The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-06-13

II was Done" Ger
tainly it was small matter TO win a VIC
tory over such skilled and experienced po-
liticaIleaders as Messrs. Quay, Platt. Clark
son, Warner Miller, Foraker, Conger Fas-
sett Filley and those associated with them,
armed with the name of one of the greatest
and most beloved leaders the party has
ever known and backed with all the popu-
lar demonstration of enthusiasm which
the mention OF James q. Blaine always
brings forth among his admirers. Yet,
''hOw it was done" would not make n par
ticularly interesting story, for it would
contain nothing of the unnatural. nothing
of strategy. nothing of weird schemes or
desperate chances.
The politicians of the country usually
have an idea that n vast amount of schem-
ing. plotting and star chamber comforting
IL necessary to capture o presidential nOml-
ration. Nothing could be more erroneous.
A national convention usually contains the
flower of the party. The delegates are
almost invariably men who are among the
most prominent citizens of their districts. .
Those gathered at Minneapolis were con
kplcuousiy representative or the intelli-
gence, the integrity, and the character OF
the party. Men of this class neither par
tIcIpate in, nor cOunteDance political
schemes and tricks nor are they influenced
TO any apDreciable extent by impulse or
demonstrations of the hopes of the people
of the city in which they may chance to
be- assembled. Reason. facts of the past
and arguments as 10 the future, and mani
festatIons of the wishes of their home con-
stltuents are the only things that can he de-
pended upon 10 sway them. The winning
of the fight for Presid mt Harrison. in view
of these facts, was a simple matter OF intel
ligent and systematic, while frank and
honorable. work.
The matter of first Importance the
organization of the committee of forty"
composed OF one prominent and influential
man from each state. This committee met
each night, at 10 o'clock sharp, at Room
go In the West Hotel. and so little noise
was made about IL that the opposition"
never knew OF its existence until Thursday
afternoon. Each member of this commit
tee kept In touch daily with his own dele
CATION. knew how every mai upon 1t stood
and what arguments were likely to tell
most with those who had not made up
their minds. Their reports were made
each night 10 detail, and "a carefulrecOrd was
maze of all the information thus gathered.
The work for the next day WAS then laid
out and assigned to members of this COM
mittee. to other friends OF the
Indiana delegates, members of the Colum-
bIa Club and other enthusiastic HOOsiers
VINO were there ready to do their part:
Altogether the actual working forces of
HarrIsOn's friends must have numbered
fully five hundred people They worked
so sy scientifically that no effort was lost by
their very earnestness earned conviction
TO many u wavering delegate with whom
they argued HarrsOn's ability. integrity
and popularity with the plain, thinking
people of the country. And so perfect was
their information that they knew at almost
every hour OF the day inst exactly where
they stood. | have figures. made mp on
Sunday night. which do not vary more
most states, do not vary at
all, from the ballot taken on the
test vote of Thursday night. These figures
were made up on the basis of the tempo
rary roll, after the national committee had
decided every contested case possible
against Harrison, and 1t was the cOnven-
tiOn as thus made up that cast this test
vote. With such accurate information at
hand the Market Hall conference was a
safe though remarkably bold move.
Another good point made by the Presi-
dents friends was in their treatment of the
newspaper men. both local and visiting
The newspaper men were met with the
cordiallty and respect that their Intelli-
genee and standing entitled them to. They
didn't have to plead with three four
door-keepers to get into the Harrison head
quarters. They were made to feel at home
there the leaders were never too busy to
give them moment of time and
eny information they might ask Tor was
freely and frankly given To them. As a re-
suit, the great bulk OF the newspaper III en-
on the ground were practically ION the IN
side" They knew the honorable nature of
the Harrison campaign, they knew his
strength, and their knowledge was sent
home To their newspapers. And to this in
nuence may doubtless be- traced a large part
of the thousands of kilograms that were
poured IN upon the delegates by their home
constituents, asking them TO stand by Har-
risOn.
49, aca.L.r, Of .ha .s,ra.s oarcv tboro
were two classes of them there every
where, the Journalists and newspaper
workers. The former were all men of ma
tional reputation, and most of them were
payne counter In the 6ar-works.
They were not fonnd about the
various headquarters and among
the delegations gathering news; not they.
If any Senator, or Governor, even so
unImportant a parsonage as n member of
the House. cared Co hunt them up and give
them his views, they might use the matter
If it met with their approval. Bnt. for
the most part. they stood about n little,
dined out read the afternoon papers. mnde
mp their great minds about 1.-THE situation"
and wrote their letters. Then. when they
read the next mornings papers. they Won
dered where they had been all day The
n.wspaper men were "hustiIng day and
night, and their papers got the benefit of
conscientious work.
Did the Columbia Club get into the con.
vention! There is more than one way TO
kill cat. and though no Harrison
shouter could get tickets from the national
committee the Columbia Club got in.
Dewitt Griffith sized up the VA
rious entrances and decided that the cas-
lest one TO work" was that allotted To the
press. and he schemed about until he was
appointed dOor-keeper there at the outer
door. The policeman at the bottom of the
stairs did not count for much. as his only
busint IS was TO prevent a jam. At the sec
ond door the guard fell easy victim
and at the inner entrance was another
easily persuaded. Any ody who had "A
message for senator Evans at the second
entrance and wanted to see Governor
Chambers at the third got in all right.
griffith was very abrupt with every body
else W ho had no ticket, particularly il the
head door-keeper happened TO be in the
vicinity. ana many CORES pendent failed
ANONYMOUSLY TO work his badge How
ever. the number of white hats going in at
THE entrance attracted suspicion and on
Thursday they fired Griffith and sought a
more punctilIous man. They happened to
hight upon the innocent Harry Adams and
the members of the Columbia Club had To
grin and bear their disappointment.
Minneapolis people did not get any the
worst of il; they did not lose money by the
convention. With rooms costing from AZ
10 81 per day and other prices on the same