30,000 copies of a pamphlet on " Elaine," and 11,000 of " The Eleventh Hour" address, and circulated also 120,- ooo other documents, besides hiring for the seven days before election an advertising column in the Indianapolis Evening News, at a cost of $200 ; $883.93 was collected and spent, although headquarters were loaned and all the clerical force was voluntary. A weekly publica- tion, The Freeman, was kept up during the campaign, and has since been continued ; it was not, however, supported or controlled by the Committee, as it supported revenue reform as well as civil service reform, whereas the Committee advocated the defeat of Mr. Elaine only on the latter grounds. A great deal of effective work was done at such workingmen's centres as South Bend, where certain large manufacturers had threatened to parade their workmen en masse and have their total vote cast at the polls for Mr. Elaine. This was in part prevented by the help of the Committee in this State, and some detective work also assisted in vindicating the rights of citizens against corrupt combinations. It was acknowledged throughout the State that the plurality for Cleveland of 6427 was fully due to the work of the Independents. In Illinois the first step was taken about the middle of July, when a small private meeting was held at the Palmer House in Chicago, at which arrangements were made for an active organization. After some delay a strong Committee of twenty-five, known as " The Central Committee of Republicans and Independents," was ap- pointed. This Committee acted for the State and to some extent outside of its limits, especially in Indiana and Iowa. The campaign was opened by a great meeting, held in Chicago on September nth, which was addressed by Mr. Schurz, and which produced a marked effect. Mr. Schurz also addressed successful meetings at Rockford and Bloomington. On September i2th the Committee opened head- quarters at the Palmer House, and began the issue of documents. Two addresses (25,000 copies each), an analysis of the Mulligan Letters (23,000), and the speech by the Rev. James Freeman Clarke (20,000) were issued. In all at least 200,000 documents were circulated, most of which were sent directly to individual voters. The enrolment in the State exceeded 16,000, most of whom were known to be Inde- pendent Republicans. The expenditures were about $2300, all of 13 which was expended in documents, postage, rent, and clerk hire. A very successful meeting was held late in the campaign in Chicago, at which the speaking was by members of the Committee. Speakers were also furnished for a considerable number of smaller meetings at other places. The results show a majority of 2269 for Mr. Elaine against 13,762 for Mr. Garfield, and a reduction of the party's plurality of 47,000 (on the basis of the vote of 1880, and including the increased vote) to 25,000. This was accomplished in the face of a Democratic loss of from 12,000 to 15,000 votes, chiefly Irish. A large part of the Prohibition vote of 12,074 consisted of Independents who declined to go so far as to support Democratic candidates. It is estimated that at least 20,000 Independents voted directly for Mr. Cleveland, and that there were probably 10,000 more who refused to support Mr. Blaine. In Wisconsin an efficient committee existed at Milwaukee, and several of Mr. Schurz's addresses in the early part of the campaign were delivered under its auspices. Mr. Elaine's majority was 2444 as against a majority for Garfield of 21,605. In Iowa an active and aggressive campaign was maintained. In many parts of the State the entire campaign was in charge of Inde- pendent Republicans working in harmony with the Democrats. Late in the campaign a State Central Committee was organized, making headquarters at Des Moines, and having a representative from each Congressional district. This Committee had its representatives in the several counties of the State. From this time an active and organized effort was maintained until the end of the campaign. Over 50,000 copies of an address to voters in the tate were sent out, be- sides as many more documents from the National Committee. The majority for Blaine proved to be 18,311 as against a Garneld ma- jority of 44,789. The Committee was much embarrassed by the lack at the begin- ning of the campaign of sufficient funds or assurance of funds to plan adequately for the work which it saw before it. As election day approached, and public interest was heightened, a reasonable amount of solicitation, the appeals of the Evening Post and other journals, the help of the Boston and Philadelphia committees, and an increasing flow of small voluntary subscriptions, gave the Com- mittee all the funds it then needed ; but the embarrassment during 14 the summer prevented much work which should have been done, and which, if done, would, for instance, have increased