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The Commoner.
14
VOLUME 4, NUMBER 28.
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Pen Picture of the Convention
No one who sat through the eleven-3ioUr-all-nlght-sc8slon
of the democrat
ic convention of 1904 is ever likely to
forget. ,
It was without a precedent in incl
Vlent in dramatic intensity and will bo
liistoric in results.
It is doubtful if such a succession
bf vivid scenes and powerful incidents
have ever occurred in a political as
sembly in America.
Let us understand the .scene. The
'Coliseum is an immense oblong bui??1.
!ng, capable of seating 10,000 people,
and, with the iloor space filled, peihaps
17,000. Just in front of the speaker's
stand sat tho regular delegates to
the convention; a thousand strong.
rrhis body numbered about one-twellth
or at best one-tenth, of the great as
semblage. This vast audience was
not made up of the rabble nor void
of a purely local orrgrn. They were
fwell dressed men and women o the
highest order of wit and intelligence,
as was evidenced by the many bril
liant comments and questions hurled
Irom time to time at the speakers
and the officers of the convention.
There were 200 Georgians there, 500
Texans, about 700 Nebraskans, while
Illinois and Indiana and Kansas had
several thousand each. Scarcely more
than half the audience was from Mis
souri, and in its caliber, its Interest,
its zeal, its patient waiting and its
genial wit, it was as representative an
American audience aa aas been assem
bled anywhere.
From first to last it was a battle
royal of delegates against audience.
Solid, compact, level, and with iniuds
fixed, the phalanx or a thousand dele
gates occupied tho center of the Coli
seum. In this rank the reorganlzors
wore in full control. They stormed
ittle and applauded seldom, and when
they moved they moved with unbroken
ranks and unchanged expression of
loyalty for that whiea they had come
to do. But the vast audience, a
mighty multitude, rising tier on tier
to the last gallery ana stretching far
out into the wide wings, packed and
jammed with representative men .and
women of the American democracy
this mighty crowd was neart and soul
with the minority of the regulars on
the floor.
Bryan and Hearst were its idols,
and for every defeat administered to
their leaders on the floor by the ma
jority the 14,000 auditors consoled
them with thunders of applause and
tempests of cheers. There delegates
were for Parker, but the audience was
ready to follow Bryan or Hearst or
Cockrell to any charge or assault.
Parker's men had the votes, but the
sea of popular sentiment surged and
thundered about the idols of the old
democracy.
Eleven hours of consecutive speak
ing from 7:30 p. m. to 6:30 a. m.
lasting from twilight to sunrise with
scarcely a seat deserted or a moment
without its passion of enthusiasm.
Parker's forces were handled with
consummate skill and firmness. They
nover lost a point nor missed an op
portunity. The brilliancy and resourcefulness
of the opposition was simply superb,
but its indefinite legions always re
coiled from the stone wall of perfect
organization before it.
Cockrell of Missouri had in volume
of scenic effect the ovation of tho
convention. Nothing in the history of
conventions ever equaled the thrilling
and suggestive beauty of that sea of
ten thousand flags waving in the wild
ly enthusiastic hands of men and wom-
I en of Missouri. It fllled the amphi
theater with the glory of the flag and
the good name of the crave old sena
tor. Curiously enough, tnese spangled
weapons, of enthusiasm were captured
by accident from the Parker equip
ment, and their premature use spoiled
the closing scene of the Parker tri
umph. The flags, about 10,000 m num
ber, had been procured oy the Parker
men, and had just been distributed
with instructions to wave them when
Parker was nominates.
Champ Clark, in nominating Cock
roll, shot this electric sentence into
the air:
"Talk about the courage of the re
publican president! Old Cockrel Is
braver than Roosevelt!"
And then pandemonium broke loose.
The audience which seemed to be for
anybody except Parker, joined the
7,000 Missouri enthusiasts in a frenzy
of rapturous demonstration. Forget
ting instructions, every Parker flag
was unfurled, and sucn a sea of color
and glory and enthusiasm as no Amer
ican audience ever saw before surged
and resurged and roiled and rolled
again over the floor and through the
galleries of the famous coliseum.
The gallant old Mlssourian must be
credited with the finest and most spec
tacular popular demonstration ever
made over an American crtlzen even
If he did steal Parker's thunder to
get it.
The ovation to Parker, following
upon Littleton's nomination, lasted
thirty-one minutes, it had the large
majority of delegates massed in front
of the speaker.. The scene was superb.
The blended flags, the joined emblems,
the marching ranks of delegates, the
thunder of cheers, were all there.
Georgia, eyer,atthe rore, bore the
banner the most beautiful of all
far in front of the procession, and fi
nally, with southern gallantry, carried
it to the central box, wnere sat Mrs.
uuunes xiau, oe -ew York, and to
whom Chairman Gray gracefully pre
sented it, to be moved by uer own
hands at the moment of her father's
nomination. Mrs. Hall was one to h
loved with delight.
The ovation to William Randolph
Hearst lasted thirty-six minutes-fivo
minutes longer than tne demonstration
over Judge Parker, and equal in every
attribute of intensity and enthusiasm
to that event.
It was one of tha wonders of the
convention. While not nearly so many
of the delegates participated, its
strength and persistency, even upon
the floor, was remarkable, and the
same marching and waving of flags
and emblems made it memorable. But
anything the great editor may have
lacked upon the floor was more than
compensated by the maKnificent dom.
onstration upon tho part of the vast
audience about him. Saving Cock
rell's local strength, ho was easily and
overwhelmingly the favorite of tho
17,000 representative Americans for
the presidency. And they sent back
to his marching and shouting friends
upon the .floor a rolling volume of
thundered enthusiasm which eclipsed
the Parker roar- as the ocean docs the
gulf. It was the magnificent tribute
of American democracy to one who
had been the proven friend and cham
pion of the people, and it was a joy
to his friendfc to see in this splendid
and spontaneous demonstration the
vindication of a great and useful dem
ocrat, and the assurance that the pre
ple know and love him for what he is
and for what he has done.
Yea, and a little later on, with the
field of the primaries against him, Wil
liam Randolph Hearst polled the total
of 201 honest votes for the nomination
of the democratic party for president
of the United States. There will be
nrtno fr miiH(n fMa rrnllonf ilnmnnrnf
J as he unlimbers his eight great jour-
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