Page:History of American Journalism.djvu/242

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three to twenty thousand dollars per year which Seward upon being elected Governor was handing out to his friends. In this he was disappointed: to quote his words, "I return to my garret and my crust."

In the Tippecanoe and Tyler campaign of 1840 known as the "Tip and Ty" campaign in the press the same political firm brought out another campaign paper on May 2, 1840, entitled The Log Cabin published simultaneously at New York and Albany. Of this sheet Henry Jarvis Raymond, when editor of The New York Times, once said, "It was the best campaign paper ever published." It was designed only for a campaign sheet and was expected to expire with the twenty-seventh number: forty- eight thousand of the first issue were sold and subscriptions came in at the rate of seven hundred a day. The Log Cabin, both by its caricatures and by its editorials, promoted the raising of log cabins, formally dedicated with plenty of hard cider, as political centers and headquarters for Harrison and Tyler men.

The Whig tornado, mentioned by Greeley, started with Jack- son's decision to remove the deposits of the Government from the Bank of the United States. Financial interests subsidized existing Whig organs and started new ones at strategic points. Democratic papers, alienated by Jackson, continued their op- position to his successor, Martin Van Buren. A group of papers, headed by The Enquirer of Richmond, was especially bitter toward Van Buren for not favoring the annexation of Texas and became even more violent in its denunciation when he accepted a nomination of a rival political organization. The sound money doctrines of Van Buren made the Whig campaign organs popu- lar with the masses which wanted "higher wages and lower prices" so readily promised by these sheets in case of victory at the polls. Log cabins were frequently erected to be used as print-shops and the office mascot was invariably a live raccoon chained to the front doorpost or to the rude chimney of the structure. The popularity of the log cabin was due to the fact that Harrison was not only born in one, but also had one attached his house. Rival campaign weeklies existed for the Democratic Party with names as peculiarly appropriate as The Log Cabin. Two favorites were The Coon Skinner and The