the majority in New York by several thousand votes. Money given or pledged at the start of such a movement is worth ten times that which comes toward the end of a campaign. When the public interest is stimu- lated by the results of work already done, the opportunity for much of the most effective and important work will have disappeared. The Committee was most anxious in the early part of the summer to send at least two representatives throughout the State of New York and thence West, but it did not feel justified in undertaking that expense. Later on two gentlemen from Massachusetts, Mr. George G. Wright and Mr. Archibald M. Howe, volunteered for organizing work in Ohio and adjacent States, and the results of their mission showed how much more could have been accomplished if means had been earlier assured. The final financial exhibit made public in accordance with a vote of the Committee at the beginning of the campaign, in the belief that publicity of accounts is one of the most important of the reforms in political management proves, however, that the American people, once their interest is awakened, are perfectly willing to give adequate popular support, to political work, and that political organizations can be maintained without resort to political assessments, upon which the Elaine Republicans, despite their professions of civil service re- form, endeavored to rely. The total receipts of the National Com- mittee were $23,836. 17, and the expenditures are detailed in the Treasurer's Report appended. The figures reported by other States of local receipts and expenditures indicate that the entire Independent campaign was conducted at an expense not much exceeding $50,000. The publication of the second series of Mr. Elaine's letters by Mr. Mulligan and Mr. Fisher was perhaps the most important feature of the early part of the campaign. After Mr. Schurz's Brooklyn speech, word was received that important further information might be forth- coming from Mr. Mulligan, who felt that he was entitled to make a true statement of Mr. Elaine's railroad transactions, in correction of Mr. Elaine's statements during the investigation of 1876, and that the duty of a further exposure of Mr. Elaine's methods was incumbent upon him. A member of this Committee spent some time in Boston, and with the co-operation of several of the Independents there, arranged for the publication of what were afterward know as the second Mulli- 15 gan letters. These were selected from an immense mass of corre- spondence, among which were still other letters which would have thrown still more light on the original series of letters and on Mr. Blaine's transactions in general. It is due to Mr. Mulligan and Mr. Fisher to state that these letters were made public without any con- sideration, present or future, of any kind whatever, but simply as a matter of public duty. In addition to the material furnished by Mr. Mulligan and Mr. Fisher, the Executive Committee received almost daily fresh informa- tion as to Mr. Blaine's use of his political position for private gain, which confirmed the evidence of these letters, and which frequently accounted for the opposition to Mr. Elaine developed here and there in unexpected quarters. Some of these developments were printed in the daily press, but for the most part it was found either that those having evidence feared to make it public, in view of possible revenges in case of Mr. Blaine's success, or that, although morally sufficient, the evidence could not, in the haste incident to a vigorous campaign, be given in satisfactory legal or public shape. The Com- mittee was also largely influenced by the consideration that the evi- dence already made public was amply sufficient to justify the opposi- tion of honest and patriotic citizens to Mr. Blaine, and that it was more important to circulate widely the facts already proved than to add to their volume. The proof that the series of attacks upon other Republican leaders in the Tribune of 1880 had been written by Gail Hamilton from under Mr. Blaine's roof, and indorsed by Mr. Blaine shamelessly declared by the Tribune to be a forgery bf the Times and the knowledge that there were other letters, as weh as the Harrington letter, showing Mr. Blaine's " lukewarmness" in 1882, lent additional support to the charges that Mr. Blaine's motion for the Credit Mobilier investigation was an early attempt to kill off his rivals within the party, and that even in matters of party loyalty no trust could be placed in his words or acts. The Committee early determined, in regard to the scandals affect- ing Mr. Blaine's private relations, that it would not countenance their circulation a course in which it had the example and support of Mr. Cleveland's own determination. On the other hand, the Blaine Republicans left no stone unturned to make the most of the scandals against