THD ALL IAHOB-INDE PB N D B IT T.
1
WEAVER AND FIELD
NOMINATED BY THE PEOPLE'S
CONVENTION AT OMAHA
I
n
omrm
JO PLATFORM ADOPTED.
Grc-shftiii Positively Declines - A On
crnl Gathering Around Weavor
Tho Itallot Iteuults: Weaver
005, Kj lo 205-Tlie Con
v vent Ion Adjourn Sine
Die atS a. .'
Omaha, Neb., uly f. When tho
national convention of tho People's
party of the United States opened in
this city at 10 o'clock this morning,
every person present seemed to be in a
congratulatory mood over the largo
attendance, and there was a general
opinion that harmony should be
Belected to lead the hosts in the com
ing campaign.
The Coliseum presented a gay and
Sprightly appearance. Flags and ban-,
nerettes floated from every pillar and
arch, and a slight display of ever
greens, something in the nature of
triumphal arches, added a degree of
freshness to the scene.
The delegates were slow in arriving.
Therepresentatives of Massachusetts
were almost the first to enter and were
received with
cheers. Delega
tion after dele
gation followed
and the hall
gradually be
gan to fill with
industrial lead
ers in straw
hats. A banner
displayed by
the Connecticut
delegation had
the following
inscrintio n:
CHAIRMAN TAUBENECK. "Conne 0 t i C U t
Delegation Congress (Not the People)
Be Damned. Shylock's Twins Grovwr
- and Ben."
. There was a slight lull as Chairman
Taubeneck of the national committee
stepped to tho front and announced
that the first national convention -f
the People's party was no.v convened
in regular session. Then there was
burst of applause.
Prayer was offered by the Rev. Ben
iamin Diffenbacher, chaplain of the
last Nebraska legislature and a well
known Alliance man. .
Mayor Bemis then welcomed the
delegates on behalf of the city of
Omaha, . and was given three cheers.
Ben .Terrell jof Texas, on behalf of the
convention, responded to the address
of welcome.
Chairman Taubeneck announced the
list of temporary officers selected by
i the national committee ancT' thoso
officers were selected by acclamation.
0. II. Ellington of Georgia was in
troduced as temporary chairman and
.-wjn hiA-specch of acceptance said:
"Ladiw a"rid Gentlemen, - Fellow Coun
trymen, Brethren: I salute you. From
far off Georgia, the great empire state of
tho South, I come to greet you. Language
fails ma It is absolutely impossible for
me to tell my high appreciation of th
' honor this greatest of conventions has con
. fered upon mo by selecting me to the te:.
'm porary chairmanship. But when tiij
mind turns to the Rreat pur
pose . for which we have ct
together its depth, length, breadth, Its
wonderful conception, its vastness of "3 arch,
all that is wrapped up in it, what i. neans
to be defeated and what it would mean
should victory crown our effort when .ill
these things crowd upon me I iong for the
tongue of Gabriel whose trumpet tones
shall reach to the farthest end of the
r'.oba, arousing and convincing the peop'.o
wherever its sound should fall upon tho
human ear. In all the history of this
country, which should be "the land of tho
free' and is "the home of the brave," there
I has never been anotiier such gathering of
- the people. Applause. North, South,
. Kast and West are to-day mingling their
its together in sense and for a purpose
ijvcr before realized In this country. Ap
plause. :y
The eyes of all the world are upon us.
Some are looking at us with hate and fear
in their hearts, whilo others are watching
us prayerfully, anxiously, hopefully.
Nothing would give greater Joy to our op
ponents than to see this vast assemblage of
the people's representatives disagree.
They want us to bicker and wrangle. Hun
dreds of pens stand ready to note tho first
bound of discord, and in every direction tha
wires are waiting to transmit thp hoped
for news that we are in tunncil and strife.
' Brethren, friends, let us disappoint them ;
let us at tho very beginning shako hands
upon thi3 one point, that harmony, unity
and tfood will shall prevail. Cheers. I
believe it is possible for this reprjseataiivo
body to meet, council, deliberate, perform
its entire work and adjourn without ono
single word of discord. To this end I am
absolutely, untiringly at your servica.
