No sooner had the platform been reported to the Convention, than Senator Teller of Colorado rose and offered a substitute for its gold-standard declaration. Mr. Teller's substitute was one which he had tried in vain to induce the Committee to adopt. It declared that "the Republican Party favours the use of both gold and silver as equal standard money;" and it pledged the party to secure "the free, unrestricted and independent coinage of gold and silver" in the mints of the United States "at a ratio of 16 parts of silver to I of gold."

This embodied the extreme demand of the free-silver men and it was certain to be rejected. Many delegates might have favoured the device of a "straddle," as a measure of expediency; but Senator Teller had forced the monetary issue in a way which admitted of no compromise. In support of his substitute he spoke with intense feeling, his voice often faltering, and tears of unaffected emotion his eyes. For him it was a solemn moment. He had been a Republican all his life, and to part with his old associates was unspeakably bitter.

in

"When the Republican Party was organised, I was there. It has never had a national candidate since it was organised that my voice has not been raised in his support. It has never had a great principle enunciated in its platform that has not had my approbation until

now.

With its distinguished leaders I have been in close communion and close friendship. I have shared in its honours and in its few defeats and disasters. Do you think that we can sever our connection with a party like this unless it be a matter of duty-a duty, not to our respective States only, but a duty to all the people of this great land?"

The Convention respected Mr. Teller's emotion and listened to his address in sympathetic silence. But when the roll was called, his substitute was rejected by a vote of 818 to 105, and the platform as reported from the Committee was adopted by a vote of 812 to 110. Those delegates who were in full accord with Mr. Teller then rose and left the convention hall. They were only thirty-four in number, yet among them were four Senators of the United States and two members of the House of Represen

GARRET A. HOBART

tatives.* The Convention then proceeded to the nomination of a candidate for the Presidency. The nominating speeches were beneath the level of even Convention oratory, and neither Senator Foraker's oration in behalf of Mr. McKinley, nor Senator Lodge's in support of Mr. Reed, nor Mr. Depew's for Mr. Morton, showed any great rhetorical ability. The result was already known to all, even before the delegates had been polled. A test of Mr. McKinley's strength as against the united opposition had previously been made upon a question of sustaining the Committee on Credentials, and the vote showed the Ohio candidate to have a large majority (545 to 359). This was vastly increased when the Convention voted directly on the nomination. Mr. McKinley received 661 votes; Mr. Reed, 84; Senator Quay, 61: Mr. Morton, 6; Morton, 58; and Senator Allison, 35. The choice of Mr. McKinley was then made unanimous amid the first genuine enthusiasm that had been shown. The cheering was vociferous and prolonged; and it reached

*The four senators were Messrs. Teller (Colorado), Dubois (Idaho), Cannon (Utah), and Pettigrew (South Dakota). The States represented in the secession were Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Montana and South Dakota.

a climax when a delegate raised upon the point of a flag-staff a cocked hat such as one associates with the appearance of Napoleon. It was a harmless whim on the part of Mr. McKinley to fancy that he bore a certain physical resemblance to the victor of Marengo; and a knowledge of this lent vigour to the cheering which greeted the Napoleonic emblem. Unsympathetic Democrats noted that the nomination had been made on June 18th, the date of the battle of Waterloo; and they professed to see in the coincidence an omen of disaster to the Republican Napoleon.

For the Vice-Presidency, the Convention nominated on the first ballot Mr. Garret A. Hobart, a wealthy lawyer and man of affairs, whose home was in New Jersey.