Mr. Cleveland which they so industriously cir- i6 culated. The Committee was satisfied, from the direct and indirect evidence, that such use of the material was authorized either by Mr. Elaine or by those nearest to him in the conduct of his campaign. The first entrance of this matter into the canvass seemed to have been carefully planned with a view to the meeting of the Independent Conference, although it was only during the latter hours of that Con- ference that the material was brought to the notice of those taking prominent part in its deliberations, and then in such manner that its possible importance was overlooked. The original charge, about which was woven a tissue of sensational untruth, was soon followed by a network of scandals, to which representatives of this movement several times gave critical investigation, without finding any basis of fact. The leaders of the Independent movement did not feel that what of truth remained in the original charge would justify them in withdrawing from the campaign and acquiescing in the elec- tion by default of such a candidate as Mr. Elaine, or could make them in any sense apologists for sins against personal morality. It is un- doubtedly true, however, that the existence of this charge seriously jeoparded Mr. Cleveland's election, and lost him tens of thousands and possibly hundreds of thousands of votes. If there had been no possibility of such charges against Mr. Cleveland, his cause would have been assured almost without effort. If Mr. Elaine had been believed to be an honest man, he would have been President of the United States years ago. These two facts are sufficient answer to the allegation that the result of the campaign tended to obscure the importance of morality in private and public life. The Committee received many strong letters and personal appeals early in the campaign to take steps toward the nomination of a third candidate, who would fully and specifically represent a " conscience vote ;" but it felt that it could not advise its constituents to swerve from the original purpose of vindicating political reform by defeating Mr. Elaine. To have given any countenance to a " third party" move- ment would have been, as is now sufficiently proved, the best means of insuring his election. It was vitally necessary that destructive work should precede constructive. This is often the law of reform. The Committee kept carefully in mind, however, the fact that this movement was one of Republicans and Independents, and had no re- lation to the Democratic party as such ; at the same time the Com- '7 mittee recognized the advantage of frequent consultation with the members of the Democratic National and other Committees, with a view especially to such co-operation as would prevent the duplica- tion and waste of work. This relation was not, however, without its discouragements, and the designation of Ex-Senator Barnum as the Chairman of the National Democratic Committee was a serious blow to the cause represented by Mr. Cleveland, and doubtless did much to prevent as cordial and complete support as many anti-Blaine Republicans desired to give to the Democratic candidate. The result of the election justified the belief which had been held by the Committee, and on which it had based its work. It had been estimated before election day that in the State of New York, for instance, there were at least 60,000 Republicans who would vote against or who would not vote for Mr. Blaine. The Blaine managers undoubtedly expected to overcome this disaffection by winning over or tampering with the lower element in the Democratic vote, and there were many indications, aside from the election returns, which showed that they had been more successful in this direction than most observers had foreseen. Throughout the cities in New York State, for instance, it was very evident that the Blaine vote had fallen off largely in the Republican wards and increased astonishingly in the Democratic strongholds. The First and Seventh Wards of Brooklyn are typical cases. They had been strongholds of reform Republicanism, and par- ticularly of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club, but they reversed their pluralities of 547 and 411 for Garfield, to 498 and 237 for Cleve- land. The Twentieth Ward, another Republican stronghold, reduced the Garfield plurality of 1263 to a Blaine plurality of 605. On the other hand, of the strongly Democratic wards, the Second reduced the Hancock plurality of 1006 to 831 for Cleveland, the Fifth from 1785 to 1624, and the Twelfth from 2733 to 2450. In New York City the Seventh Assembly District, the Republican stronghold, reduced Garfield's plurality of 1610 to 261 for Blaine ; and the Twenty- first, another strong Republican district, became Democratic in 1884, giving Cleveland a plurality of 561 in place of Garfield's plurality of 1109. The