The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-03-01
The Cincinnati Striker.
Sketch of Democratic Committee Meet
ing.

The Washington correspondent of the
Springfield Republican sketches in the follow
ing words the session of the Democratic ma
tional committee and the scene when Cincin-
natl was chosen as the meeting place of the
national conventions:
Precisely why, it would be hard to say, but
| the Cincinnati Democratic striker is perhaps
| the worst specimen of the political animal who
| shows himself at headquarters" Tammsny
1 is bad enough and Republican or Democratic,
| Philadelphia about as bad, but there is an ire
deemable vulgarity about the third-rate Ohio
Democrat which ranks him lower. The leaders
| are strong, able men. Thurman, Pendleton,
Hurd ,Sayler, Banning rank with anybody. Men
like John G. Thompson, and "Col." Leon
Harris at least look clean, but the next grade
| is foul and vulgar to the lowest political de-
gree; much as if the loungers at a country bar
added to their other filth the opportunities of
city dissipation. The "head-quarters'' busi-
ness, any way, is an odd feature of political
lie which never gets into the papers because
1t Is familiar to the men who are in it. Satur-
day, Sunday and Monday, the lobby at Will
lard's hotel was full of a close, seething crowd
Of men from all over the country, sprinkled
with the superior class of ell-"informed"
idlers which Washington breeds. Dotted
around were big placards telling you that par
lor this was Chicago, and parlor that Cincinna-
IL; Cincinnati, making much the biggest show
had the biggest parlor. There was a roomful
OF sollcitous men, two clerks writing, and a
certain noisy and hospitable hilarity pervading
the parlor; walk in, and in spite of your mod
est inslgnifcance, you are impressed with
seEse OF your own importance. At home, let
one say, you are plain Mr.. Smith Of Spring
field; at a headquarters, given the vaguest
reason for imagining you have Influence or
the shadowiest acquaintance with the tempo
rary political chamberlains who are managing
the introductions, and you find yourself at the
end OF the room, where present Congressman
a. hat ,nfo ~ all
be Mr.. Smith of Massachusetts,; and you also
find everybody courteously glad to see you.
Milton Sayler, ex-representative from Cincin-
natl, smooth polished, with his pointed beard
with you as if he liked it. Gen. Banning an
other representative, with good deal broader
manner about him-a man whose beard and
broad shoulders and buttoned coat give you an
idea that he is bulging out of his clothes,
shakes hands as If he thought you liked it.
There is Leon Harris, too, with pink-skinned
face and white beard a man scarcely known
outside of Ohio, but bearing here the curious
air OF conscious self-importance never quite
absent from "boss''-that, whether you know
1T or not, there are wards and districts where
the machine moves to his touch. 1t is hard to
tell or see exactly what is accomplished by
these headquarters beyond giving the boys
show; the real work is all done at whispered
consultations in back bedrooms; it is set mp
without parade and carried through without
noise.
Later as it became plain that Cincinnati had
the convention, there were other preparations.
Another set OF parlors opposite the hall where
the committee met, tables spread with cham
pagne and lunch, mostly fluid, and a general
crush OF committeeman and friends and friends
friends. However ones opinions and preju-
dices may lie, it is not precisely the sight to
which one would introduce, say, an inquiring
English friend who wanted to see the men
that manage unbend themselves. There they
are filling up and growing full. The bigger
bosses don't get drunk, at least not usually.
Is it possible, barely possible that the survival
of the fittest in the Democratic party runs
along this line? The smaller bosses, the cap
tains of ffties and hundreds get very drunk.
In the inner room where the real leaders and
hosts stand, there is a certain restraint, in the
outer, one has to be callous to good deal to
endure it at all. Later in the evening comes
the inevitable serenade, and while it would be
unfair to say that the speakers, numbering
Senator, ex-Congressmen and a round batch
OF local notables, are the victims of their own
generous hospitality, it is painfully noticeable
that the fat men stand well back on their
heels, as they speak from the hotel balcony to
the crowd below, and the thin ones find it con-
venient to keep close grip on tho balcony
rail. There is good deal of wild talk, ju-
diciously pruned by the Democratic reporters
around, and one man shouts that the nominee
at Cincinnati Twill be inaugurated" (bad word
that to handle at certain stages of utterance)
whether he is elected or not" So the Demo-
cratic convention goes to Cincinnati.