We are here today with the shadow of a
great trouble restiug upon us. He whom
our hearts .delighted to honor, our leader,
.the true, the tried, tho honest Poltc, U
dead and has been taken from us just
when we needed him most. Our huarts
mourn his 103S. No nobler soul ever
breathed, none worked harder, suffered
more, spent more than ho did. He
gave his life to our beloved cause aad wo
do not believe it was given in vain. Oh,
shade of tho loving, kind hearted, great
Polk, may the mantle of thy spirit fall upon
us today in our deliberations to the end that
we may bo like minded. I call on you today
in His name that if there be a single ve3
tigo, an iota of sectional feeling, or preju
dice left it in tho hearts of any of us to
' wipe it out. I charge you that while wo
stand in the shadow of Polk's groat love
we reconcile ourselves to the great work of
reforming this government and the man
who honestly desires its reformation is our
brother. And I want to say that we can
reform it. I believe that we will reform it.
The chairman's reference to the de
ceased president of tno jrreat farmers
organization was received with cheers,
and when the picture of President
Polk was handed to him by Chairman
Wilson of the North Carolina delega
tion and hoisted into view the conven
tion, with one accord, arose, and tho
Bcene was one of befitting reverence
to the memory of the great leader.
At the conclusion of the chairman's
speech Mrs. Todd of Michigan, pre
sented Chairman Ellington with a
gavel carved by the wif of Ben Ter
rell, from the tree planted by Wash
ington at Mount Vernon an an
nouncement which was received with
an enthusiastic chorus of.oherjL y
Music was then supplied by a quar
tette of People's party enthusiasts
who rendered a new song expressive
of the coming triumph of the inde
pendent body which will have its first
presidential candidate in November.
The convention then adjourned until
3 o'clock.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
At tho opening
of the afternoon
session messages of
congratulation
were read from
various party lead
ers. One from Vir
ginia .ran: "Hold
the fort, Virginia
is coming."
One was received
signed by W. A.
Pfeffer, United
Stated senator from Kansas; Jamea H.
Kyle, United States sena' .rom South
Dakota; John Davis, me ber of con
gress from Kansas; 0. IV' Kem, mem
ber of congress from Ne.aska; B. H.
Clover, member of congr s from Kan
sas; Thomas E. Winn, m mber of con
gress; K. Halvorson, men ber of con
gress; John G. Otis, member of con
gress; William Baker, member of con
gress. Afttr the reading of these messages
and while awaiting the report of the
committee on credentials Hon. Ignatius
Donnelly of Min
nesota was intro
duced and spoke at
length on the is
sues of the peoples1
party.
Dr. Houghton of
Connecticut filled
another waiting
spell by reading an
original -poem en
- titled "Omaha."
Schilling of Wis
consin called at
tention to the fact
that the business
.of the jsonention
- 1WM
WW
A. PFEFFER.
w
JBftT SIMPSON.
was blocked because the committee oh
credentials was not ready to report,
and the committee on resolutions was
.directed to report atonce and begin
its labors.
The convention became restless un
der the wearisome delay and threaten
ing to adjourn. ,
A motion was adopted that when the
tonvention adjourned it be until 8
o'clock Monday morning, and at 6:30
the convention adjourned until Monday
morning.
The Second Dnys Session.
Omaha, July 4. Tho convention
was called to order at 8:45 this morn
ing. The credentials committee re
ported that there were no contests.
The report was received and it was de
cided that, the persons whose names
were on the rolls should be declared
entitled to seats.
The committee on permanent organ
ization now announced its readiness to
report, and submitted the following:
For permanent chairman, H. L.
Loucks South Dakota. For permanent
secretary, J. W. Hayes, New Jersey.
For assistant secretaries, S. S. King of
Kansas; George Wilson, Michigan; G.
W. Denmark, South Carolina; D. W.
Monroe.
Following this was also a long list
of vice chairmen, each state being
represented in the distribution of this
honor. The report was unanimously
adopted amid applause and Temporary
Chairman Ellington at once introduced
his successor.
CHAIRMAN LOUCK'S ADDRESS.
'Gentlemen of the convention The
time has arrived when we must begin
the serious business of this conven
tion. I believe that we have had a
sufficient amount of oratory as a pre
liminary to our work and we can dis
pense with it until -we finish our busi
ness. Therefore, I have no speech to
make to you this morning, but I would
be less than human if I did not extend
to you my sincere thanks for the honor
conferred upon me of presiding over
this, the grandest and largest conven
tion that has ever been held in the
United States of America, or I believe
anywhere in the civilized world.
