The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 23, 1896, Page 1

VOLUME LXXX.—NO. 53. SAN FRANCISCO, THURSDAY MORNING, JULY 23, 1896. PEOPLE'S PARTY MEN BEGIN THE STRUGGLE, Opening of Their National Con- vention at Sultry St. Louis. MARION BUTLER TAKES THE CHAIR. Makes a Long Speech That Very Few Delegates Are Able to Hear, GENERAL WEAVER'S EFFORT3 FOR SECRECY. Tries in Vain to Assist the Demo- crats by Securing an Execu- tive Session. f CHAMPIONS OF TRUTH DEFIANT. Middle-of-the-Road Men Refuse to Surrender Their -Prin- ciple. TEXANS LEAD THE FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE. Simple but Patriotic Elcquence of Donneily in Pleading for the Party. “THE CALL'S” HEADQUARTERS, 2 HOTEL LINDELL, ST. LOUIS, Mo., July 22. 5 : The Populist and Silver conventions assembled in separate halls to-day, the silver men being united on the programme of indorsing Bryan. The appointment of the committee on credentials and the hearing of some long speeches frittered away the afternoon for the Populists. A violent thunderstorm came up about dusk and the lightning disarranged the electric light wires, so that the convention sat for an hour in the dark listening to the band play. General James B. Weaver of lowa is leading the Bryan forces with ability. Ignatius Donnelly of Minnesota made a masterly speech in which he advised adherence to principle, and expressed the hope that he was not there to attend the funeral of the People’s party. Marion Butler chairman. of North Carolina was chosen temporary During the afternoon recess the middle-of-the-road men organ- ized and decided that they will stand together. Populist leaders are moying heaven and earth to effect some kind of a fusion with the Democrats. To-morrow may-decide the fate of the People's party. REVIEWED BY COSGRAVE. The Appointment of a Committee on Credentials the Oniy Work Accomplished. Tae Carr’s Hmnqr:u-rms,} HorerL LINDELL, St. Louts, Mo., July 22 General J. B. Weaver of Iowa, he who | headed the Greenback ticket on its way to the cemetery, and whois evidently anxious earn his reward of thirty pieces of silver among the delegates urging the straight People’s party men to help the Democracy to another four-year lease of life, and he went 80 far in his sagerness to do the bid- ding of Democratic politicians that he sug- gested privately to the members of several delegations that they should demand an executiye session and to exclude all mem- bers of the press and every one else who is not a delegate. JOHN PAUL COSGRAVE. desiring secrecy that much could be ac complished if the friends of Mr. Bryan could quietly talk it over with the dele- gates. The news of this sewer work reached the ears of the reporters and they rose in their might with sharpened pencils and wrote severe things about the general. Some called him a trimmer, others a polit- ical shyster, and others a traitor. If it | were dignified journalism and 1 felt 1t my. and willing to perform the same last sad | rites for the People’s vparty, tried hard to | duty to call the general whatever name I thought might fit him a listle better than | his political record, I would rise to remark to-day. He was buzzing here and-there | thata man who would ask his party to abandon its platform and to nominate the offspring of a Democratic convention was a traitor to his party. But as it is not dignified to call names I shall not apply the term to the general. I simply pity him in his old age. Texas loped into the convention hall late to-day, its delegation having been in- creased from 95 to 103 by the National Executive Commiitee, that being the just When Jobn 8, Dore of Fresno heard of | apportionment of the State according to this he remarked that he did not propose ! the number of Populist votes cast by it at MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROADSTERS. These Are Representative Delegates Who Will Go Down to Death Rather Than Surrender the Principle of the People’s Party. to do any business in a People’s party con- vention with locked doors. 1t was follow- ing too closely after methods of unscru- nfi::ous politicians of the dominant par- General Weaver gave as his reason for the last election. Most of the delegates had retired late and awoke this morning red-eyed and early to talk politics, Four of .them, who slept on cots in.