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The Commoner.
JULY 5, 1912
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Mr. Bryan's Baltimore Letters
Baltimore, Md., June 25. When
the sub-committee acted on the tem
porary chairmanship we were all
anxious to know how the full com
mittee would stand on the question,
and when the full committee pre
sented Mr. Parker we awaited the
action of the convention.
. Our curiosity is now satisfied.
We know what kind of a convention
we have, and henceforth we can
watch its developments with the as
surance that nothing will be done
that has not the O. K. of Tammany's
boss, and that ho will not give his
approval to anything until it has
been submitted to Thomas Fortune
Ryan for his consent. Unless these
delegates hear from him and are
frightened out of the plans which
they now have in mind the platform
will be disappointing and its nomi
nee will be a reactionary or con
servative who is satisfactory to the
reactionaries.
There could be no mistake about
the vote this afternoon. While the
majority for Mr. Parker was not as
large as the polls brought in to me
in the forenoon indicated it would
be, it was large enough for all prac
tical purposes. The vote for Mr.
Parker was 578 to 509 for me. It
is safe to say that I did not have the
vote of a single reactionary, and
unless I have some better evidence
than has thus far been presented I
shall not believe that I lost the vote
of a single progressive.
Of course there were progres
sives whose votes were cast for Mr.
Parker under the unit rule, and
these should not be classed with the
reactionaries, but I do not know of
any ground upon which a..progros,-,
Bive could" have voted against me,
unless it were a personal grounds
And it would be an unfair reflection
upon the patriotism of any man to
say that he would allow hostility to
an individual to influence his vote on
a question where a principle was
involved.
Possibly account should be taken
of another-influence, the interest or
the supposed Interest of candidates.
Mr. Underwood asked the Alabama
delegation to vote for Judge Parker.
I do not know whether similar re
quests were sent to Mississippi,
Georgia and Florida or not, but Mis
sissippi and Georgia voted Bolidljr
for Parker and he also received all
but one of Florida's vote.
Mr. Harmon's Ohio vote was cast
solidly for Parker, presumably, in
his interest, if not at his request.
Twelve of the fourteen votes of
Connecticut went to Parker, and it
is fair to answer that this was agree
able to Governor Baldwin.
North Dakota's ten votes were
cast, for me with the approval of
Governor Burke, who announced in
advance his opposition to Parker.
Governor Wilson came out strong
against Parker and so far as I know
I received all the votes of the Wil
son delegates. There may have
been exceptions, but if so, they have
not been brought to my attention.
The Clark vote was divided. A
number of the western states in
structed for Clark cast their votes
for me. Washington, Idaho,-Wyoming,
Kansas, half of Colorado and
half of Iowa were some of the dele
gates that voted against Parker. In
the Oklahoma delegation the Wilson
half voted for me and the Clark half
for Parker. Missouri gave the larger
share of her votes to Parker. It was
understood that Mr. Clark bimself
was not taking sides, but his marfag
ers worked manfully for Parker, Mr.
Bell of California, one of the lead
ers In the Clark campaign, took the
floor in favor o Mr. Parker. Sena
tor Stone and ez-Senator Dubois
were among the most enthusiastic
of the Parker supportprs. Kentucky,
a Clark state, went so far as to In
struct its committeeman to vote for
Parker against James, who was first
put forward as Mr. Clark's choico,
and who received twenty votes in the
full committee.
As Mr. Clark expressed his
willingness to allow each of his sup
porters to follow his own judgment
in this contest, it is evident that
there aro quite a number of men In
structed for Clark who have no
sympathy with progressive ideas,
men who If they are ever released
from the. support of Mr. Clark may
be expected to take up with a reac
tionary. This is an element that
must be taken into account in mak
ing calculations upon the ticket that
is to be nominated.
The lineup today is therefore im
portant. It is also important in that
it enables the folks at home to know
what their representatives aro do
ing at Baltimore.