Applause . I cannot resist the temp
tation of saying a very, few words to
congratulate you on the success of
this magnificent convention. It is a
grand tribute to the civilization of the
present century. In the past ages
when great revolutions were in pogress
they have been brought about as a rule
by the sword. This, the greatest of
all revolutions, is being propejled by
that silent power of education, the
ballot.
"I want to congratulate you on the
harmony that has prevailed all through.
There are a great many delegates here
from all parts of the country and they
did not know who their candidate was
to be. States have not been fixed up
by this convention and we are all at
sea, but the result undoubtedly will be
that the choice of the people will be
nominated by this convention and not
the choice of machine elements of the
nation. You hear talk in the other
conventions about nom.nating certain
men because they can carry certain
states. We do not hear of that in this
convention, by the delegates at least.
The question is, who represents our
I principles? More than that, there
is a spirit abroad here that
the man who is nominated
by this convention must not only stand
firmly and squarely upon cur platform
of principles but he must 'ave burned
the bridges behind him. We are at a
critical period and we can't afford to
take any chances. We wnnt no doubt
ful men to lead Jthis movement. We
I&QpA 5ttonave to inquire how any
man stands on our platform of princi
ples. We must know that he has
been with us long enough to have been
found true or he will find no place
here. I believe in your selecting a
man for the hour a man who will
aeet th9 approval of the people inside
' . ' '
r
the"T?arty7 iKTDot Ce at?ala or what
the Opposition may say. You bring
up a man here and say he has net made
enemies in this movement and I say he
is not worth that (with a snap of the
fingers) in this movement We want
a man who has made enemies for this
cause and will go forward and make
more enemies in tho future. Such a
man I am satisfied you will nominate
today.
"All over the United States are
thousand? who are willing. They. are
waiting until the telegraph ticks the
news of the nominee of this conven
tion. I do not want to disappoint our
friends all over this nation. I know
you do not want to, so let us proceed
to business and as soon as possible
send out over the wires the name of
the man who wo hope will occupy the
white house for the next four years.'
Ch airman Branch of the resolutions
committee caned attention to the
fact "that probably through some
Oversight" the ticket agent in Wash
ington and in other states on the line
of the Union Pacifio railway did not
receive instructions to allow the dele
gates to the convention the usual re
ductions in fares and appointed a
committee of three to communicate
with the railroad officials to have "the
mistake rectified." A delegate moved
that the Northern Pacifio and Great
Northern be included in the resolution.
Marlon Cannon of California arose to
protest against the resolution as ex
hibiting a want of independent spirit
In the convention.
"1 want this convention to under
stand," he said, "that it is not by an
oversight the Pacific coast delegates
have been overlooked. Our request
for customary courtesy was denied de
liberately and with insolence. I d&
pot want this convention, so far as
California is concerned and so far as I
am concerned, to go back to that rail
road, cap in hand, and ask for any
privileges whatever. We can tell
those railway companies that the peo
ple will own and operate these roads
yet."
The Montana and Oregon delegations
endorsing the sentiments of Mr. Can
non, the resolution was withdrawn.
The eoirimittee on resolutions was
still working on the platform and on a
statement that it would be two hours
before it could report a recess was
taken until 2 o'clock.
AFTERNOON - SESSION.
The afternoon session was called to
order at 2:07. The tickets which had
been withheld early in the day had
evidently got into the hands that
woald use them, for the immense hall
was almost completely filled. It was
very sultry nnd fully a third of the
delegates were in shirt sleeves.
After a speech by Brown of Massa
chusetts the preamble to the platform
was read by Thomas V. Cator of Cali
fornia and adopted by a unanimous
rising vote.
DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES.
r
Assembled upon the one hundred and
sixteenth anniversary of the deolaration
of independence, the people's party of
America, in their first national conven
tion, Invoking upon their action the
the blessing of Almighty, God, put forth
in the name on behalf of , the ceoDle of
this country the following preamble and
declaration of principles:
Corruption Widespread.
The conditions which surround us
u stify our co-operation. We meet here
In the midst of a nation brought to the
verge of moral, political and material
ruin. Corruption dominates the "ballot
box, the legulaturea, the congress and
touches even the ermine of the benolv
The people are demoralized. Most of the
states have been compelled to isolate the
voters at the polling places in order , to
prevent universal intimidation Or brib
ery. Tho newspapers are subsidized or
muzzled public opinion silenced, busi
ness prostrated, our homes covered with
mortgasa- labor impoverished, andth
