Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 June 1892 — CHICAGO CONVENTION. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CHICAGO CONVENTION.

THOUSANDS OF DEMOCRATS PRESENT. OWENS IN TOE CHAIR. HARMONY AND ENTHUSIASM PREVAIL. The Commodious Wigwam Packed to Its Fullest Capacity—Frightened by Thunder—Chairman Brice Calls the Gathering to Order—Temporary Officers. ■ First Day’s Proceedings. Chicago special: The National Democratic Convention ■was called to order at 12:45' Tuesday afternoon in the wigwam on the' Lake Front by Chairman Brice of the National Committee. Just after noon, before many of the delegates had arrived in the hall, a tre-

mendous thunderstorm burst over the city. The interior of the wigwam grew as dark as night, the canvas being let down over the upper windows. Thousands of people were already in the spectators’ seats, and as the lightning flashes lit up the gloom of the hall and the building shook in a heavy wind they became frightened and howled for lights. Then came a mighty fall of rain that drowned the voices of the people. The band began to play a lively air and the music speedily allayed the nervousness of the audience. Chairman tlrlco Enters. Chairman Brice and a bright ray of sunshine entered the wigwam together and both were greeted with hearty cheers. As Mr. Brice rose to request silence, he face 1 a mngnifieent scene. Twentythousand people fi led the immense building, gay with its fluttering bunting, Ahe bright colors of ladies’ dresses, and the bright bodges of the delegates and their accompaniment of marching clubs. Before him sat the representative men of a great party, the men who lead its battles, rejoice in its victories and mourn its defeats. There they spread in front of him, veritably a sea ,of faces which for the moment was bewildering in its vastness. Practiced speaker as he is, and used as he is to facing great meetings, Mr. Brice for a second .pr two showed that he is not insensible to the emotions of a supreme moment, ana was visibly moved as he to the front of the platform, after demanding silence, to present Rev. John Rouse, who offered prayer. At she close of his invocation the reverend gentleman recited the Bord’s prayer, in which he was audibly joined in several parts of the great convention hall. When prayer was concluded Chairman Brice suid: “Gentlemen of the convention, by direction of the National Committee tho Chair presents to

this convention as its temporary officers the gentlemen named in the list, which the secretary will read." Secretary Sheerin announced the temporary organization—W T ill lam C. Owens of Kentucky temporary Chairman; Secretary, S. P. Shoerin, of Indiana; assistant secretaries, W. If. Doyle, Pennsylvania; H. Shepard, Virginia; C. Tilley, Missouri; L. A. Rowley, Michigan; R. E. Wilson, Mississippi; C. R. Defreest, New York; J. C. Swayne, Illinois; Principal Reading Clerk, Nicholas M. Bell of Missouri; Sergeant-at-arms, Richard J. Bright of Indiana; official stenograper, Edward Dickinson, New York. The list was adopted without opposition, and the Chair appointed Charles Jewett of Indiana, Thomas Wilson of Minnesota, and Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois to attend Mr. Owens to the speaker’s chair. These gentlemen assembled in front of the platform and then proceeded down one of the side aisles to the place where the Kentucky delegation sat. Mr. Owens arose and walked up the aisle with the committee. When they appeared on the platform the convention applauded, and the applause was renewed when Chairman Brice announced that he had the “honor and pleasure” of presenting-to the convention its temporary Chairman. Mr. Brice retired, leaving the space in front of the Chairman’s desk to Mr. Owens. After bowing to the applause with which he was greeted, Mr. Owens, in a good voice, addressed the convention. Chairman Owens’ Speech. Gentlemen of the Convention: Two great dangers menaoe the Democratic party. ne is external, the other internal. The first is the organized machinery of -organized capital, supported by the whole power of the government. The second is a tendency among democrats to make issues among themselves. Two needs therefore stand before us indispensable to success: Unity and harmony. Of the one this chair and gavel stand representative; it remains for yon to supply the other. In this spirit 1 greet you. fellow Democrats, as the advance guard of a grand army, sent forward to blaze a Dathwav to victory. How momentous is your responsibility I need not tell you. If yonr work be done ih wisdom the millions toiling in mine and shop and field will rise and call you blessed. The roll call of the republic attests that its heart and its conscience are with ns in onr war with the representatives of greed. The best thought of our party is a platform that challenges the approbation and invites the supSort of the people. We can succeed—we must 0 more; we must deserve success: above the wreck, If need be, of selfish combinations, we must rear a temple to the plain people, and build a shrine so broad that there every lover of his kind may kneel. The burden must be lifted from the back of labor, and to that end it has a right to demand that whoever bears our banner must lift it above the smoke of conflict and the din of faction, that every Democrat of the Union may

