Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-06-07

IL Ia council we can not agree In all, things, GU
motto Is: In essentials unity; In non essentials
liberty; In all things, charity, Fou
years ago we trusted tentatively the Democrat
parry, and supported with Z,sll and vgOr its can
ddate for president You Thought him strong II
all the sturdy qualities requisite for the great tas
of reform, Bhold your splendid justification.
The rest Of the speech eulogy ON the pres
ident.
Mr.. Collins spoke in voice which, though
not great in volume, was sufficiently clea
| and distinct to enable him TO he heard il
every portion of the hall He was frequently
interrupted with loud applause, his referenc,
| to the long and finally successful efforts o.
the Democratic party 10 obtain control Of til,
rens Of government being especially well re
ccived 10y the asscmhuge which heartily an
plauded. References TO the name of Cleve
| land also provoked enthusiasm wherever they
occurred in the chairman's remarks. At the
conclusion Of his speech Collins was again
roundly and warmly greeted
The vice presidents then took their seats ol
| the platform and the chairman stated thai
he was informed that the resolutions commit
tee would not have their report ready until !
| p. m, whereupon resolution was offered de
clarng in favor Of tariff for revenue, so all
jnsted as not to injure the business of the
country, and it went TO the resolutions com
| mittee. A request from the woman's conven
ton recently held in Washington City was
| read, asking ten minutes of the time of the
| convention for n speech in favor Of woman
| suffrage and the request was granted, after
| Il loud cry Of mo" had made the flags in the
| roof tlutter
T. j. Campbell then arose and wanted to
offer resolution, but did not state its pur.
port. The convention had previously adopted
resolution that all such should be referred
| without reading, and it was not until Camp
bell had declared that his paper had no refer
ence to the platform that he was permitted
to have it read. 1t was as follows;
Resolved, That this convention takes occasion
to express its unfeigned sorrow at the serious and
dangerous illness of Gen. Phil H. Sherdan-lap-
plause and to him whose noble and valiant
deeds will ever he enshrincd in the hearts of his
countrymen we extend our sincere sympathy.
We earnestly trust that the great soldier and
distinguished patriot will meet with speedy re
covery and that the Divine Providence may spare
him in this nation for many years to come
Resolved, That copy Of these resolutions by
forwarded to Gen. Sheridan as expressive of the
heartfelt sentiments of the Democracy of the
United States,
This was carried Nth cheers, the delegates
rising en- masse
The representative of the woman suffrage
cause then appeared. She was Mrs, Z. A. Mer
ton broke out into applause. Mrs. Merri-
weather proceeded to plead with the conven-
ton for woman suffrage plank, declaring
that tho basic principle of this country was
equal rights, but that nowhere in the land
does equal rights prevail. She said woman
was in bondage-a subjective class, precisely
the same ms the women of England were I'M
der the monarchs, against whom the colonies
rebeled Our fOrefathers called themselves
slaves under that rule, and she applied the
same term to the women Of the present day.
The Republicans had given freedom tod ,00O,-
900 slaves, and the Democracy now had an
opportunity to give freedom to the whole in
stead of half the people, an act that would
carry the memory of the convention down to
the end Of time. In closing, she presented a
series of resolutions the gist of which was
that as education units people for subjec-
ton, and women were becoming educated,
if the Democracy refused the suffrage to
women they should also take measures to
keep them in ignorance, as that state fitted
the slave to obey his master. The closing
resolution recommended was as follows:
That we, the Democratic men of America, in
convention assembled, advise and urge the legis-
latureS OF every state in this broad Union to enact
such laws as will forever put stop to the educa
tion Of the women Of this land, and thereby stop
the clamOr for equal rights; as will forever close
the doors of every school, public and private to
the female chdren of this country; and we ad-
wise and urge that it he made a penal otTense pun
ishabie 10y fine and Imprisonment, to teach any
girl child the letters of the alphabet; and that any
woman convicted of reading II newspaper or book
or of entering lecture halls, whether listener
or speaker, be severely punished by law.
Mrs. Merriweather closed by thanking the
convention, on behalf of 30,O00,OOO women,
for the ten minutes she had been granted
While she was speaking there was a good
deal of confusion and noise and some calls of
"Iime," and she was evidently keenly affected
by the lack of courtesy shown her, and at
one time when the uproar made it necessary
for her to stop speaking, she seemed with diff
fculty to repress tears. When she had fin
ished, and turned to leave the platform, she
received the only mark of polite attention
accorded her, in the shape of a courteous |
offer of his chair by Hon. F. o. Prince, OF
Massachusetts, secretary of the national com. |
mittee. She declined it, however, and retired |
at once Her colleague, Mrs. Virginia Minor, |
who was also entitled to speak, did not make |
her appearance, apparently not caring to |
face the ordeal through which Mrs. Meri- |
weather had been obliged to pass. 1t is but |
fair to the delegates to say that the treat
ment of Mrs Merriweather was mainly due to |
the actions of outsiders in the hall.
Attempts were then made to take recess
and to ad journ, but neither succeeded, and
the roll of states was ordered called for nom
nations for president. When Alabama was
called the chairman of the delegation said his
state gave way to New York, which elected |
a round of cheers and when the Empire
state presented Hon. Daniel Dougherty to
nominate Cleveland the cheers were pro-
longed for nearly minute, and the ap.
pla,fse was'redoubled when he appeared on
the platform.
Dougherty's speech was an eloquent one He said
he assembled the rostIum to name the next
president Of the United States; not to choose
a man. but to name him whom the people
have already chosen. He eulogzed the
president in brilliant periods, declaring that
il was the mandate of his countrymen that he
should occupy the presidential chair for another
term, and closed with a brief review of the
of the administration, and the
declaration that by the authority of the Democ-
racy of New York, which state he pledged 20 the
ticket, he named for president Of the United
states, Grover Cleveland
To say that the convention went wild is
putting the case moderately. The speech
u rather the fact that it nominated Cleve-
unbounded enthusiasm When
10 mentioned the name of Cleveland or re-
erred to his public acts and utterances, the
fairly shouted itself hoarse.
As Dougherty finished his impassoned
peech, some one in the west gallery tore
lside a curtain which hid portrait of Cleve-
and upon the face of the great picture of
he capitol building, revealing to the full
,aZe of the convention the well-known
features of the pres
ident. This incident
EA aroused the enthusiasm
y Nv Of the convention to
Hs1s ~ ny a fever heat for the
MA GsH first time during its
N @N aFI proceedings. The del
N$XiE~ $4aT3 egates mounted the
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