CARL SCHURZ'S POLITICAL CAREER
that enlisted the serious attention of the Liberal group. Charles Francis Adams, Jr., wrote Schurz on June 28th that Ohio was where “our battle for '76 is to be lost or won,” and deplored the absence of the leader from the country. “I do verily believe,” Adams continued, “that if you could be turned into Ohio this year with Grosvenor as your lieutenant to organize the Independent vote … a wholly new face would be put on the relations of parties to public questions in the conflict of next year.” The thought was taken up by Halstead and Nordhoff at a conference in Cincinnati. They wrote identical notes in July, urging Schurz to return in time for the campaign. The Democrats had renominated Governor William Allen and had pushed to the front as the chief issues inflation and the repeal of the Resumption Act. Rutherford B. Hayes was the Republican candidate and stood stoutly for resumption and hard money. Adams renewed his urging that Schurz should take a hand in the contest, declaring that Allen's election would be a shocking blow to the Liberal cause. “The weapon with which to kill him is the German vote; it is the only effective weapon at hand, and you are its holder. You must come back in time to strike in just at the close, with all the freshness and prestige of your recent German reception.” Several prominent Ohio Liberals added their entreaties to those of his more intimate friends, and Mr. Schurz, wholly in sympathy with their purpose, curtailed his vacation and reached home in the middle of September.
He went promptly to Ohio and spoke frequently in both German and English, in support of Hayes. But he took great pains to emphasize his detachment from both parties, confining himself in his speeches to the money question and avoiding personal relations with the candidate whom he was supporting. Hayes was elected by a small majority. “I got home this
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