chairman of the National Committee, John R. Wilson of Indianapolis was chosen secretary and John P. Frenzel, for many years an undisputed leader of the Indiana Democracy, was made treasurer. Without any idle preliminaries, the chairman of the committee to draft the call made his report. Mr. Outhwaite read the call with an earnestness and thrilling emphasis that indicated the zeal with which the committee had applied itself to its task. The conference received it in a like spirit, applauding vehemently its rejection of the irregularity of the Chicago convention, its reassertion of sound Democratic doctrine, its tribute to the courage and fidelity of unalterable the Democratic administration, its

opposition to the Chicago platform and candidates, and the request for the selection of delegates to meet on September 2 to issue a new platform and to nominate Democratic candidates.

The call was the result of earnest and sympathetic co-operation, terse, bold and stirring, and as the key to all that was afterward done it is worthy of production as a justification for radical action. It was as follows:

To the Democrats of the United States:

"A political party always has been defined to be an association of voters to promote the success of political principles held in common.

"The Democratic party, during its whole history,

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EX-GOV. FLOWER of New York.

For the first time since national parties were formed there is not before the American people a platform declaring the principles of the Democratic party as recognized and most courageously and consistently administered by Jefferson, Jackson and Cleveland, nor are there nominees for the offices of President and Vice President of the United States pledged to carry those principles into practical effect. The faithful and true Democrats of the United States are determined that their principles shall not be ruthlessly surrendered, nor the people be deprived of an opportunity to vote for candidates in accord therewith.

"Therefore, the National Democratic party of the United States, through its regularly constituted committee, hereby calls a national convention of that party, for the announcement of its platform and the nomination of candidates for the offices of President and Vice-President of the United States and the transaction of such business as is incident thereto, to be held at Indianapolis, on Wednesday, the 2d day of September, 1896, at 12 o'clock noon, and hereby requests that the members of the party in the several states who believe in sound money and the preservation of law and order, and who are unalterably opposed to the platform adopted and candidates nominated at Chicago, will select, in such manner as to them shall seem best, a number of delegates to the same, equal to twice the number of electoral votes to which such states are respectively entitled.

"Such delegates shall be duly accredited, according to the usages of the Democratic party. Their credentials shall be forwarded or delivered to the secretary of this committee with all convenient

DR. WILLIAM EVERETT OF MASSACHUSETTS.

speed, and this committee will make up and announce the roll of the delegates entitled to participate in the preliminary organization of the convention."

Brief speeches were made, after the call had been adopted, by committeemen and visitors from different states. Gen. Simon B. Buckner of Kentucky, who had only escaped re election as governor of his state because of a constitutional prohibition against a second term, made, perhaps, the most profound impression upon the conference of all the speakers, partly by his dignified, calm and earnest manner, but more largely by the unselfish and patriotic declaration that he was glad to be in the conference because" there are no spoils here." The Democrats who would follow the standard of the third party would march to certain defeat, but, said he," their Thermopyla will be the promise of many Marathons in the future." Already, before the conference had adjourned, General Buckner's name was on every tongue as the preferred candidate for Vice-President. Gen. J. M. Palmer was promptly suggested as the ideal candidate for President, but the proposition met with so prompt a declination that a large share of the favor extended to Palmer was transferred to Gen. E. S. Bragg, the valiant soldier-politician who had refused, at Chicago, to allow his state to be disgraced by giving its sanction to a Populist platform or Populist candidates.

