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HISTORY OF the state OF NEW YORK

Democratic Party

Convention held in Baltimore, June 25-July 2, 1912. For the position of temporary chairman the national committee designated Alton B. Parker. This choice was strongly opposed by William J. Bryan, who nominated John W. Kern, but Mr. Kern declined to be a candidate and advocated the election of Mr. Bryan. On roll-call Parker was chosen by 579 votes to 508 for Bryan-scattering or not voting, 7. Ollie M. James, of Kentucky, was made permanent chairman.

Forty-six ballots were required to nominate the Presidential candidate. First ballot:-Champ Clark, of Missouri, 4402; Woodrow Wilson, of New Jersey, 324; Judson Harmon, of Ohio, 148; Oscar W. Underwood, of Alabama, 1171⁄2; Thomas R. Marshall, of Indiana, 31; Simeon E. Baldwin, of Connecticut, 22; William Sulzer, of New York, 2; William J. Bryan, 1; not voting, 2. On the tenth ballot Clark had 556, eleven more than a majority; this proved to be his maximum vote, though for many ballots following he continued largely in the lead, Wilson meantime retaining second place and slowly gaining. The thirtieth ballot showed 460 for Wilson to 455 for Clark; and on all the subsequent ballots Wilson held the lead. Fortysixth and last ballot:-Wilson, 990; Clark, 84; Harmon, 12; not voting, 2.

The defeat of Mr. Clark, the failure of either Mr. Harmon or Mr. Underwood to develop promising strength, and the consequent success of Mr. Wilson were greatly due to the activities of Mr. Bryan and the

growing feeling among the delegates that it would be unwise to provoke discord by the choice of a candidate unacceptable to him. At the opening of the struggle for the nomination Bryan offered a resolution, which the convention adopted (883 ayes to 2011⁄2 nays), declaring opposition to "the nomination of any candidate for President who is the representative of or under obligation to J. Pierpont Morgan, Thomas F. Ryan, August Belmont, or any other member of the privilegehunting and favor-seeking class." Bryan was hostile to the New York delegation and determined to beat any aspirant having its preference. On the early ballots he voted for Clark, while New York gave its solid support of 90 votes to Harmon. But on the tenth and following ballots New York went solidly for Clark. Bryan sat silent until the fourteenth ballot was being taken, when he rose and in a vigorous speech announced that a condition had arisen in the convention that obliged him to withdraw his support from Clark. "I shall withhold my vote from Mr. Clark," he said, "as long as New York's vote is recorded for him. And the position that I take in regard to Mr. Clark I will take in regard to any other candidate whose name is now or may be before the convention. He then cast his vote for Wilson. His action did not at once produce a marked effect upon the situation, but Clark's vote began to fall off, a few at a time, while Wilson's steadily rose. New York stood unitedly by Clark until the final ballot, when it joined the stampede to Wilson. Mr. Bryan's course created very great bitterness among the friends of Mr. Clark-probably not so much, how

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

ever, on account of the loss of the nomination, as because of the assumption and implications involved in the discrimination against him.

For Vice-President Thomas R. Marshall, of Indiana, was nominated on the second ballot, the vote for him being made unanimous after changes.

Platform (unanimously adopted):

"We, the representatives of the Democratic party of the United States, in national convention assembled, reaffirm our devotion to the principles of Democratic government formulated by Thomas Jefferson and enforced by a long and illustrious line of Democratic Presidents.

"Tariff Reform.-We declare it to be a fundamental principle of the Democratic party that the Federal government, under the Constitution, has no right or power to impose or collect tariff duties except for the purpose of revenue, and we demand that the collection of such taxes shall be limited to the necessities of government, honestly and economically administered.

"The high Republican tariff is the principal cause of the unequal distribution of wealth; it is a system of taxation which makes the rich richer and the poor poorer; under its operations the American farmer and laboring man are the chief sufferers; it raises the cost of the necessaries of life to them, but does not protect their product or wages. The farmer sells largely in free markets and buys almost entirely in the protected markets. In the most highly protected industries, such as cotton and wool, steel and iron, the wages of the laborers are the lowest paid in any of our industries. We denounce the Republican pretense on that subject and assert that American wages are established by competitive conditions and not by the tariff.

"We favor the immediate downward revision of the existing high, and, in many cases, prohibitive tariff duties, insisting that material reductions be speedily made upon the necessaries of life. Articles entering into competition with trust-controlled products and articles

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Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president; born October 27, 1858, New York City; publicist; member of assembly, 1882; candidate for mayor of New York, 1886; United States civil service commissioner, 1889-95; president of New York City police board, 1895-97; assistant secretary of the navy, 1897-8; served in Spanish-American war; governor of New York, 1899-1900; vice president, March 4 to September 20, 1901, when he became president upon the death of President McKinley; elected president, 1904; defeated candidate for president on progressive ticket in 1912; died at Oyster Bay, N. Y., January 6, 1919.

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