Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-06-11

oago convention would require volume.
It was the largest and most exciting national
convention ever held in this country. The
attendance was fairly overwhelming. Ca
pacious as are the Chicago hotels they were
| taxed to their utmost. AS the Grand Pa
cifc and Palmer were the respective centers
| everybody fiocked to one or tie other OF
/ these points, and the crush was fairly over
powering For three days the Palmer
house corridors were literally an immovable
mass of humanity. On the first day of the
convention I stood in the crowd for
an hour, within a few feet of the
stairway, vainly endeavorin to 60 up. All
that time there were two lines on the stair
way, one going up and the other going
down, but during that hour did not ad-
vance moro than five feet and finally con-
cluded to postpone going up stairs until my
| next trip to Chicago. The Grand Pacific is
immensely superior to the Palmer for a
crowd. It's halls and corridors are more
numerous and wider and the great crowd
handled itself with greater ease and comfort
| Gf the word can be used at alD
than at the Palmer. The Palmer
| was the recognized Grant head
quarters, though Conklipg and the New York
delegation had their headquarters at the
Grand Pacific, occupying the largest parlor
at that hostlery.
During the first three days of the conyen-
tion all was fuss and fustian. The friends
of Grant at the Palmer and of Sherman and
Blaine at theGrand Pacific, ,vied with each 9TH
er for the supremacy in making noise. There
was constant Eruption of brass bands and
professions, until one paid but little atten-
ton to the question of who the blowing was
for, but accepted it as part of the show.
The consequence WIS that the Blaine and
Sherman bands and professions, which
chiefly monopol1zed the business, did
Grant or their respective ri
walls as much good as the candidate
who paid for the fusilade-said benefit
amounting to just nothing at all, so far as
votes were concerned. It probably pleases
candidate and his friends to have good
strong backing in the shape of bands and
blowhards, but all sensible men understand
that such nonsense does not make Presi-
Dental candidates. When it became evident
that portion of the second week would be
required, the economical souls of the man
ayers became impressed with the idea that
clubs and bands were unnecessary, and with
commendable prudence they allowed them
to return to their rural Sabbath schools. The
convention never missed them.
THE BLAINE MISTAKE.
Whatever strength Jim Blaine has Sc
cured, lies in being prompt and aggressive,
He and his followers were sufficiently aggres
sive, but they wore not sufficiently prompt.
They were bitter in denouncing Grant, de-
claring that they would not support him if
nominated, etc., but they did not hurry up
the voting. That proved fatal. Any or all
of the candidates could afford to wait better
than Blaine. He must win by dash or not
at all. His managers sought to win by steal
ing delegates from Grant. They succeeded
in stealing them, but it occupied time
which was precious. I venture to assert that
q more gross political outrage was never
perpetrated than the stealing of eighteen
votes from Illinois. While I have not
great deal of faith in the immediate punish
ment of political rascality, felt impressed
with the idea that if Blaine took those Illi-
nois delegates from Grant he (BIaine) would
never secure the nomination. But for the
effort to secure those delegates the balloting
would have begun on Friday. The stealing
process required three days and half of
time and threw the balloting over to
Monday. Altogether the result
proved net loss of thirty-one
votes to Grant while it was only a net gain
of ten to Blaine. Hen zee the great fight
weakened Grant without correspondingly
helping Blaine. The delay was an absolute
loss of more than ten votes and he was hoist
by his own petard. The fight solidified the
Grant strength so that it had no second
choice, while Blaine's men were constantly
speculating as to where they should 60 in
case Blaine could not secure it. That of
itself was fatal and when the first ballot
showed twenty to twenty-five votes less than
was expected, every one with any political
sagacity knew that Blaine was dead. The
only remaining question was to de etermine
when the funeral should be ordered. The
corpse was ready.
CoNKLING's POWER.
No one could witness Roscoe Conkling's
lpeadership in the convention without admir-
ing the ability of the man. He is man of
whom any political party may be proud.
Vain and conceited, as he undoubtedly is,there
is basis for his vanity and conceit, which
warrants his weakness in that direction. I
have often wondered what gave him such a
hold upon his party in a great State like
New York, but after seeing and hearing him
for six days In that convention, wonder no
longer. He is intellectually giant, and his
brains command admiration and support
even from those who disli ke his naughty and
supercillious airs. With the field combined
against Grant, the Grant men were in mi
nority in the convention, and consta ntly Ia
bored at disadvantage. Still they won al.
most uniformly upon all preliminary points.
Conkling would state his case 40 plainly as
to carry conviction, and his opponents could
not find it in their hearts to vote him
down. The first break made upon him was
the card of twenty of the New York delega-
tion declaring that they would not support
Grant. Conkling called the delegation to-
gether and gave them speech which is said
to have been terrible excoriation of the
men who refused to abide by their instruc-