St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-07-03
Convention M0bS.

Under the head of 'anOther cOnven-
ton mob" the Springfield Republican
foreshadOws the meeting of the ma
tional democratic convention at Chi
cagO next month. The Republican
had a keen observer at the June con-
ventiOn and that experience evidently
confirms his impressions of the danger
which threatens. After saying that
the hall is to be enlarged, so as to seat
1900 more people, the writer observes {:
Folly could not take a wilder and
binder flight than such action in
wolves. 1t places supposed deliber-
ating body ut the mercy of packed
crowd, and introduces the worst phase
of mob intolerance. Fortunately this
is usually gOOd-tempered in rude
way. lere will be a sergeant-at-
arms who is supposed to embody the
authority of the voting body, but he
will be us powerless before the CALLER
les as a straw in cyclone. Gen. Hen
derson's mild-mannered and impotent
threat to clear the galleries in the
recent republican gathering naturally
excited the amiable mirth of the audi-
ence. Outside of the $40 delegates,
many thousands of spectators took an
active share i'll the proceedings. The
crowd, admitted by ticket, or quite as
frequently through the favoritism of
the dOOr-keepers, was there to yell for
the favorite candidate. Like all mobs
it was. essentially brutal, daring and
unfair. In every viva vOce vote the
galleries participated, many speakers
were refused the bare courtesy of a
hearing, others were partially cried
down, and gallery interjectiOns were
not suppressed. One hardened Of
fender in the gallery at the immediate
right of the platform talked almost
continuously during one session, but
no one mOlested him, and he certainly
was not made afraid. At every men
ton of Blaine the great hall became
as turbulent as a boiling tea-kettle,
but at the widest demonstration the
intelligent gallery spectator saw that
not half of the 800 delegates were en-
gagged in the demonstration. "The
sentiment of the conventiOn," about
which so much was said, meant the
noise of the galleries. And this was
openly and regularly directed by a
Blaine manager who sat close to the
ear of the president of the convention,
and raised or stilled the tumult by the
movement of his hand.
The scandal of such a proceeding is
plain, not to speak of its obvious in
tent to influence if not to intimidate
the convention. Certainly there is
sublime impertinence about it all that
should impress even those who accept
the present way of conducting national
conventions as a necessary evil. As
the matter now stands thousands of
Chicago people are given the special
privilege of sharing in, delaying and
perhaps directing the deliberations of
the highest party court. Is there any
sound reason why this should be SO ?
With the galleries cleared and the con-
ventiOns confined to delegates, alter
mates and reporters, business would be
expedited, free speech and the decen
cies of parliamentary bodies would be
respected, and the peoples business
could be transacted with that delibera-
ton and decorum which it merits. The
proceedings would then be promptly
and fully put before the public by the
newspapers. Mob rule comes too dan
gerousiy near the dearest rights of the
American people in these great mass
conventions that have been too long
tolerated. 1t is quite time to make
| these gatherings that touch with SOW
ereign power the supreme office of the
nation conform to the dignity of their
high responsibility.