& room next to mine at the Hurst Junier Hotel, awoke me and the Governor of Nebraska and his DEMANDING SIXTEEN TO ONE. ’ PRICE FIVE CENTS. WILLIAM P. ST. JOHN., Permanent Chairman of the Silver Convention, Who Made an Earnest Appeal in Behalf - of the White Metal. staff at 4 o'clock this morning, talking Populism. Owing to the intense heat and sultriness of the weather such of the Texans and Col- oradoans who had inadvertently left their guns in the hotel safe on the night before took off their coats and vests and cooled their throbbing brows with palmleaf fans. They were indeed a picturesque crowd. They could not sit still a moment. Before the convention was called to order one of their number mounted & chairand made a speech, advising them to stick to principle and die in the last ditch if necessary. The opportunity to clear their throats with a coyote yell came when several | workmen proceeded 1o nail a large crayon portrait of Lincoln to the galiery. The portrait was framed In the stars and stripes, and when the. Texas men saw it they rose to it as & trout to a fly, and gave a whoop, followed by the blood-curdling bark of the coyote and the war-whoop of the Apache. They cheered the picture of honest old Abe again and again, did these men who wore the blue and gray for and | against him in the dark and terrible days of war and desolation. The past was for- gotten, and the loyal souls of Union and Confederate veterans broke forth in that hearty cheer. " Break such men a¢ these away from the middle of the road? Ah, no, General Weaver. Not even Cyclone Davis could do that. By the way, talking of ‘“Cyclone Davis,” I observed that he kept 150 feet distant from the Texans during all the proceed- ings. He occupied a seat on the platform beside his colaborer in the vineyard of political shame, General Weaver, and did not get near his colleagues. The reason for interposing a considerable wad of space between his tall figure and the 103 sunburned men from the Lone Star State was perfectly -obvious to the “Cyclone’ and no diagram was- required to explain it. In this morning’s Globe-Democrat appeared a sét of whereases and one reso- lution by the ‘‘Cyclone,”” the resolution being to the effect that it would be well to make some arrangement on Presidential Electors with the Democrats. As the *‘Cyclone,” like some others that I wos of, are pretending to be middle-of-the-road men, the effect of this proposition on the Texans may be easily imagined. *We will fix ‘Cyclone’ Davis, one of them this morning. That was a loyal and patriotic speech of Ignatius Donnelly of Minnesota. All who have read his ‘‘Atlantis” or “Cmsar’s Column” or *The Great Cryptogram,” will concede at once that he is a man of brain. A burst of general and spontaneous applause greeted his appearance. He isa very stout, short man, with the head of a Cmsar, round and very thick- from the nape of the neck to the chin. Itisa stub- born head, one you might expect to have butted into your stomach should you give it offense. It is a face denoting bulidog tenacity and fearlessness. A strong, assertive, bold and self-reliant visage, with the history of centuries of oppression and battlings written upon it. Yet there is nothing cross or ungentle about this man. He has the manners of a gentle- man, which he is, and the appearance of & student and a scholar, which the worid knows him to be. In a clear, high voice, and with an expression which left no doubt of his sincerity on the minds of his hearers, he made a speech which reached the yery center of their hearts, He pleaded with them to stand by the People’s party, and his plea was made with a simple eloquence that was tenfold more effective than if it were delivered with ali the Delsarte graces of the profes- sional elocutionist who talks that which he does not mean. Nor was it necessary for him to crucify a scarecrow on a gold brick to win the praise or sympathy of his hearers. Ireeard itasa great speech by a great man, for it is greatin its simplicity and earnestness, Marion Butler made a good speech which was heard by but few owing to the voor yoice and delivery of the gentleman from North Carolina. But Mr. Butler made the mistake of talking for about an hour and tiring that part of the conven- tion’ which could not hear & word of what he was saying. The temptation was too great for mortal man to withstand. . It was the opportunity ot his life and he ‘made the most of it, but he made lifelong enemies of the reporters. Mr. Butler re- * roared joices in the possession of a beantiful black bang, wbich arches over his brow like a cataract and hangs down with all the suggestiveness of a horse’s tail. He made several very brilliant Bryan efforts by pushing the bang back with his right hand and then flop it down again. This kind of hirsute calisthenic was variéd by a spasmodic pulling and clutching at his beard, which gave the gentleman a very Populistic appearance. Populists like good speaking and are responsive in sympathy to thoughts that burn and words that glow, and that is why during the whole of that tedious hour no -one was impolite enough to ¢ali; time on the happy Mr. Butler, who feit that he was making the great. speech 5f his life. For 2 similar reason, when a silver Demo- crat