follow Its lead In exultant and Irresistible combat. Let ug not mistake. The gravltv of the situation demands the broadest patriotism and every needful sacrifice. Our work but be

gins here. Under the suns of summer and the frosts of autumn we must carry it forward with unfaltering courage to a triumphant close. This, again, must be a campaign of education-. The Study of the Cornfield,” begun In the \V cst and South, must be carried into every hamlet of the East and North. The people must lcam their true relation to the tax-gath-erer. They must learn that no railroad presidents champion the tribunes of the people: that no taskmasters write our tariff bills They must learn, too, that for personal and political advantage their country was menaced by the threat of war, and they will learn with shame and regret that the very day the warlike proclamation of their President was read in the halls of Congress the peaceful response of the little 8 by 10 Republic of Chili accepting the terms of the presidential ultimatum was read in every capital of the world. Out opponents must be measured by their deeds and not by their professions. The Fiftyfirst Congress wrote the blackest page in our legislative history and became a thing of the past. It challenged the approval of the people, and they responded in tone so portentous that it seemed the voice of God. With a unanimity that finds no parallel in the story of popular government they determined that a billion dollars was far too much to pay for such a museum of freaks. If we but permit It they will standby their verdict. That our cause may triumph let us work in kindness. In the heat of contention let us not forget that our political brother may be just as honest and perhaps better informed. Impelled by one purpose, and that purpose the public good, we will free ourselves from the bickerings and heartburnings that characterized the '"Republican party when its Marshal Ney went down at Minneapolis before the mailed legions, of the bread-and-butter brigade. Mr. Owens had a respectful and an

interested hearing, and when he came ‘o the “legions of the bread and butter brigade” the convention cheered again and again. Tlie Work of Organization. At the conclusion of the speech the Chairman asked what the pleasure of the convention was. Mr. White, of California, got the floor, and offered a resolution providing that the roll be called to name members of the different committees, and that all resolutions relating to the platform be referred to the Committee on Resolutions without debate, and that the credentials of each delegate be delivered by each delegation to the Committee on Credentials. General Bragg, of Wisconsin, from the front row, offered as an amendment that the rules of the last Democratic convention govern this body until otherwise ordered. Mr. White accepted this amendment as being first in order, and temporarily withdrew his resolution, which he again offered after General Bragg’s substitute was passed. It was read by Reading Clerk Bell. Mr, Rhodes, of Alabama, interposed with an amendment, which was read. It provided for a committee on rules in addition to the other committees. There was a brief discussion of the amendment, the explanation being made that the original resolution delegated the work of the proposed committee to the committee on permanent organization. The amendment was adopted, however, and the resolution as amended went through. The clerk then read the rollcall and the chairman of each delega-

