St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-01-29
A BIT OF HISTORY
Before the Page Of the Con-
vention Contest Is Folded
Down.
st. Paul'S One Obstacle and
One Prospect for the
Victory.
Milwaukee's Misrepresentation
and Subsequent Show
Of Fury.
Why the Convention Was
Practically Forced to Go
to Chicago.

W CuiCdSO.
One by one the survivors of the bloody
contest at Washington on Jan. 81 return
to their homes to tell just how it all
occurred. Most OF these latter-day pill
grlmS have spent the Intervening time
in other cities and varying scenes,
which have obliterated from the memo
rieS the ragged edge, at least, of the
cruel shots inflicted III the Arlington
hotel, and returned with faces framed
in their wonted happy smiles. Yester
day mornings trains brought in quite
delegation. p. Ii. Kelly, City Clerk
Prendergast, Billy Twombley and Arch
itect Stem, of st. Paul, and G. NJ. Foote,
w. II. Lynn, Auditor Ledgerwood, Reg
lister Heinrichs, Surveyor Egan and G.
F. Baxter, of Minneapolis, were among
these ArgonautS who returned minu
the golden fleece, though each individ-
ual will strenuously deny that he was
the subject or the object of fleece OF
| any kind. A few others of the st. Paul
party plenipotentiary and emissaries ex-
traordinary are still wandering in search
OF the lethe and nepenthe in Eastern
seaports, and will report before the
week is over. When the final report is
i'll the books will be closed. and the
great Argonautic expedition Of 1892 will
pass gracefully into history.
A Bit Of History.
Before. however. the page is folded
down and sealed forever. there are
few facts worthy of embalming-factS
which have never been published and
which will prove of interest to the
Northwest generally and the Twin
Cities particularly. 1t may be stated at
the outset that except as a strategic
political move, in partisan way, st.
Paul was never in it from the outset
The argument that weakening Repub-
lican front invited Democratic attack
was equally applicable to ST. Paul, Mil
waukee and Detroit, and therefore lost
special force. Senator German said
emphatically in the st. Paul headquar-
tiers:
The location of the convention has
absolutely no political significance. The
choice will not change one vote nor add
one figure to the Democratic column of
electoral strength"
Unless the committee, swayed by
some influence not as against Repub-
licanism--that is, by the views of some
dominant candidate-should ailght upon
st. Paul, it became evident TO the adj
vance guard ten days before the COM
mittee met that this city would not he
in the race. That unfortunate misun-
derstanding at Minneapolis was the all
powerful factor. ClarkSon had made
mistake, and he candidly admitted it,
and it was fatal error. In his laudable
anxiety to secure certain accommodate
tons for his committee aud a few IA
vored delegations he caused the impress
sion to go out broadcast that no ACCOM-
| mediation was obtainable. The premi-
nent newspapers of the country de-
clared their attempts to secure rooms
were fruitleSS, and from that moment
kept up continuous fuSilade upon
Minneapolis, which might as well have
been directed against st. Paul. as far
as effect was concerned. Then came
Dwight Lawrence's visit to Mime
apoliS to secure quarters for the New
York delegation. Lawrence was very
caustic when he returned and the New
York papers published columns of both
| serious and humorous interviews and
| sketches, which were widely copied.
Later on, ClarkSon came CALAMITY to
| the rescue and endeavored to set the
| country right and to do Minneapolis
| justice, but it was too late. The mis-
chief was wrought. The army of cor
| respondents at Washington-and it is ali
| all-powerful battalion-had made up its
| mind that it was not going to be CON-
fortably housed al Minneapolis and
therefore could not expect to be better
| handled at st. Paul. The conclusion
"a
| unjust, but the factremained, and those
| newspaper men worked early and late
| to defeat st. Paul and select a larger
| city. The leaders of the st. Paul dele
| cation had not been in Washington
| forty-eight hours before they realized
the situation, and the GLOBE from day
to day fully outlined it. The CORE
| SpondentS were almost unit for Chi
cago, whose hotel and telegraphic ia
| cilities were the best, and one by
one :they buttOnholed committeeman
as they came in and used threats and
persuasiOns to turn them to that city.
| In the meantime, Chicago was not
candidate. A letter had been written
saying 'Chicago was not a candidate,
| but would receive the convention if the
committee thought best to send it
| there" but this letter was never pre-
scented. The rival claimants set up
cry of hoggishness and threatened the
worlds fair appropriations to such an
extent that Chicago was not only out of
the fight, but practically in position to
say she would not take it if rendered.
Politics Step In.
Politics next came IN to cut figure.
Every city pretended to preserve a
strict neutralitys as between the Cleve-
| land and Hill wings of the party, but it
was not successful. Milwaukee
bounced into the fight at once as repre-
| Senting Cleveland, and, with Villas
| using his influence in the same direc-
| ton, no amount of denial could switch
| the Beer City off the track.
From that moment Milwaukee was
| out of the race. The most cas-
| ual observer could see that the
| committee was anti-Cleveland. The
| triumvirate-Hill, German, Brice-was
| in the saddle, and Milwaukee never en-
| tered their calculations, The Beer CITY
| people were very sore, and still sweat
under what they call deception and
breach of faith practiced upon them;
| but the fact is that, Notwithstanding
| their fine showing, they were never in
| position to win. The night preceding
the convention German said:
The Northwest will get the conven-
| ton. We are going to put it on wheels,
and if it passes Chicago it will surely 90
to st. Paul"
This explains the hopeful feeling that
pervaded the ST. Paul delegation that
evening. The situation was simply
| this: All the committee leaders ia
vored Chicago, but Chicago was not in
the race. Efforts were being made to