IV. THE INDIANAPOLIS CONVENTION.

Only those who have had experience in such matters can fully appreciate the task imposed upon Mr. Bynum and the Executive Committee named by the August conference to secure, in three weeks, the attendance upon a national convention of something like nine hundred delegates to be chosen by a party not fully organized. But the work at Indianapolis by the committee was confined to advising and instructing men willing and anxious to help on the Democratic sound money campaign. The responses in the states to the call for conventions to choose delegates were very cordial. From all the states came reports that the conventions were, in personal make up, in fullness of attendance, in enthusiasm, conspicuously the best state conventions of the year. In Texas the gathering was de

scribed as the best Democratic convention ever held in the state. The Illinois convention of more than a thousand properly chosen delegates was a proof, in its personal quality, that the best men of the party were every where moved by the same resentment, and its high and resolute spirit was assurance that sound money Democrats were deeply moved and determined to reassert the party traditions violated at Chicago. All doubt about the genuineness and depth of the Democratic revolt vanished before the list of delegates to the national convention had been completed. Friends of the movement and foes alike were surprised as the cumulative evidence rolled in. At noon, Wednesday, September 2, the convention

was called to order in Tomlinson Hall, Indianapolis, by Chairman John M. Palmer. The day was fine; the hall-not too large-was gay with decorations; the delegates had learned that all were inspired by the same resolution to make distinct the protest that should justify the convention; there was a fine ap preciation by everybody of the absence of sectional rivalry, and there had developed an admirable determination to avoid in the platform of principles any issue about which there could be any dispute between Democrats. General Palmer, strong in his ripe old age, ruddy, clear eyed, simple and genial, recalling, in many ways, "the grandest Roman," the late Senator Thurman, at once tested the convention when he demanded order with the remark that he had the honor to preside, briefly, over the first National Democratic Convention in the year 1896.” The reading, by Mr. Outhwaite, of the call for the convention aroused the convention as it had the conference that issued it. It was the key to all that was said and done, bold, defiant, independent and Democratic.

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Forty-seven states were represented in the convention by 824 delegates, having the power to cast the full number of votes to which the states represented were entitled. With business-like directness and orderly promptness the temporary organization proceeded. Ex-Governor Roswell P. Flower was made chairman. In a speech three quarters of an hour long he reviewed the events that had driven Democrats to repudiate the action of the Chicago convention, skillfully meeting and refuting many of the fallacies to which Democrats had been asked to subscribe, but which had proved too revolutionary and repulsive to be accepted. The committees named by the states bristled with the names of Democrats who had long and honorably served their party, and there was a strong infusion of the younger Democracy in the organization. The Committee on Resolutions included ex-Governor Jones of Alabama, Col. John P. Irish of California, the most brilliant orator of the party on the Pacific Coast; Louis P. Ehrich of Colorado, a keen, strong fighter for sound money in a strong silver state; ex-Congressman Lewis Sperry of Connecticut, a sturdy sound money man: Comptroller of the Currency James H. Eckels of Illinois, George M. Davie of Kentucky, an enthusiastic, level headed man, one of the ablest in the sound money contest; Henry M. Richmond of New York, Virgil P. Kline of Ohio, Congressman M. E. Kleberg of Texas, a gold standard man from a silver state; S. W. Fordyce of Arkansas, G. R. De Saussure of Georgia, Walter I. Babb of Iowa, Edgar H. Farrar of Louisiana, C. V. Holman of Maine, Alfred Caldwell of West Virginia and Senator W. F. Vilas of Wisconsin.

A permanent National Committee was named by the states represented in the convention. In addition to many strong men whose names had been prominent in the preliminary work, this committee included such men as Thomas F. Corrigan of Georgia,

HON. FRED. W. LEHMAN OF MISSOURI.

the proportion of young and vigorous Democrats was liberal, and every man chosen was well known in his state. So high an average of ability, character and capacity in the state and national committees of a political party has perhaps never before been attained in the United States.

