Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 3.djvu/307

Rh who may be called reform Republicans are to-day the same way. But for your letter of acceptance the defection would be very much larger and irremediable. But even now it is considerable enough, as I am very strongly convinced, to turn the election against us if it were to come off to-morrow.

What is the cause of this? You have probably followed the run of Democratic argument in the papers: “Governor Hayes's Administration will be but a continuation of Grant's. He owes his nomination to Conkling, Morton and Cameron, and they, of course, will remain the powerful men in the Government,” etc. That is the talk repeated in endless variations, and that sort of argument is not only believed by many outside of the Democratic party, so as to turn them that way, but it keeps a great many others in serious doubt as to what they will do. Grant is doing his very worst. He is making well-meaning people so angry that they say, this concern must be cleaned out at any cost. As things now stand, I think the best thing he could do for your success would be to come out straight against you. Then there are such things as the appointment of Chandler to the chairmanship of the National Committee, the acquittal of Belknap, the attempt of the Republican members of the House Committee to whitewash Robeson etc. You are loaded down with the discredit incurred by the Administration and the old party leaders, and unless that burden be removed, so that you can rest your case upon your own merits, you cannot win the election. The current which is now running against you cannot otherwise be turned. It has been very painful to me to come to such a conclusion, but I have actively participated in all the Presidential campaigns since the organization of the Republican party and have learned to read the signs of the times. But for your letter of acceptance the campaign would have become a complete rout.