Birmingham age-herald., 1894-09-19
Now in Session to Name a United
 States Senator.
IT WILL BE A HOT FIGHT,
But Colonel Brice Seems to Hold the Hand That
 Will Win.

COLUMBUS, O., Sept. 1S.-Tte adherents
 of Senator Brice control the democratic
 state convention tomorrow two to one.
 This much is certain. But the opposition
 to the junior senator, and which is based | upon his anti-administration course in the
 recent tariff contest, is compact, aggressive
 and under good leadership, and because it
 is outnumbered it does not follow that it will accept the peace and harmony pro- gramme of the Brce followers without putting itself on record.
 Much depends upon the action of the committee on resolutions, which went into conference at o'clock, with every pros-
 pect of an all night session. If the repre- sentatives of the senator upon this
 committee will agree to a resolution un-
 qualifiedly indorsing President Cleveland, together with the administration tariff bill
 and expressing regret that it had to give
 way to the senate substitute, the opposi- ton will be content; otherwise, according to the present programme, there will be a minority report, in which the senator's course will be handled without gloves. and a fight will be precipitated on the floor of the convention. In this event, say the minority, many of those now counted as among the senator's supporters will put | themselves on record with the other side. h political sense it has been one of the hottest days that ever preceded a state gathering of the Ohio democracy. The
 making of ticket has been entirely lost sight of and, contrary to all precedent, not a single candidate for auy of the places to be filled has opened headquarters. Excite | ment and activity alike concentrate upon | the eleventh hour attack upon the junior | senator. His opponents were first on the heels. Postmasters, special treasury | agents, bank examiners, collectors of in- | ternal revenue and other officials came | pouring in from all quarters of the state. Ike Hill, door r-keepar of the national | house of representatives, and B. w. Lay | ton, assistant sergeant at-arms of the | United States senate, were early on hand | to assure all corners that the antagonism to l the senator was merely 'hash in the pan.p Veteran democrats who have not | been seen at conventions for years, put in | an appearance to "give Cal Brice 8 lift,' | as most of them put it; still there was enough democratic senators and rep resentatives of the general assembly that l elected MT. Brice to the senate to make a | good sized reunion.
 By noon 1t looked as though the opposi- tion would be snuffed out by noise and numbers, and it was reported that 1t had given up the fight and decided to come into l camp. Instead of this, however, it had l been simply laying low and on the heels of | the report it began to put itself very much
 in evidence. Thousands of copies of the 1 Toledo Bee containing scores of extracts from democratic papers all over l Cleveland and the Wilson bill, others de- l nunciatory of the course of Brice and Cor l man, and still more, demanding that the
 state convention denouuce the senators that | defeated tariff legislation, were scattered | around and read with avidity. So were cir l culars demanding that the voice of the Ohio l democracy as expressed in it's press and district conventions be given honest ex- l end that the great body of tariff reformers | in Ohio should not be hampered in their | fight for principle in 1894 and 1895 by the
 necessity of defending Senator Brice's course in the senate.
 l Newly arriving delegates regarded as ton
 the fence" were taken in hand by commit tees from Alliance, Cuyhagas, Youngs- l town and other strong anti Brice districts, l and treated to argument and persuasion in | allopathic doses. The principal arguments | dent Cleveland and the administration and l tariff bill were entitled to in- dorsement if the previous decla- rations of the Ohio democracy were to | be maintained; that Senator Brlce was an l obstructionist; that his course in the senate had created general dissatisfaction through out the state; that the opposition to Brice
 came from the people and was an effort of | the rank and file to discipline the bosses l and assert control, and that it was far bet | ter to have the fight over and done with l now than to carry it into next year, when | the party would have a gubernatorial and l legislative fight on its hand.
 These arguments were effective in many l cases, and when Congressman Tom l.. | Johnson, fresh from his renominating | committee, came marching at the head of a | big delegation from his home district it | looked that there would be stampede | from the senator's banner. But his friends | were not only staunch and numerous, bat influential to boot, and they had little diffi- culty in Keeping the main line of their forces well in hand.
 Tonight the antis have given up all hope of controlling the convention and will be content if they succeed in forcing an ex- pression of their opinions upon the record. About the coolest man of the crowd that besieged the Neill house in and out was Senator Brice himself. He arrived from the east shortly before 4 o'clock and es- tablished headquarters in the parlor from which Sherman conducted his last and most memorable senatorial campaign. lously avoided all reference to the fight against him.
 The anti Brice element was considerably chagrined at the attitude of Lawren ce T. Neal of Chillicothe, the party nominee for governor last year, and who was the author of the famous tariff plank In the platform of the last national convention, and who was looked upon as one of their strongest allies. Instead of this, he took occasion early in the day to express the opinion that the senate bill was step in the right di-
 rection, and that no one who voted for it
 \