The second session of the convention, occupying less than two hours of the afternoon, brought the report of the Committee on Permanent Organization. Senator Donelson Caffery of Louisiana was made permanent chairman. His speech in taking the chair was a strong and effective denunciation of the course of the majority at Chicago, with the same defiant ring in it that was heard in the convention call. The convention was wonderfully stirred by the speech of Dr. William Everett of Massachusetts, a speech poured tumultuously out of a heart full of zeal and courage and glowing with resentment against political efforts to create class distinctions. He moved the delegates to vehement applause as he declared that the Democrats of Massachusetts and the country were opposed to Anarchism, Populism,

Paternalism and Sectionalism, and the convention rose to its feet to cheer his protest against the insult, at Chicago, to the man who had protected the credit and honor of the nation-Grover Cleveland. Another notable speech, the best, perhaps, in literary form, of all the speeches delivered before a convention that was not oppressed by one dull speech, was that of Col. John P. Irish of California.

During the evening of September 2 the convention, by conference of delegates representing most of the states, reached an agreement upon a candidate for President. Several names had been suggested after General Palmer had, in August, expressed an unwillingness to take the nomination. Gen. E. S. Bragg of Wisconsin had many cordial admirers; the friends of Henry Watterson urged the nomination of the gifted Kentuckian; Gen. Daniel W. Lawlor of Minnesota was discussed with great favor, and there was some Eastern mention of Senator George Gray of Delaware as a suitable candidate. Senator Vilas of Wisconsin, as a constant friend of the administration, was assured of strong support if he would permit the use of his name; but he was already committed to the support of General Bragg of his own state, and would not consent that he should be considered.

Florida and Washington came to the convention determined to advocate the nomination of Grover Cleveland. The delegates from those states, strong in their loyalty to the President, regarded this course as proper and logical in a convention in which all the delegates were friends of the President. Some of the intimate friends of the President in New York were convinced that the President would prefer that the nomination should be given to one of the middle western states in which the sound money contest would be most closely fought out, and were confident that an inquiry addressed to the President would bring an answer that would promptly take his name out of the list of available candidates. D. W. Griffen, chairman of the New York delegation, sent the following message to the President at seven o'clock in the evening of September 2:

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 2, 1896. Hon. GROVER CLEVELAND, Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts:

There has been manifested an unmistakable disposition on the part of the convention to nominate you for the Presidency. The New York delegation is anxious to hear your personal wishes, and would consider it an honor to vote for your nomination.

DANIEL W. GRIFFEN.

To this message there came, early on the morning of September 3, the following reply:

BUZZARDS BAY, MASS., Sept. 2, 1896. Hon. DANIEL W. GRIFFEN, Indianapolis, Ind. : My public and personal inclination is so unalterably opposed that I cannot for one moment entertain the suggestion. GROVER CLEVELAND. Anticipating this declination, and strengthening

the original determination to leave the selection of a candidate to the West. the eastern delegates readily encouraged the proposition from Illinois to urge upon General Palmer a reconsideration of his refusal to accept a nomination. General Palmer relented so far as to promise a definite answer on the morning of the 3d. There was some consideration of the name of Gen. John C. Black of Illinois as an alternative candidate in the event of the continued refusal of General Palmer. As the delegates were already unanimously in favor of the nomination of Gen. S. B. Buckner for Vice President, the agreement to select him for that place disposed of the proposition to name Henry Watterson for President. General Palmer's answer, made on Thursday morning. was favorable, but it was qualified by the stipu lation that he should not be named by his own state. In one session on September 3 the work of the convention was completed. Senator Vilas reported the platform for the Committee on Resolutions with noble rhetorical effectiveness. It was not long. It was not overloaded with theories and definitions. Accepting the call of August 7 as striking the keynote. it was in breadth and vigor an elaborated version of that stirring document. The cardinal doctrines of the Democratic party were set forth with vigor and directness. All the vagaries and heresies of the Chicago convention were utterly repudiated and condemned. Sound money; the maintenance of the gold standard of value; just taxation and tariff for revenue only; condemnation of the free coinage of silver; a liberal policy for American shipping; a uniform, safe and elastic currency; warm approval of the administration of President Cleveland; unqualified support of civil service reform, and denunciation of attacks upon the Supreme Court were its leading topics. The reading of the platform was interrupted by applaus at every period, and it was adopted as a whole by a unanimous vote.

