He had the river wards behind him to a man, and he had the upland townships where the farmers needed a second name on their notes at the bank; and in the gentleman's ward--the silk-stocking ward--he had Gabriel Carnine, chairman of the first ward delegation, casting the solid vote of that ward for Bemis ballot after ballot.

And when Bemis got Minneola township for fifty dollars,--and everybody in the convention knew it,--he was declared the nominee of the party with a whoop.
But behind Bemis was the sinister figure of young John Barclay working for his Elevator Company.

He needed Bemis in politics, and Bemis needed Barclay in business.

And there the alliance between Barclay and Bemis was cemented, to last for a quarter of a century.

Barclay and Bemis went into the campaign together and asked the people to rally to the support of the party that had put down the rebellion, that had freed four million slaves, and had put the names of Lincoln and of Grant and Garfield as stars in the world's firmament of heroes.