XLII

CHICAGO MEETS THE CHAllenge of ST. LOUIS

INSTRUCTIVE had been the convention in St. Louis, but even more revealing of popular thought littleunderstood in the East, was to be the Democratic convention in Chicago. William Jennings Bryan occupied a seat almost adjacent to mine, in the press section in the Republican gathering, sending to the Omaha World Herald - he was chief of its editorial staff "comments upon the important incidents of the convention", as he put it. I had called his attention to the brief dispatch in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat stating, to my amazement, that George Fred Williams, hitherto strong for the gold standard, had made a silver speech in Portland, Maine. "That is good news," Mr. Bryan said; "he will be an addition to our side."

To the newspaper correspondents Mr. Bryan would have seemed about as likely to be made the presidential candidate of his party as any one of the busy reporters, had the possibility been suggested. Yet that honor he was soon to achieve. He was never to reach the White House, but in many future national conventions was to send comments upon important happenings", syndicated to many newspapers. He was to become "the great commoner" of the political reporters, to play a conspicuous and

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often very important part in the history of his party, to become secretary of state, but not president.

Radical Democrats welcomed the action of the Republicans. Mr. Bryan suggested in his dispatch to the Omaha paper the financial plank which was later adopted at Chicago. The Democratic convention opened July 7, but on June 30 silver Democrats had gathered and perfected plans for controlling the convention. Their mastery was complete. This was demonstrated at the start, when the national committee, having a majority of gold standard men, recommended Senator David B. Hill of New York for temporary chairman. The silver men put forward Senator John W. Daniel of Virginia, and elected him by a vote of 536 to 349. Such was the convention's right, but it was revolutionary. The national committee had admitted the gold delegation from Nebraska, but the credentials committee seated the Bryan silver delegates, and unseated four gold men from Michigan. From then on it was merely a question of what the silver majority would do to the party, with gold men in the end egging them on.

This insured an exciting convention, and plenty of incident. Contention settled about the financial plank. Senator James K. Jones of Arkansas was chairman of the committee on resolutions, consisting of fifty-one members. The minority of that body was made up of fifteen members, including all the representatives of New England States, excepting Maine. John E. Russell was the Massachusetts member. William E. Russell, two years out of the governorship, took part in the convention on the

credential of a Cambridge delegate, his home city. George Fred Williams challenged his right to do so without avail.

In power of personality and effectiveness of speech the gold men outweighed their opponents. In the debate over the platform Senator Hill of New York, Senator William F. Vilas of Wisconsin and ex-Governor Russell were pitted against Senator B. R. Tillman of South Carolina, Senator Jones of Arkansas and Mr. Bryan. The permanent chairman, Senator Stephen M. White of California, proved a disappointment to thoughtful silver delegates. Senator Tillman was in his most slashingly provocative "pitchfork" mood. Nor had Senator Jones afforded comfort to the supporters of silver. On the other side Hill, Vilas and Russell impressed even their opponents with the strength and resource of their oratory.

So was staged the convention's conspicuous event, Mr. Bryan's closing for silver. I see again "the boy orator of the Platte" as he hurried down the aisle from the Nebraska delegation, mounting to the platform two steps at a time. The order of the appearance of the silver speakers had been left with Senator Jones, who at the last moment, with a flash of good judgment, rearranged the program. Tillman had been slated to close for the silver side, but instead Bryan was given that important part. The audience had grown weary of bitterly radical utterances, and the supporters of silver were left with the feeling that their cause had been inadequately presented. Mr. Bryan improved his exceptional opportunity. He was young then, attractive in bear

ing and quivering with earnestness. Always of religious temperament, feeling profoundly that he represented the cause of the people, the toilers of every kind, Mr. Bryan felt himself the man of the hour, and proved to be. It was a very striking convention effort, its adaptation to the moment in shining contrast with the speaking for silver that had gone before. That brief half-hour brought forward an orator of national importance, whatever might be thought of the soundness of his views.

Mr. Bryan defined the cause of silver as "the cause of humanity"; it was the paramount issue, not the tariff. "If protection has slain its thousands, the gold standard has slain its tens of thousands. When we have restored the money of the constitution, all other reforms will be possible; but until that is done, no other reform can be accomplished." He met the charge that the silver movement threatened to disturb business interests by saying he spoke for all business men, not alone the promoters of big business, but the men employed for wages, the farmers who created wealth, the merchants of the crossroads store, the miners who bring forth the precious metals. "You tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard; we reply that the great cities rest upon our broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave your farms, and cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city." And so on to a climax that captured the attention of the country:

"Having behind us the producing masses of this

nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests, and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them, You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."

Here was sensationally phrased that which a majority of the delegates had felt and feared. It was the voice and the vision they had longed for, these plain men, many of them more accustomed to the prayer meeting and the church than to the bar-room and the club. To many attendance on the convention had involved expense to be reckoned with in the family life. Some came on the contributions of neighbors out of communities where "the face value of mortgages remained the same, though the debt had actually become twice as great." Hence distrust of the gold standard, and a fanatical acceptance of the silver propaganda, with its promise of remedy for every ill.

Not only delegates, but the thousands who packed the Coliseum were swept into enthusiasm by the Bryan speech. Seldom has a political appeal called forth like rapturous response. Talking with Mr. Bryan a dozen years later about that address, he said that during its delivery, out of the great mass of cheering men, he saw only two faces, those of Governor Hogg of Texas and Ollie James of Kentucky. These men of giant frames rose above the rest, upon one side and the other, and their countenances, beaming out of the dark background, seemed to the speaker like radiant suns.