Democratic districts show the contrary result, the First giving a Democratic plurality of 3356 in 1880, and only 2188 in 1884 ; the Second of 3961 against 3131 ; the Fourth of 5107 against 3932 ; the Sixteenth of 3377 against 2601, and the Eighteenth of 3843 against i8 3441. Similar results are shown in the distinctively Democratic and Republican divisions in other cities and other localities in the State. In other words, the Elaine campaign had repelled from the Repub- lican ranks a great body of the reform element, and had obtained from the Democratic ranks a considerable measure of its most objec- tionable vote. In this critical situation the election of Mr. Cleveland was a necessary rebuke to the most dangerous demagogic combina- tion this country has seen. There is some reason to believe that this political change was the result of a deliberate determination to divide the Irish or rather the Catholic vote more evenly between the two parties, and that information of this intention coming to Mr. Elaine early in the year was one of the causes which changed his original opinion that he could not be elected if nominated. The closeness of the final result not only in New York, but in so many other States, was, on the whole, useful. It has shown once for all how one man's voice and one man's vote and one man's work counts even among ten millions of voters. The trust of a vote is one which no man can put aside by a mere refusal to go to the polls, and it will probably be long before this lesson is forgotten. The victory was obtained, not as the result of one year's work, or by the efforts of any one set of people, but as a result of the political education in which so many have been co-operating in recent years, and by the active help of many who did not, as well as those who did, appear publicly in the canvass. It has been a splendid proof of the important fact that, in the darkest days of political corruption, party tyranny and moral depression, there exists in the American people a reserve power, capable of organizing itself without the aid of and indeed against polit- ical leaders, competent to accomplish the most difficult undertakings in political reform. The first result of the election is found in the satisfaction of a large body of Republicans who voted, although under protest, for Mr. Elaine, with the proof that the country is not lost because of the election of a man of another part)' to the headship of the nation ; and the astonishing bitterness of the Elaine Republi- cans since election day has shown that this lesson has been taught none too soon. The country is safe, not because this party or that party is at the head of administration, but because the people at large are still ready to rebuke corruption, by whatever party name it calls itself. The superstition of the danger from the solid South seems 19 likely to go with this other superstition, and it is not improbable that one of the most wholesome results of the election will be the differen- tiation of political opinion in the South, now that the heavy hand of the Republican leaders, so-called, is taken off. This Committee would especially emphasize to educated voters the important responsibility which rests upon them of organizing, when occasion requires, to call out the full vote, and particularly to outbalance any influence of the purchasable vote. An experienced politician in the State of New York estimated during the last campaign that there were usually 50,000 purchasable votes in the State of New York alone, quite sufficient to control the result at most elections, but for the fact that, when bought, they are bought almost equally by the two political parties. The results of more than one election have shown, nevertheless, that the balance of power is held not by this class, but by the educated vote, when it is led to put forth its strength on the clear issue of honesty against corrup- tion. The still more striking fact, that the election of any given year, in a given State, depends in a very large measure upon the bringing out of the total vote, is too often lost sight of. The census of 1880 showed that there were in the United States 12,830,349 mates of vot- ing age, or almost exactly one fourth of the entire population. This number in 1884 must have approximated 14,000,000. The total vote was in 1880 9,219,947, and in 1884 10,067,610. It is true that this apathy exists in much larger proportion in those States where the majority of either party is so large as to offer no inducement of prac- tical effect to the individual voter, which would in great measure ac- count for the somewhat larger proportion of political apathy at the South than in the North. But in New York State, out of a popula- tion of voting age which was in 1880 1,408,751, and must have been in 1884 over 1,550,000, only 1,105,826 votes were cast in 1880 and 1,171,263 in 