in the mask of a Populist called for three cheers .for Bryan, the convention hissed. The thunderstorm, it was said, was what interrupted the lighting of the con- vention hall this evening. The hall was full of delegates sitting in the dark, while dim tallow candles furnished by the tele- graph companies to the press threw a ghastly dirty yellow light into the dark- ness without penetrating it. The band played “Dixie” and the boys whooped and the might ended without anything | having been accomplished save the ap- pointment of the committee on creden- tials. Much bitterness exists between the mid- dle-of-the-road men and the Bryan Demo- cratic Populists. The first allege that their leaders have sold out. They also say that Thomas V. Cator of -California, General Weaver, Mrs. Mary E. Lease, Cyclone Davis, Taubeneck and others are working for Bryan. They are disgusted and some- thing hot will pop to-morrow. Jonx PAvL CosGRAVE. ot Cxc vy SPEECHES ARE THE ORDER. Many Pleas Made In the Conven tion for the Preservation of the People’s Party. ST. LOUIS, Mo., July 22.—The same uncertainty and confusion prevailed about the hour of meeting of the People’s party convention as about the various other matters connected with it. Ten o'clock, 11 and noon had been publiciy given out’ as the hour, with more or less apparent authority, At the éarliest of these points of timé there was not fifty delegates in the Convention Hall, and only a few solitary figures were to be seen scattered here and there thronghout the gatleries. An hour later there had been accessions that about doubled the number of people on the floor and in the galleries. The hall was prac- tically in the same condition as to arrange- ments and decorations that it was when the Republican convention assembled in it five weeks ago, except that the pictures of Washington, Grant, Sherman and others had been taken away, and that the place reserved for the chairman, secretaries and other officials and celebrities on the stage was absolutely unprovided with tables, chairs or any other part of the nec- essary outfit. The reason for this naked- ness in the most important and conspicu- ous place in the hali was past finding out. At 11:30 A. M. the first motion was made Continued on Third Page. SILVERITES SEEKING POPULISTIC SUPPORT, Their Convention Awaits the Report of the Committee on Conference. BRYAN AND SEWALL ARE POPULAR. | No Doubt as to the Indorsement of the Democratic Nomi- nees. PERSONALITY OF CHAIRMAN ST. JOEN Impresses People With the Candor of His Purpose and Advocates It Hearti'y. Horer LinpELL, St. Louts, Mo., July 22. The National Silver Convention was opened to-day without prayer. It is the only gathering of the kind that ever had the boldness to overlook the importance of the gospel in connection with convention pre- liminaries. The managers say it was sim- ply an oversight on their part. The op- position declares, however, that cham- pions of the white metal were fearful lest TrEE CALU's Hzmqmm-sns.} the exhorter of divine blessing might in’ the excitement of the moment dwell with unnecessary emphasis on the golden streets that are said to exist in another | and better land, to the exclusion of the paradise that is so cheerfully promised to | all who are now riding in the silver-plated chariot. - Anyway, there was no prayer and the absence of a representative of the cloth was generally commented upon. There will be a minister of the gospel on duty to-day, however, and the delibera- tions of the body will henceforth be punc- | tuated with prayer. The convention to-day was a representa- tive gathering of silver men. They were diletory In srriving and slow and stupid in their methods. They lacked the train- ing of the politician and statesman and looked and acted like a body of business men who were at sea as to haw they should proceed to carry out an arrangement which they had already agreed was wise and proper. All were of the same mind as to the indorsement of Bryan and 8ewall, but seemed timid as to what action the Popu- lists would take on the issme. Finally, aiter the permanent organization had been completed, a conference committee of one from each State was appointed, a letter was written to the Populists and all were measurably happy in the thought that at least one step had been taken in the right direction. Then the convention adjourned until to-morrow morning to await the action of the “Pops.” Francis G. Newlands of Nevada was temporary chairman of the convention. He appeared clad in a light suit of clothes, pink shirt. front and highly col- ored cravat. His eminently fashionable Bryan Pofiufiitsf‘ H’eadqfiamrs,at» 8t. Louis. 