Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 January 1892 — CHICAGO GETS THE CON. [ARTICLE]

CHICAGO GETS THE CON.

the national committee so DECIDES. Tile Garden City the Place, and June 81 the Date Choaen—Many Cities Wanted It—How the Decision Was Reached— Party Leaders Satisfied. The Democratic Convention. The next Democratic National Convention will be held at Chicago on June 21. The date was fixed at an executive session of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, and after fourteen ballota the same committee selected the place. Eight cities had Eut in their claims as candidates for the onor, and two cities not candidates were voted for, one of the latter carrying off the prize. The result was a surprise to the friends of Chicago, since they had not sought the convention for their city, find had, indeed, tried to prevent its location there, fearing, as they did, that it might create antagonism and endanger the chances of the coveted World’s Fair appropriation. Still the statement was frequently repeated that Chairman Brice, Senator Gorman and other leading spirits of the committee were determined to locate the convention in Chicago for reasons best known to themselves, and that when the proper time came in the executive session of the committee during the balloting for location the vote would be forced to Chicago.

Whether this statement is true has not been thoroughly established, but the result tends to verify it, and it is furthermore certain that Brice, Gorman, and Hill are well pleased with the selection. When the committee went into executive session and began balloting, much to the surprise of everybody Kansas City led on the first ballot with 13 votes. Milwaukee and San Francisco had 10 apiece; St. Paul got 7; New York, 5; Cincinnati, 3; Indianapolis and Detroit, 2 each; and Chicago, although not a candidate, received 1. Kansas City lost one on the second ballotand Milwaukee gained two. their votes standing respectively 12 and 10. St. Paul’s voteremainedunchanged, and so did San Francisco’s. Cincinnati dropped to only one, and Chicago gained one. Indianapolis got three instead of two, New York was reduced to four and Detroit held her own with two. On the third ballot several complimentary votes went to San Francisco, running that city’s support up to fifteen. Chicago gained another one, and Kansas City lost seven, her vote being thus suddenly reduced to five. Milwaukee dropped to eight. St. Paul took third place with Cincinnati and got three, Indi napolis two and New Y’ork and Detroit only one apiece. The fourth ballot was about as badly scattered. St. Paul shot up to first place with thirteen votes and Milwaukee still held second, though she polled only eight. Indianapolis got seven, Kansas City six, Chicago and Detroit three each. San Francisco lost her complimentary votes, dropping to only two. New York got just one, as she did on the Drevious ballot.

On the fifth ballot Cincinnati took first rank with eleven votes and Kansas City and Milwaukee tied each other for second place with ten apiece. St. Paul had eight, a loss of five, New York got lour, and Chicago merely retained her three. Indianapolis dropped back to her original two, Detroit received just one and San Francisco went out of the race. On the sixth ballot Detroit was favored with a complimentary vote, or rather the committee continued its experiments in trying the strengtli of various cities. The Michigan candidate got nineteen votes in place of the modest one it had received on the previous ballot. Milwaukee went back to eight, but held second place, and St. Paul also lost two, taking third place with only six votes. Kansas City got five, New York and Indianapolis three apiece, and Chicago and Cincinnati two each, the latter city losing nine. Another experiment was tried on the seventh ballot, and Des Moines, which had not been announced as a candidate, was given seventeen votes, leading all the others. Milwaukee got back one of the votes she had lost and polled nine, and Kansas City gained two, getting seven. Four went to St. Paul, three each to Chicago and New York, two to Cincinnati, and one apiece to Indianapolis and Detroit. More experiments were tried on the eighth ballot, and the floating votes that had complimented Des Moines with their support deserted the lowa city for Indianapolis. The latter’s vote was suddenly increased from one to twenty-two. The Indiana shouters in the lobby obtside nearly went wild over the sudden prospects of success. Milwaukee’s vote was unchanged. Kansas City and St. Paul got five apiece, New York and Chicago had three each, as before, and Cincinnati and Detroit brought up the rear with one apiece.

On the ninth ballot Milwaukee got a boom. Its vote went up from nine to twenty, its highest previous vote having been ten. New York took a spurt to ten, Kansas City and St. Paul receiving six apiece; Chicago got four and Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Detroit one apiece. On the tenth ballot Milwaukee led again with eighteen votes and Chicago pushed up to second place, receiving thirteen votes. St. Paul got eight and Kansas City seven. Cincinnati dropped out of the fight and Indianapolis, New York and Detroit received one apiece. Indianapolis dropped out oh the eleventh ballot. St. Paul got only six and Kansas City three; New York and Detroit held their one apiece and the fight was between Milwaukee and Chicago. The Cream City felt pretty sure of the prize when its vote was announced as twenty-two, lacking only four of enough. But Chicago gained one more, scoringjourteen. The twelfth showed an increase of three for Chicago, her vote reaching seventeen, while Milwaukee still led with twenty. St. Paul still clung to her six, and Indianapolis, New York, and Detroit to their one apiece. Kansas City received three. The thirteenth ballot was about the same, Milwaukee gaining one and leading with twenty-one, while Chicago crowded her close with seventeen. Kansas City gained one from St. Paul, and New York dropped out; of the race. ‘ The contest was ended on the fourteenth ballot. Chicago’s vote ran up to twenty-seven, one more than was accessary, and Milwaukee lost three, scoring only eighteen. Kansas City got two and St. Paul two. The fight was over, and the city of Chicago had been awarded the convention. A tabulated statement of the various votes is as follows: o • • O Bxixors. J, JIM! § 111 glides Slag slljl t& first 187223 13 58.. Second 210 7 2 3 112 4 8.. Third........ 310 9 12 8 6 115.. Fourth 3 813 3 7 6 6 1 2.. Fifth ..... 310 8 1 21110 4 ..;.. Sixth 2 8 619 3 2 6 3 .'. .. Seventh 59411873 ..17 Eighth.... 396122151.... Ninth 420 6 1 1 1 610 .. .. Tenth ....13 18 8 1 1.. 7 1 .. .. Eleventh. 1X22 6 1 1 .. 3 1 .. .. Twelfth 17,26 S 1 1.. 3 1.. .. Thirteenth 17 21 5 1 1 .. 4 •Fourteenth 2211 3 1 .. .. 2 Fifteenth *7lB 1 1 .... 8 .. ..