CARL SCHURZ'S POLITICAL CAREER
Mr. Hayes not unnaturally took a different view of the situation, and all the strength and pertinacity of Mr. Schurz's representation were of little avail. Theoretically he may have liked Schurz's beneficent policy, but he could not leave out of account the party and its actual leaders although they might merit disparagement. On September 15th, Hayes wrote: “. . . the canvass daily brings to the front more and more as the two leading topics, the danger of the united-South victory, and the Tilden record as a reformer.” In accordance with this feeling the candidate gave his whole support during the last six weeks of the campaign to a policy of exploiting Southern horrors and “viewing with alarm.” Schurz, however, firmly adhered to his own chosen method of promoting the Republican cause. He alone of the leading speakers on that side subordinated the Southern question and put stress on that of administrative reform, as the ground for supporting Hayes and Wheeler.
In the exciting controversy that attended the disputed counts in three Southern States and Oregon, Mr. Schurz had little part. His arduous labors in the campaign were followed by another protracted period of lecturing. Even if he had been free from the demands of this private occupation, he would hardly have found a useful place in the complexities of the times. If he had assumed the functions of “visiting statesman,” he would probably have fared like General Barlow, in Florida—flouted and ostracized by his associates for manifesting an open mind and a judicial spirit. The situation demanded the most intense partisanship, and this Schurz could never have supplied. He sought to influence Hayes in his attitude toward the contest, but the influence of others was triumphant. Especially in respect to Louisiana and its unsavory returning board, Schurz had formed during his sena-
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