1 | | League. THE RELIGIOUS SERVICE OMITTED. First American National Gather- ing Ever Opened With- out Prayer. THAT MISTAKE IS ALREADY REMEDIED. President Cleveland Vigorously De. nounced by Advocates of Free Coinage. dress furnished a striking contrast to the plain, earnest miners whom he addressed. Newlands made an excellent speech, which was enthusiastically received by the assemblage. He was argumentative rather than eloguent, and reviewed quite extensively the complicated financial question, and championed the cause of silver with much earnestness and energy. His defense of the Democratic ticket was pronounced. William P. St. John of New York was made permanent chairman. His address was short but full of meat—from a silver standpoint. St. John is nothing if not honest. He impresses people with the candor of his purpose. There is no gauze to him. He tells you that he stands on a silver platform, and advocates his cause in a manner that is refreshing. The proceedings .of the convention to- day were not demonstrative. There were a few outbreaks of passion or enthusiasm, but on the whole the gathering was noth- ing less than a Bryan-Sewall love feast. Even Senator Teller of Colorado and Joseph C. Sibiey of Pennsylvania sent cheering messages to the silver wigwam. “The money question overshadows all others,” telegraphed Senator Teller. Mr. Sibley was no less outspoken. He favored the indorsement of the entire Democratic ticket. “Let the issue be squarely joined,” he wrote, ‘“and the verdict of the people recorded.” Cleveland was denounced as vigorously as Bryan was praised. The convention is of one mind. Itis blind to ali save the silver lining; it claims to see beyond the dark clouds of distress that now hang threateningly over the Nation. FraNE McGuIRE. — T DONE IN CONVENTION. A Committee Appointed to Urge the Populists to Nominate Bryan and Sewall. NATIONAL SILVER CONVENTION, ST. LOUIS, Mo., July 22.—The conditions governing entrance to the Silver Conven- tion to-day were almost as rigorous as at Chicago on the opening day of the Demo- cratic Convention, although the demands for admitiance were so few that at five minutes of 12 there was no one in the galleries but the band, and on the floor scarcely more than 200 persons, including visitors. Temporary Chairman Newlands and Representative Towne of Minnesota, one of the bolting Republicans, appeared and took seats on the. platform, accompanied by slight apolause. They were soon fol- lowed by W. P. St. Jéhn, the ex-New York National banker, slated for perma- nent chairman, who was not recognized by the people present. Among the delegates, who began to enter the hall in squads at noon, were a number of ladies, the Colorado delegation alone containing six. Their gowns were of the latest pattern and hats of the smartest variety. They occupied front seats. Senator Petticrew of South Dakota, another of the Republican bolters, arrived at 12:05 and joined Messrs. Newlands and 8t. John on the platform. At 12:15 Chairman Dr. Mott of North Carolina ana Secretary Keeney of Califor- nia arrived and at 12:30 Dr. Mott called the convention to order, announcine that the proceedings would be opened with the reading of the call for the convention, by J. M. Devine, secretary of the Bimetallic At this time there were probably 400 delegates in their seats and two scors spectators. At 12:35 Dr. Mott introduced Hon. Francis G. Newlands, representative in Congress from Nevada, as the temporary chairman, who addressed the convention as follows: Gentlemen of the Convention: In January last & conference of the leading bimetaliists of the country was held at Washington. The ex- pectation at that time was that both the Democratic and Republican parties would at the coming National conyentions either de. clare for the gold standard or would seek to deceive the voters by evasive platforms, and anticivating this the purpose of the conference was to inaugurate a new political movement for tne unification of the silver forces of the country regardless of former political affilia- tions. A National convention was called, and as the result of the organization which has since taken place in almost all the States of the Union the Nationel siver party¥meets to-day to determine what course will bestadvance the cause which we have at heart. The conventions of the old parties have been held and have made public declaration of their principles. The Revubli. can party has declared for the gold stand- ard. Practically this means gold ' mono. metallism, the system of finance inaugurated by Harrison and continued by Cleveland. Sil. ver is denied its iime-honored use as redemp. tion money, and has become simply the ma- terial upon which is stamped & good promise. and so our gree nbacks, our treasury notes and silver certificates, instead of being money, bave been turned into a gold debt, and the -} primary money of ihe country is confined te¢