Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White — Volume 1White, Andrew Dickson
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Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White — Volume 1
White, Andrew Dickson
Cornell University; Diplomats -- United States -- Biography; White, Andrew Dickson, 1832-1918
Mr. Fassett was nominated, and I do not know that I
have ever received a message which gave me a greater
sense of relief than the telegram which announced this fact
to me.
As regards the inside history of the convention, Professor
Jenks of Cornell University, a very thoughtful
student of practical politics, who had gone to Rochester
to see the working of a New York State convention, told
me some time afterward that he had circulated very freely
among the delegates from various rural districts; that they
had no acquaintance with him, and therefore talked freely
in his presence regarding the best policy of the convention.
As a rule, the prevailing feeling among them was
expressed as follows: ``White don't know the boys; he
don't know the men who do the work of the party; he
supports civil-service reform, and that means that after
doing the work of the campaign we shall have no better
chance for the offices than men who have done nothing--in
fact, not so good, perhaps, as those who have opposed
us.'' No doubt this feeling entered into the minds of a
large number of delegates and conduced to the result.
A few weeks afterward Mr. Fassett came to Ithaca. I
had the pleasure of presiding and speaking at the public
meeting which he addressed, and of entertaining him at
my house. He was in every way worthy of the position
to which he had been nominated, but, unfortunately, was
not elected.
Having made one or two speeches in this campaign, I
turned to more congenial work, and in the early spring
of the following year (February 12 to May 16, 1892)
accepted an election as non-resident professor at Stanford
University in California, my duty being to deliver a
course of twenty lectures upon ``The Causes of the French
Revolution.'' Just as I was about to start, Mr. Andrew
Carnegie very kindly invited me to go as his guest in his
own car and with a delightful party. There were eight of
us--four ladies and four gentlemen. We went by way of
Washington, Chattanooga, and New Orleans, stopping at
each place, and meeting many leading men; then to the
city of Mexico, where we were presented to Porfirio Diaz,
the president of that republic, who seemed to be a man of
great shrewdness and strength. I recall here the fact that
the room in which he received us was hung round with
satin coverings, on which, as the only ornament, were the
crown and cipher of Diaz' unfortunate predecessor, the
Emperor Maximilian. Thence we went to California, and
zigzag along the Pacific coast to Tacoma and Seattle;
then through the Rocky Mountains to Salt Lake City
meeting everywhere interesting men and things, until at
Denver I left the party and went back to give my lectures
at Stanford.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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