1884. In New York City out of 240,906 voters who actually registered in 1884, only 227,847 voted for President, and in Brooklyn out of 127,004 registered, only 119,496 voted. The most surprising results, however, are shown in Massachusetts, which had in 1880 a population of 502,648 males over twenty-one. The total vote was but 282,512 in 1880 and 303,381 in 1884. In addition to the number of insane persons, paupers, persons confined in prison or otherwise disfranchised by their condition, and to the considerable 2O number of unnaturalized foreign laborers resident in that State, as in other States, Massachusetts reduces her vote by an educational and poll tax limitation on the right of suffrage which has not saved that commonwealth from the most flagrant demagogery. But all these considerations together are not sufficient to account for the extraordinary fact that in the State whose name is a synonym for education two males of voting age out of five did not vote. It is evident that in almost every State, the proportion which does not vote is sufficient to decide any election, and the responsibility of calling out this vote, or at least of seeing that it is not called out ex- clusively by the other side, remains with the educated and reform class. The table appended suggests important conclusions on this point. In Indiana, on the contrary, out of a male population of vot- ing age which was 498,837 in 1880, 470,672 votes were cast in that year and 494,774 votes in 1884. These figures, after making deduc- tions for the insane, etc., and additions for the growth of population, are so close as to suggest extensive fraud in the way of repeating, and ought to be carefully considered by the citizens of that State. The day of election was succeeded by several days of intense strain, during which, partly owing to the course of the Tribune and the Associated Press reports, the country was kept in doubt as to the actual result in the State of New York. In view of the determina- tion of the Elaine Republicans to leave no stone unturned to show a majority in the State for Mr. Elaine, and of the consequent popular excitement in New York City, the Executive Committee was during those days in almost constant session. It sent telegrams almost hourly to different parts of the country assuring its correspondents of Mr. Cleveland's election, but it refrained from making any public expression of its firm opinion that Mr. Cleveland was elected, in the belief that emergencies might arise in which its help could be the more effective because of its previous silence. The Committee de- precated all violence of word or action, and exerted its influence to quiet rather than to stimulate public apprehension. Immediately after the result of the election became settled the Ex- ecutive Committee was brought face to face with the question of the future work of the Independents. In Massachusetts, where the work of local organization had been carried out more fully than in any other State, the pressure from the many local associations induced 21 the Committee of One Hundred at Boston to call a meeting, at which an elaborate report was presented, stating the grounds of dissatisfaction with both parties and providing for a continuance of the Independent organization in much the same shape as before, with the announced purpose of calling a State Convention should that course prove to be desirable. The action of the Republican Gen- eral Committees and of many of the ward associations of New York City and Brooklyn, in expelling from their ranks Republicans who did not vote the Presidential ticket, also precipitated the question, and in Brooklyn a plan was presented by a sub-committee of the General Committee of One Hundred looking toward the reorganization of Independent Republicans in that city. The sentiment of the Com- mittee of One Hundred was, however, adverse to reorganization at the present time, and the question was deferred. It was, nevertheless, generally agreed that the work before the reform element is by no means completed in the election of the reform candidate. Such action on the part of the managers of the Republican organization as the expulsion of those who did not vote the Presidential ticket, show that the Republican organization is still blind to the real mean- ing of the election. On the other hand, Independents are scarcely willing to ally themselves definitely with the Democratic party, at least until it is seen whether the admirable sentiments expressed by Mr. Cleveland in his civil service reform letter can be practically car- ried out by the aid. of that party. The whole question before In- dependents is whether they can accomplish further reforms better by remaining within the Republican party, where at present they are not wanted, or by allying themselves with the Demociatic party, or by taking steps to repeat, under other