When the roll of states was called for the presenta tion of candidates, California introduced Lemuel L. Kilburn of Michigan, who named Gen. John M. Palmer of Illinois and gave the convention an opportunity to learn how popular was the really first choice of the sound money Democracy. The nomination was greeted by rousing cheers, the delegates rising in their places to join in the prolonged applause. Mr. Watterson was withdrawn without being named. General Bragg was nominated by Burr W. Jones of Wisconsin, under the instructions of the state convention. The roll was called. General Palmer received 7691⁄2 votes; General Bragg had 1182. With fine soldierly gallantry, General Bragg moved the unanimous nomination of his opponent, promising, as he did so, that in the contest his voice and figure would be found where Wisconsin expected to find her soldier sons, "nearest to the flashing of the guns." The nomination was made unanimous with a shout.

Gen. Simon B. Buckner of Kentucky was presented

for Vice-President in a brief, appropriate speech by W. B. Brouder of Kentucky. The rules were suspended and he was nominated by acclamation.

In two days, without personal rivalries about candidates, and with substantial agreement in com mittee on all points, the National Democracy had taken the necessary steps to preserve a truly Democratic party organization and afford sound-money

HON. JAMES C. BULLITT OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Democrats an opportunity to protest against the revolutionary policies and candidates offered in Chicago.

V. THE HOPE OF THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY.

Nine days after the platform and ticket of the National Democratic party had been submitted for the approval of the Democrats of the country the candidates were formally notified, at Louisville, in the presence of a large, distinguished and enthusiastic audience, that they had been chosen to be the standard bearers. It was decided by the National Committee that this ceremony would be conducted in the state of Kentucky with greater political advantage than in any other state. At Indianapolis it was concluded, upon consideration of the reports brought from Kentucky, that the brightest pros

pects for the cause of sound money were held out by the Blue Grass state. General Buckner shared the opinion of his fellow delegates to Indianapolis that the sound money Democratic ticket would be voted by not less than fifty thousand Kentuckians. He admitted that this was conjecture, but he also maintained that the indications would justify him in assuming that the vote would be greatly in excess of fifty thousand, and that it would be large enough to shield the state from the degradation implied in approval of the blunders committed at Chicago.

Since the Indianapolis convention the National Democrats have gone on with the organization of the party in nearly all of the states represented in the convention. By election day it is probable that the Democrats of every state will be able to choose between Bryanite candidates and men pledged to the Democratic principles enunciated at Chicago. In some states the zealous leaders of the National Democracy are very sanguine that they will secure the electoral vote. That feeling may be justified by intimate acquaintance with the conditions in the states, but refusal to accept the prediction does not imply a doubt that the party will serve a righteous purpose in securing votes enough to prevent the capture of electors for the candidates repudiated at Indianapolis.

The reasonable expectation of the National Democratic managers is that Indiana will cast something like 10,000 votes for Palmer and Buckner, and assure the defeat of Bryan. In Illinois, it is asserted by competent judges that the Indianapolis ticket will get not less than 30,000 votes, and perhaps 50,000, and sanguine men estimate the Cook County vote as high as 30,000 for Palmer. In Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, Iowa, Ohio, Kansas, Nebraska, where any division of the Democratic party must be regarded as a menace of success, the most insignificant strength that the Indianapolis ticket may command must impair the chances for victory to the Bryan party.

It is yet too early, at this writing, when the machinery of the National Democratic party is incomplete, and before the other parties, more fully equipped, have made polls of the states, to obtain even approximately correct information of the strength of the party organized at Indianapolis. That it is a reality, supported by a reasonable faith and by men of sense, honesty, fidelity to principles and to good men, there is no doubt. If the expectation of some of its leaders, that it will command the voting support of half a million of American citizens, is fulfilled at the polls, that result will be accepted as abundant recompense for all the time and labor that has been expended in promoting the patriotic cause.