Mr. McKinley's nomination was well received by Republicans throughout the country; and the explicit utterance in favour of the gold standard appeased the capitalists and business men who had previously opposed him as a trimmer. But his selection on a gold platform had also the effect of consolidating the advocates of silver and of making the election turn inevitably upon the financial question. Even before this the Democratic Party in the West and South had become practically a free-silver party. The conventions of thirty States had passed resolutions approving the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. Only ten States had declared for the maintenance of the gold standard. The convention of one State alone (Florida) had ignored the money issue altogether. It was so plain. that the approaching National Convention of the Democratic Party would be controlled by the free-silver men, that many conservative Democrats (or "Cleveland Democrats," as they were called) were at first inclined to take no part in the Convention's councils, but to break openly with their party in advance. of its assemblage. From this course, however, they were dissuaded by President Cleveland himself, who, on June 16th, caused a letter to be published which may be considered his last official utterance as the head of the Democratic Party. In it his faith in the ultimate good sense of the people was

still apparent. His tone was still both confident and courageous. A National Convention, wrote he, is a gathering for conference and reflection. No Democrat should refuse to take part in it from sheer faint-heartedness or with the belief that its conclusions are predetermined. On the contrary, every one should do all within his power to guide its deliberations to wise and salutary ends. "A cause worth fighting for is worth fighting for to the end."

This spirited summons rallied the conservative leaders of the party; and when the Convention met at Chicago on July 7th, both factions were fully represented there. But as soon as the delegates began to arrive, it was plain that only a miracle of management could stem the tide that had set in for free silver. As Mr. Richard P. Bland expressed it in a published interview, the Democracy of the West were convinced that "the gold standard meant bankruptcy," and that the Convention would declare for the "free coinage of silver at 16 to 1 and d-n the consequences!"* A correspondent of the New York World, which was the organ of the Cleveland Democrats, described the situation in Chicago very accurately in these words: "The Silverites will be invincible if united and harmonious; but they have neither machine nor boss. The oppor

tunity is here; the man is lacking."

There

Such was, indeed, the case. were present men who in former years had exercised almost dictatorial power in Democratic conventions; but they were now swept aside unheeded, or made to feel that they were distrusted and disliked. Senator Hill, Mr. Whitney and ex-Governor Flower of New York were there, and so were ex-Governor W. E. Russell of Massachusetts and Mr. Bragg of Wisconsin; yet they were lost in the swirling mob that marched and shouted and sang without leadership or any definite purpose save a desire to "smash things" and to shake off the domination of the East. Fanatics like Altgeld and Tillman rode the crest of this human deluge, and their wild talk harmonised with the reckless mood of

*Interview in New York World, July 1, 1896.

those who listened to them eagerly. One finds it interesting to speculate upon the feelings with which Senator Gorman of Maryland must have watched the strange scenes that were taking place on the eve of this Convention of his party. At the Convention of 1892, he had been an honoured leader. The cause for which he then contended had triumphed at the polls. A Democratic President and a Democratic Congress had sought to keep their pledges to the nation by wise and moderate counsels, by the remission of unjust taxation, and by shaking off the grasp of the money power. But Mr. Gorman and those who acted with him had turned that great victory to naught. They had humiliated their chosen leader, and made the professions of their party seem dishonest and ridiculous. But in doing this, they had sown the wind, and they were now blasted by the whirlwind of political retribution. Who in all this vociferous multitude cared for what Mr. Gorman and his associates wished or thought? The most uncouth of all the delegates from a mining camp was here of more importance than the smooth Senator from Maryland, who, having by his machinations sapped the strength of the conservative Democracy, had thus unbarred the flood-gates of a furious torrent which was already far beyond

control.

How completely the great majority of the delegates had cast away their old allegiances was made evident when the Convention first assembled on July 7th, in a vast structure, styled the Coliseum, under whose spreading roof of glass and iron fifteen thousand human beings were crowded together in the heat of a summer sun. The National Committee was still controlled by the conservative element of the party; and this Committee now presented to the Convention the name of Senator Hill of New York as its selection for the temporary chairmanship. Both usage and etiquette required that their choice should be ratified by the delegates as a matter of ordinary courtesy. But not even for a temporary office would the majority accept an Eastern man who was also an opponent of free silver. A debate remarkable for its bitterness at once