circumstances, the recent use of the balance of power vote. The decision of the National Committee, at the meeting held in New York, January, 1885, to continue the present organizations in statu quo> leaves this question to be deter- mined by the events of the future. On some of the questions before the country, the men who have so far been working together in this movement entirely agree. On others it is possible they may agree only to differ. There are certain questions, particularly as to political methods, on which there can scarcely be more than one opinion. It is evident that there is still a great work of political education to be done in this country 22 before the great body of individual voters are taught to look rather to patriotic than to party ends. Congress needs to be taught by an alert and persistent public opinion that it must attend to the busi- ness of the country instead of wasting time in making party capital or in personal altercation, and must modify its rules, if need be, to accomplish that end. Democratic Congresses so far have shown a record of do-nothing-ism scarcely more creditable than were some of the performances of the Republican Congresses under the leader- ship of Keifer and his predecessors. The Presidential count and the question of the electoral college are problems which press for immediate solution. The civil service reform agitation, which has made such extraordinary progress, needs to be kept active until the system is thoroughly accepted in the nation and in each of the States. Independents have still much to do in promoting adminis- trative progress in these directions. There is one specific administrative reform to which the attention of Independent citizens may be especially called. The election machinery must of course vary according to the election laws of each State, but in every case the State authorities are obliged to provide most of the machinery for collecting and recording the votes. The present system of ballots varying as they do from the large sheet, on which the name of each candidate to be voted for is placed, used in Massachusetts and other States, to the seven or eight small bits of paper used at each election in New York for different classes of officers is objectionable, as it opens a wide door to corruption and fraud outside of the great money loss involved in the waste of ballots. The cost of printing ballots and manning the polls with distributors is one of the largest elements of expenditure in almost every political campaign, and one result is the great difficulty in running any third candidate without the machinery and outlay almost impossible to provide in a first cam- paign. The counterfeiting of ballots, so as to cause the voter to cast his ballot unwittingly for one or two names interpolated on a regular ticket, is a very common fraud which strikes a vital blow at the right of suffrage. One example of an attempt at this on a large scale may show the extent of this particular danger. In the Independent Repub- lican campaign in 1879 in New York, the election laws made it neces- sary to join with the " scratched" State ticket the names of certain local officers in New York City, including coroners. A candidate 23 for Coroner, whose name was not on the ticket printed, endeav- ored to bribe the keeper of the building in which the ballots were stored between the printing and the day of election, to deliver to him the whole quantity, which he intended to replace with a similar ballot, substituting his own name for some other on the ticket. Had it not been for the honesty of the person approached, it is quite possible that the substitution could have been effected and the ballots used at the polls without suspicion of the change. It is a question worth serious consideration whether the provision of ballots by the election authorities at the time and place of voting, including the names of all candidates for each position, and giving also the fullest opportunity for individual choice, would not be a measure of political reform which would produce results altogether disproportionate to the simple nature of the change. A law embodying this reform, on the plan used in Australia, has been introduced into the Michigan Legislature since the beginning of the new year. There is one political principle on which Independents fully agree, that party, old or new, should be the means of expressing the voice of the people, and not the means of stifling public opinion. Should a new party arise, a fundamental principle of its organization would necessarily be the right of the individual to his vote, to his voice, and to his conscience, within the party as well as at the polls. The whole philosophy of political parties is well summed up by Dr. Draper in his " Intellectual Development of Europe," when he says of parties : " Their value increases in proportion as