tion handed in or announced the names chosen. W. E. English, of Indiana, noticing a number of vacant seats in the galleries, offered a resolution to admit ex-soldiers of the late war to the unoccupied places. Mr. Collier, of Tennessee, said that there were 25,000 Democrats at the door and he moved that the doors be opened to them. There was great applause, but the whole question was 6hut off on motion of Mr. Johnson, of Kentucky, to refer the matter to the committee on resolutions. Mr. Holman, of Oregon, in the body of the hall, addressed the convention, closing by stating that he held in his hand a telegram giving the glad news that the Republicans of Portland, Oregon, had been defeated by a thousand ma ority. Great cheering greeted this announcement. Mr. Hall, of Kansas, moved that org&taized clubs be admitted to the vacant seats in the hall, but this resolution was also referred to the Resolutions Commit! eo. Mr. Cable, of Illinois, offered a resolution of sympathy with James G. Blaine, * that this convention tender its profound sympathy to that distinguished American, James G. ■ Blaine, in the m.any afflictions that have befallen him." The reading of the name of Mr. Blaine was the signal for an outburst of greater enthusiasm than the convention had known before. The resolution was

adopted without dissent. Mr. Swett of Maine got the Root and briefly thanked the convention off behalf of the Maine delegation. , An invitation! World’s Fair for the delegates^to visit the grounds was read. ' - Gen. Bragg, of Wisconsin, moved that the convention adjourn until 11 o’clock Wednesday. Before the motion could be put the delegates were in Ihe aisles. The Chair declared the convention adjourned, the baud struck up “When Johnny Comes Marching Home," and the convention dispersed for the day., IN THE CONVENTION HALL. Hoiv the Interior of th© Big Wigwam Appeared Before the Session. A circus tent trebly magnified, with a dozen huge white pendants stretching from covering to floor —that was the appearance to an Associated Press representative of the big Democratic Wigwam when the National Democratic Convention assembled. The supposed pendants of shining canvas were in reality stout posts supporting what appeared to be a mammoth circular canopy floating in-the sky, but in reality a substantial roof of wood raised some distance above the wails to admit light and air above from every direction. Greater magnitude but naturally less appear ince of permanency and beauty

of finish distinguished the mammoth temporary structure from the Republican Convention Hall at Minneapolis. The vista of seat6—a total exceeding 20,000—seemed to lengthen out right and left before and behind till the eye became bewildered.

1 Silken banners of blue, inscribed with the names of the States and distributed about the area of floor forming the center of the structure, showed where the votes were to come from that within a few hours at the most would name the winning candidate. All around were the rising tiers of seats containing the spectators, who, if they could not vote in the convention, were at least able to cheer to their heart’s content. The Chairman’s desk, the same over which Cleveland and Hendricks were nomi-

nated in 1884, was surmounted by two immense bouquets of daisies and long, green ferns. Banks of fresh foliage were piled against the tables of the newspaper men each side of the speaker’s stand, while high up in the space reserved for guests of honor were scores of nodding palms. The gallery, though encircling the entire hall, and probably the largest ever erected for a national convention, seemed to form part of the hundreds of tiers of seats and not a distinct portion of the structure. The rail was hidden in countless small flags, ana bore at intervals the shields of the various States and portraits of a score of honored Democrats of the past, Hendricks and Douglas and others back to the beginning of the party. As the crowds flocked into the hall, almost the first comment was that the New York delegation had been given back seats. Alabama, Indiana. lowa. Missouri, Montana, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin apd Wyoming were in the front chairs. It was the result of the alphabet, however, not of any sinister political design. The States highest in alphabetical order commencing with Alabama were seated nearest the speaker to the extreme right, and the succeeding States on the roll ranged backward. At the head of the next aisle lowa and Indiana were the fortunate ones, and the next in order alphabetically went to the rear. Missouri and Montana were the lucky ones in the middle aisle, while

New Y’ork and Mas: a husetts f-tred th 6 worst in this part of the building. First come, first served, was the order with the spectators, and soon after 11 o’clock a. m. the front seats on floor and gallery were crowd d to overflowing.

CHAIRMAN BRICE, Calling ihe Great Convention to Order.

CHICAGO AND TAMMANY.

TEMPORART CHAIRMAN OWENS.

MAYOR GRANT, New York, one of Tammany's Big Braves.

CLEVELAND) HEADQUARTERS, PALMER HOUSE.

THE WIGWAM.

L. M. MARTIN, Iown, a Boies Boomer.

S. T. HEERIN, Secretary National Democratic Committee.