ARTHUR PUE GORMAN

began; and in opposition to Mr. Hill, Senator John W. Daniel of Virginia, an ardent silver advocate, was put in nomination, and was elected to the temporary chairmanship by the decisive vote of 556 to 349. A preliminary test of strength had now been made; and from this moment the silver men were exultantly aware of their supremacy. An eye-witness of the scene thus noted its significance: "The sceptre of political power has passed from the strong, certain hands of the East to the feverish, headstrong mob of the West and South."* During the debate, a delegate had casually spoken the name of President Cleveland. Many of the spectators at once rose to their feet and cheered; but it was an ominous circumstance that not a single delegate joined in the cheering, even those from New York remaining silent in their places. Mr. Altgeld, on the other hand, was greeted with yells of unrestrained delight.

Having won this victory, and having listened to an address by Senator Daniel, the Convention adjourned until the following day. When it reassembled on the morning of July 8th, it was plain that the silver faction meant to use its power to the full. By a sweeping majority the representation of each Territory was aug*New York World, July 8, 1896.

mented from two members to six. The delegation from Nebraska, which was pledged to support the gold standard, was unseated, and a contesting delegation of silver men, with Mr. William J. Bryan at its head, was admitted to the Convention. Four gold delegates from Michigan were rejected, and four silver delegates were substituted in their places, thus giving to the silver faction, under the unit rule, the entire vote of Michigan. Having made these changes, all of which greatly increased the strength of the majority, Senator S. M. White of California was made the permanent President of the Convention.

On July 9th, the Committee on Resolutions reported a platform devoted almost wholly to the money question, which was declared to be "paramount to all others at this time." The platform, after denouncing the demonetisation of silver as being the cause of the prevalent financial distress, went on to say:

"We are unalterably opposed to monometallism, which has locked fast the prosperity of an industrial people in the paralysis of hard times. Gold monometallism is a British policy, and its adoption has brought other nations into financial servitude to London. . . . We demand the free and unlimited coinage of both silver and gol at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1 without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation. We demand that the standard silver dollar shall be a full legal tender, equally with gold, for all debts, public and private; and we favour such legislation as will prevent for the future the demonetisation of any kind of legal-tender money by private contract."

The resolutions were made to condemn "the issuing of interest-bearing bonds of the United States in time of peace and ... the trafficking with banking syndicates"; and to denounce "arbitrary interference by Federal authorities in local affairs," and especially "government by injunction," which was described as "a new and highly dangerous form of oppression, by which Federal judges become at once legislators, judges and executioners." "Life tenure in the public service" was also disapproved in favour of appointments for fixed terms of office. The Monroe Doctrine was reaffirmed; sym

pathy was expressed for the people of Cuba in their struggle for independence; and an enlargement of the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission was demanded, together with such "control of railroads as will protect the people from robbery and oppression."

It will be noted that, contrary to all usage, this platform as reported by the majority contained no word of approbation for President Cleveland. More than that, it condemned every important policy with which he had been identified. It was, indeed, precisely what those who wrote it meant that it should be-a repudiation of him and of his administration. A minority of the Committee, however, presented a protest to the Convention signed by sixteen members representing sixteen. different States. These gentlemen pronounced some of the declarations in the platform, as reported by the majority of the Committee, to be "wholly unnecessary." Others were called "ill-considered and ambiguously phrased," while still others were "extreme and revolutionary." The minority, therefore, offered in place of the free silver declaration, a substitute to the effect that any attempt on the part of the United States alone to establish free silver coinage would both imperil the national finances and retard or prevent the success of international bimetallism. "It would place this country at once upon a silver basis, impair contracts, disturb business, diminish the purchasing power of the wages of labour, and inflict irreparable evil upon our nation's commerce and industry." Finally, the minority offered the following resolution as an amendment to the majority's report:

"We commend the honesty, economy, courage and fidelity of the present Democratic national administration."

