contests; while the character of Har- to Harrison's candidacy by dwelling upon rison's canvass as a shouting campaign his victory at Tippecanoe. One medallist managed to combine on the Campaign of 1848. is shown by the inscriptions on the Harrison medals. Patriotic mottoes and extracts from public utterances of the candidate are not to be found. Instead of these we have, with the log-cabin and hard-cider designs referred to, mere catch-words, which seem to have been caught up by the medallists as they fell from the lips of heated partisans. Certainly no stroke of statesmanship is recalled by the exclamation "Go it, Tip! Come it, Tyler," found on one of the Harrison medals (9); nor any indication of the candidate's policy conveyed by the cries Tippecanoe and Tyler too!"-"The Log Cabin Candidate, the People's Choice" (13), which are conspicuous on others of the series. Political sentiments are as much wanting as they were in the first set of Jackson medals. Then, too, there is medallic evidence that the Whigs trumped the political trick with the very card-military successwhich the Democrats had played successfully in 1828, for they gave impetus reverse of a small piece the symbols of Harrison's military glory and agricultural virtue with a humorous fling at the adversary. The design shows a pair of scales, one of which is branded "Loco," the other "Wigs," the latter, though it lacks one letter, outweighing the former. Beneath are the cabin and the barrel, a cannon, a pyramid of balls, and in the distance a file of soldiers, one of whom bears a standard. The contemptuous "Loco Foco" is again applied to Harrison's opponent in a rare little brass medal, issued by a medallist who evidently had a keen sense of humor. The design represents a steamboat flying a flag inscribed "1841," while the inscription tells us that the vessel is the "Steamboat Van Buren, for Salt River direct. Loco Foco Line" (15). medallist in the excitement of the campaign forgot his grammar and flooded the community with this announcement on metal: "Honesty and Integrity will meet its just Reward!" Scott and Pierce Medals of 1852. Cne It seems to have occurred to political managers about this time that the "young man" might be turned into a concluding from this sally of wit that in the first "Young Men's" Convention there was not, as in many of the Young Men's conventions of to-day, a large contingent of bald pates and gray heads. Van Buren's followers stood upon higher ground than Harrison's, and made their campaign one of principle. Financial distress had come down to their leader as a legacy of Jackson's attacks upon the United States Bank. The crash came early in Van Buren's term. Two hundred and fifty business houses in New York suspended before he had been in office a month, and the losses in New Orleans aggregated during two days $27,000,000. Van Buren's statesmanship was during his entire administration directed toward the relief of this financial distress, his favorite measure being the establishment of an independent treasury for the custody of the public funds. This measure, which received the sanction of Congress in 1840, was the rallying cry of his partisans. Most of the Van Buren medals for this campaign contain references to his financial policy. The reverse of one shows a safe guarded by a watch-dog, and the inscription: "Sub-Treasury and Democracy (11). The Democrats appealed from popular clamor to the intelligence of the country. "The sober second thoughts of the People are O. K." says the inscription on one medal (14). Conspicuous in the design on the reverse of this medal is a safe, the inscription reading: "The Independent Sub-Treasury. The Choice of the People." Though Van Buren was defeated, time has vindicated his policy, for the independent treasury system is still in force. Thus the medals relating to the campaign of 1840 show the policies of the Democrats and their opponents to have been exactly the often in a republic as in a monarchy medium-sized bronze piece, dated 1838, the man on horseback draws all eyes which in the light of subsequent events from the man afoot. Adams and did not, as son, appear upon political campaign medals in regimentals and astride a prancing steed. Am I exaggerating in saying that in the series of political campaign medals our historians have ready to hand a philosophy of history wrought in metal? Into this campaign the slavery question entered for the first time as a disturbing element. On this question the two great parties had effected a has a deep significance. It evidently commemorates the organizing of the Liberty Party. On the obverse is a female slave kneeling and holding up her shackled arms, her hands clasped beseechingly. "Am I abolition of slavery became the principle Garfield Medal of 1880. |