A word as to the fight over tem
porary chairman. I, several weeks
ago, advised the committee to in
sure harmony by selecting a chair
man acceptable to Clark and Wil
son, they together having more than
half of the convention, if not two
thirds. As both have been running
as progressives, the chief effort on
the part of the friends, of each being
to prove him a better progressive than
the other, I thought there would be
no difficulty in securing an agree
ment in regard to a chairman, ana
this agreement would have insured
the chairman's acceptance withou
a contest. The committee, however,
brought out Judge Parker' and pitted
iinim aeamst uongressman nenry, uie
choice of Mr. Clark. When the mat
ter went before the full committee
tho Wilson men, on Governor Wil
son's advice, threw their strength to
James to. allow the use of his name
in the convention contest against
Parker, but as Mr. Clark's manag
ers were supporting Mr. Parker,
fiven to the extent of having Ken
tucky's national committeeman vote
for Parker; and the Kentucky dele
gation was also largely for Parker,
Mr. James did not feel at liberty to
enter the contest. I then asked
Senator O'Gorman to allow the use
of his name, but he felt it his duty
to decline.
I then presented tho matter to
Senator Kern, who was loath to
undertake tho contest, owing to con
ditions in his state. However, he
agreed last evening to take the mat
ter under consideration. I did not
see him any more until after the
chairmanship fight was over. But I
heard late last night that he had
devised a scheme in tho interest of
harmony which I "was glad to ap
prove. I think tho reader, when he has
fully digested this scheme, will ad
mit that it Is about as good an illus
tration as has been seen in many a
day of the manner in which tact and
patriotism can bo combined. After
I had put Senator Kern in nomina
tion against Judge Parker he took
the platform and made a most elo
quent plea for harmony. He called
attention to the great issues In
volved, and to tho importance of
presenting a united front. He then
presented a list of names, including
Senators O'Gorman, Culberson, Sblve
ly and Lea, ex-Governor Campbell
of Ohio, ex-Governor Folk of Mis
souri and Representative Clayton of
Alabama. He called upon Judge
Parker, who sat just in front of
him, to join him in withdrawing in
favor of any one of these men in
order that . the convention might
open without discord.
It was a dramatic moment. Such
an opportunity seldom comes to a
man. If Judgo Parker had accepted,
it would havo made him the hero of
tho convention. There was a stir
In his neighborhood in a moment.
Tho bosses flocked around him, and
tho convention looked on In breath
less anxiety, but ho did not with
draw. Tho opportunity passed un
improved. Senator Kern then appealed to
Mr. Murphy to induco Judgo Parker
to withdraw, but Mr. Murphy was
not in a compromising mood. This
was tho only thing that Senator
Kern did tho good faith of which
could bo questioned. I am afraid
that ho had no great expectations of
melting tho hoart of tho Tammany
boss. At any rate, nothing came of
the generous offer made by Mr.
Kern, except that it shifted to the
shoulders of Mr. Parker and his sup
porters pntire responsibility for any
discord that might grow out of the
contest.
Judgo Parker was escorted to tho
platform after his nomination had
been made unanimous and began to
deliver his address, but It had such
a moving effect upon tho audience
that tho reading was suspended and
the convention adjourned until 8
o'clock this evening.
Various explanations might be
given of the action of tho crowd.
Probably the most reasonable is that
it was half past three and many
were hungry. There is another ex
planation, however, that is worth
presenting for consideration. People
will not remain in a large hall unless
they can understand what Is being
said, and as Mr. Parker's speech was
written in tho language of Wall
street only two or three hundred
delegates could understand it, and
tho committee hnd been so busy oil
ing the machine that it had neglected
to provide an interpreter to translate
tho speech into tho everyday lan
guage of democrats. W. J. B.
ONE DAY OP TRIUMPH
Baltimore, Juno 26. Today has
been a day of triumph for the pro
gressives. Tho men who vdted for
Mr. Parker for chairman havo been
trying to square themselves. They
have been hearing from home. Tho
telegraph companies have been reap
ing a rich harvest. No one has sug
gested that Mr. Parker was put up by
the telegraph companies for tho pur
pose of increasing their revenues
through tho protests his nomination
would invite, but tho money has
poured in just the same.