Both reports were now before the Convention, and the climax of the struggle had been reached. At once Senator Tillman leaped to the platform. To him the minority report, with its praise of President Cleveland, was like a red rag to a

*Among the signers of the protest were Senator Hill of New York, Mr. Vilas of Wisconsin. Mr. Gray of Delaware, and Messrs. Lynde Harrison, C. V. Holman, John E. Russell, John Prentiss Poe, William R. Steele, Robert E. Wright and Charles D. Rogers.

*

bull. He fronted the multitude, dark and savage-featured, his face flushed, his hair unkempt, "the incarnation of the mob, vengeful and defiant." There was a strange gleam in his one eye. When he began to speak his fury soon rose to a fierce crescendo. He paced the platform. like a madman, clenching his fists, hissing out his words, tossing his hands high above his head, and snapping his jaws together. So completely had his passion mastered him, that much of what he said was unintelligible; but those who heard him gathered that he was denouncing Mr. Cleveland as "a tool of Wall Street,' a tyrant, and one who richly deserved to be impeached and driven from his high office. Oddly enough, the vehemence of Mr. Tillman defeated its own object. Intense as was the feeling of the multitude to which he spoke, such raving did not touch its sympathies. Though applause was given to him by many, in his violence he had overshot the mark. Senator Hill, who spoke in behalf of the minority report, failed in another way to meet the mood of the vast audience. His face was ashen white and his manner glacial. Mr. Hill entirely lacked the oratorical temperament. Wholly unimpassioned at all times, the emotion of those about him seemed to make him colder and still more unbending. "I am a Democrat," he began, "but I am not a revolutionist." Then he proceeded with a discourse that was wholly argumentative, an appeal to reason, which, if pronounced before a purely deliberative body, might well have carried conviction in its words. But it was no deliberative body that he now addressed, but a surging mass of men frantic with excitement, upon whom mere argument was thrown away. He might as well have spoken to a cyclone; and when he took his seat, he knew that he had failed. Mr. Vilas of Wisconsin and Mr. Russell of Massachusetts, who followed and supported Mr. Hill, were no less ineffectual. Weakness of voice, an evident consciousness of coming defeat, and an unpopular cause, all combined to make their efforts unavailing.

Until now there had spoken no man to whom that riotous assembly would listen. with respect. But at this moment there *Report in New York World, July 10, 1896.

appeared upon the platform Mr. William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska, who came forward to reply to the three preceding speakers. As he faced the twenty thousand yelling, cursing, shouting men before him, they felt at once that indescribable, inagnetic thrill which beasts and men alike experience in the presence of a master. Serene and self-possessed, and with a smile upon his lips, he faced the roaring multitude with a splendid consciousness of power. Before a single word had been uttered by him, the pandemonium sank to an inarticulate murmur, and when he began to speak, even this was hushed to the profoundest silence. A mellow, penetrating voice that reached, apparently without the slightest effort, to the farthermost recesses of that enormous hall, gave utterance to a brief exordium:

"MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION: I should be presumptuous, indeed, to present myself against the distinguished gentlemen to whom you have listened, if this were a mere measuring of abilities; but this is not a contest between persons. The humblest citizen in all the land, when clad in the armour of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error. I come to speak to you in defence of a cause as holy as the cause of liberty-the cause of humanity."

Mr. Bryan had in these three sentences already won his auditors. The repose and graceful dignity of his manner, the courteous reference to his opponents, and the perfect clearness and simplicity of his language, riveted the attention of every man and woman in the convention hall. As he continued, it was with increasing earnestness and power. He spoke briefly of the issue which was there to be determined. He held it to be an issue based upon a vital principle, the right of the majority to rule and to have its firm convictions embodied in the declaration of the party.

"It is not a question of persons; it is a question of principle; and it is not with gladness that we find ourselves brought into conflict with those who are now arrayed upon the other side. . . . When you [turning to the gold delegates] come before us and tell us that we are about to disturb your business interests, we reply that you have disturbed our business interests by your course.