John H. Landis for Pennsylvania State Senator, 1888

"For state senator, 1888: John H. Landis, of Manor Township. Subject to Republican rules. 'A fraud in the count is the destruction of Republican government.'--James G. Blaine."

John H. Landis, from Manor Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, used this card when he ran for state senator in 1888. He quoted James G. Blaine, a Republican party leader who was the unsuccessful presidential nominee in 1884. Blaine was nicknamed the "Plumed Knight," and it's likely that the feather, or "plume," on the card was a reference to Blaine.

Interestingly, commentary on the front page of the Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, March 19, 1888, specifically mentioned this card:

"Candidate Landis got a good bit of cheap advertising as the prosecutor of the Indiantown and Sixth Ward election boards and the discussion of the cases has caused him to be known in every household of the county as the champion of a fair election and honest return. His campaign card bears on it a white plume and this extract from one of Blaine's speeches, 'A fraud in the count is the destruction of Republican government.'... If Landis gets the vote in this city his friends look for, he will pull through."

Landis lost the election to the incumbent, State Senator Amos H. Mylin.