they permit or encourage the natural tendency for development to be satisfied." In other words, political parties must face the future, not the past ; and if neither of the existing parties is able or willing to do this, it is certain that from the power of self-organization, which is proved by the history of this campaign to be a characteristic of the American people, there will arise a new party to answer to the new development of the nation. HORACE E. DEMING, GEORGE WALTON GREEN, R. R. BOWKER, for the Executive Committee. NEW YORK, February, 1885. NATIONAL COMMITTEE of Republicans and Independents Appointed by the Conference at New York, July 22d, 1884. GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS, Chairman. GEORGE WALTON GREEN, Secretary. William H. Forbes Mass. Samuel Hoar " George V. Leverett... " Phineas Pierce " Joseph H. Walker " Winslow Warren " *Samuel R. Honey R. I. *Benjamin F. Thurston " C. P. Armstrong Conn. Simeon E. Baldwin " H . W . Farnam " Theodore Bacon N. Y. R. R. Bowker '. . " John H. Cowing. " Ethan Allen Doty " GEORGE W. FOLSOM, Treasurer. Horace E. Deming N. Y. Charles P. Miller Carl Schurz " Simeon Huntington N. J. W. G. Peckham Daniel Drake Smith " Joseph Parrish Penn. Francis B. Reeves Stuart Wood " *L. Jesse P. Bishop Ohio. *L. B. Swift Ind. James F. Claflin 111. *Edwin B. Smith " *F. E. Cruttenden la. *N. S. Mutphy Wis. * Elected by Executive Committee. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. HORACE E. DEMING, Chairman. \ R. R. Bowker N. Y. Ethan Allen Doty George W. Folsom Felix Kaufman Lawrence Kneeland Charles P. Miller. . GEORGE WALTON GREEN, Secretary'. Stephen H. Olin N. Y. W. H. Forbes Mass. George Fred. Williams " Morris F. Tyler. ... Conn. Herbert B. Turner N. J. Stuart Wood Penn. 2 5. 1 * 3, ? 2 H 2. " >-* < -" - < y ^ 5. M = 2, S" ' ' ' 'o Merchant Cleveland Stock Exc o o I '< 1. s" ff < 3 < * S -. 2 o-o ; 3 = 3 r " o f O S es 1 H -. O. O s; - w 2 ii* 5 M o o .. n - -t 3 Jj* 3 Ov 7' J ** < / n * 3 O 5: rf 1* 5-1 51 < : Statt and L IONAL C s | J |l ;! I ** 1 O ? H I I ^2-2 - S f " ~ I ?"[* 80 o* p O Q O tn OO OO O u> O O O O M 'oo M Ci 'u C W M O O o\ ^- ^ M o> 00 O\ C J -J Ul 01 C too oo 8v| M 3 8 8 r s BO^- 3 8 ? B H s P) ^ O | jo . M f ! S2 S ///jf /'cJ/. n, thus requiring a force of about forty cler is open to their inspection at the office o GEORGE V imp.iiiyiug the above report, and made r.irrl \V. ' Printing documents, slips, etc ' Rent of hills for public meetings ' Postage, stamped envelopes, wrappers, et ' Translating speeches ' Travelling expenses ' N. Y. City Committee ' New Jersey State Committee ' Agent of the Committee in Connecticut. ' Indiana State Committee Balance . ' Office expenses, messenger service, telegr. i ' Stationery ' Salaries of clerks, stenographers, type- etc... Co/rrt. ' Rent... 3LICANS AND INDEPENDEN1 'anuary 12, 1885. ks. f the Treasurer, in Temple /. FOLSOM, Treasut-fr. ul comparison of tlie same, K. CANKll N. \\ II Ml U W M O ^ O f CttjJ^-Ks M 00 Iji ~^ * w Q. < 9 ! < i 5 : j 3 Ok * O vl UI ./I U to 26 PUBLICATIONS ISSUED. No. i. Address of the Conference, 4 pp 75,ooo $128 50 No. i G. German Translation, 4 pp. 50,000 92 oo No. 2. Codman's Speech, 4 pp 75,ooo 128 50 No. 3. Schurz's Brooklyn Speech, 32 pp 200,000 2,071 oo No. 3 G. German Translation, 32 pp 75,ooo 864 co No. 4. Young Rep. Club Report, 16 pp 75,ooo 540 oo No. 5. " The Charges Swept Away," 4 pp 40,000 78 50 No. 6. Schurz's Reply to Hoar, 4 pp 75,ooo 108 oo No. 6 G. German Translation, etc., 4 pp 35>ooo 54 oo No. 7. Eggleston Letter, 4 pp 35,ooo 64 oo No. 8. Extract from Schurz's Cincinnati Speech, 4 pp. . . . 60,000 74 oo No. 8 G. German Translation, etc., 4 pp. .. 35.000 54 oo No. 9. James Freeman Clarke, 8 pp 200,000 52200 No. 10. Address, etc., 16 pp 593, 130 2,378 33 No. ii. Schurz on Pensions and M. Hale, 2 pp 50,000 36 oo No. 12. DeLeon's Foreign Policy of Elaine, 8 pp 25,000 80 co No. 13. Beecher's Speech, 8 pp 275,000 709 50 No. 14. Schurz's Wall Street Speech, 4 pp 50,000 143 70 Harper s Weekly Supplement, 4 pp 223,600 917 36 Pink Cards Pensions 50,000 104 oo Blue Cards Workingmen, etc 25,000 40 oo Pound Letter, 2 pp 50,000 59 oo Blaineism, 16 pp 15,000 155 oo Tariff Pamphlet (for N. J.) ( 4 pp 25,000 40 oo Beecher Circular 75,ooo 40 75 Financial Circular 100,000 150 oo Executive Com. Circular 250,000 290 50 Clergy Circular 10,000 15 oo To the Clergy 5,000 7 50 Blaine Record (Boston Com.), 68 pp 1,000 35 oo Elaine's Foreign Policy (Boston Com.), 69 pp. . . . 1,000 75 oo Conn. Documents, 4 pp 6,000 12 oo Evening Post Pamphlets 2,000 20 oo L. H. Bagg's Article, 2 pp 10,000 (giren.) Constitutional Amend. Ballots 350,000 ' i^o oo Presidential Ballots^ 750,000 300 oo 450,000 Circular Letters, Slips, etc., and Miscel- laneous Printing 877 n $11,404 25 CO 3 5 = *2! I * < 8 ! 3 : " ; *J^ c-^ CT B SH if M 1- o. 5 ' D. tfl - coco _ _-i ^ -| r UCSR