rebels, were fully commented upon, as were the outrages
committed upon freedmen during the second administration of General
Grant, the organization of Ku-Klux Klans, and the White League,
and the boldness with which the laws were disregarded in the south.
It is difficult now to realize the condition of public affairs in
all the states then lately in rebellion. The people of the south
are certainly entitled to the highest credit for the great change
that has recently been made in the government of their states, but
it cannot be denied that during the ten years after the war their
condition bordered on the despotism of mob rule and violence.
Financial questions, no doubt, entered into the canvass, but in
this respect Governor Tilden and Governor Hayes did not materially
differ, while public opinion in the southern states was almost a
unit in favor of the larger use of paper money. Their bankrupt
condition made this policy almost universal there.

I continued until the day of election to make speeches, not only
in Ohio, but in several of the states. I engaged in a joint debate
with Senator Voorhees, of Indiana, at Columbia City, in that state,
in September, which probably had more fun and humor in it than
argument. It so happened that appointments were made for each of
us at Columbia City, on the same day, and the managers of the two
parties concluded that they would have a joint debate, and arranged
for it, to which we both assented. There was a great crowd, and
besides Mr. Voorhees and myself, "Blue Jeans" Williams, the candidate
for governor, was to open the meeting in his peculiar way, to which,
as it would not at all interfere with our debate, I did not object.
The debate was fully reported in the Chicago "Inter-Ocean," and is
a very graphic specimen of popular debates in which each side claims
to be the victor. I think it would be safe to say that from the
close of Congress until the day of election I spoke on nearly every
week day in some one of the five or six states which I visited.

The result of the presidential election in November, 1876, was
extremely doubtful. It was soon asserted that the majority either
way would be very small, and that the probabilities were that Mr.
Tilden was elected. Zachariah Chandler, chairman of the national
Republican committee, however, confidently telegraphed, on the
morning after the election, that Hayes was elected by a majority
of one in the electoral college. Furthe