The effect of these telegrams is al-.
ready being seen. Tho resolutions
committee wanted a progressive for
chairman. I declined the position,
although I appreciated the compli
ment involved In the offer, because
I did not want to bo hampered by
any feeling of obligation to the com
mittee in case I desired to present
a minority report. And then, too, I
felt that those who owned the ship
ought to select the officers to com
mand It.
Tho committee on permanent or
ganization selected Congressman
James of Kentucky for permanent
chairman. This, however, was not
a voluntary offering. A portion of
the committee, less than half, at
tempted to rush the matter through
last night and mako the temporary
organization permanent, but Gover
nor Campbell of Texas got In just in
time to demand an adjournment
until morning in order to give all tho
members a chanico to be present.
When the full committee assembled
the progressives were out In such
force that the effort to continue
Judgo Parker was abandoned and
the honor was given to Mr. James.
They then attempted to select
Temporary Secretary Woodson as
permanent secretary, Tmt this was
objected to by tho progressives, and
Mr. Grattan of North Carolina was
substituted for him. Thus tho pro
gressives had a series of victories.
Bcforo passing from the subject
of officers I may add that my refusal
of the permanent chairmanship was
based partly on the fact that I
didn't regard it as a compliment to
have tho position tendered me by
those who had defeated mo for tem
porary chairman, and partly be
cause I did not feci disposed to ac
cept any responsibility for the con
duct of tho convention until It had
done something to purge itself of
its reactionary character. As soon
as the resolutions committee was
organized I introduced a resolution
declaring it to be the sense of the
committco that tho candidate for
president should be nominated be
fore the platform was adopted, giv
ing as my reasons that this conven
tion was of unusual Importance, and
that our hope of victory depended
upon our measuring up to the re
quirements of tho occasion; that the
platform would not amount to much
unless our candidate stood squarely
upon it and wan able to defend it;
that a joint debate between our
platform and our candidate would
be fatal to tho prospects of our
party, and that by changing the
ordor we would ho ablo to so space
our platform utterances as to give
forco to his candidacy. To tho ar
gument that it was unprecedented, I
replied that extraordinary conditions
required extraordinary remedies. To
tho suggestion that any candidate
who might bo nominated would bo
willing to stand upon a platform pre
pared by tho convention I replied
that our candidate eight years ago
amended our latform by telegraph
and that method of amending a plat
form did-not take well with the
public.
There was considerable discussion
.but the sentiment soon turned so
strongly to tho proposition that it
was adopted on roll call by a voto
of 41 to 11. Senator Vardaman, who'
was one of tho active supporters of
the resolution, moved that a com
mittee be appointed to notify tho
committee on rules. Tho committco
on rules, after a short discussion, in
dorsed the proposition by a voto of
22 to 16, and if It is indorsed by
tho convention (tho convention
later indorsed tho rule) nomi
nations will proceed while the plat
form is being prepared, and we shall
have the benefit of the suggestions
Of our nominee before putting tho
finishing touches on tho 'platform.
The air is full of rumors -in regard
to combinations in behalf of dif
ferent candidates. One thing is cer
tain, that Mr. Harmon is no longer
a possibility. With only nine In
structed delegates outside of his own
state opposing the unit rule, he can
not be considered a factor. Tho vote
yesterday afternoon shows that ho
can not secure one-third of tho con
vention under any circumstances.
Mr. Underwood might bo a little
better than Mr. Harmon, but tho
triumph of tho reactionaries yester
day has so aroused tho country that
the convention is much less likely
to nominate cither of theso men
than it would have been had tho
machine been willing to allow the
convention to begin harmoniously.
However, neither Mr. Harmon or
Underwood had any chance of nomi
nation before, and they probably
thought that they had nothing to
lose by making tho fight that thdy
did for Mr. Parker.
Governor Baldwin's vote Is purely
complimentary and will not stay
with him more than a ballot or two.
Governor Burke's vote is compliment
tary also, and will go to Governor
Wilson as soon as the former's name
Is withdrawn. Governor Foss' name
is not to be presented, except in a
case of a deadlock. Massachusetts'
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