The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-06-21


TO have the right of free speech denied to
its adherents. He spoke of a man from
San Francisco who had come to for ce
down, the throats of the convention innova-
tions which were clearly improper, and
| cried:
who is this Caesar who comes to us to
dictate the course to be be pursued by the
delegates of this conven ton Who comes
here to gag the members of free party
and is pulling the wires to bring about his
own ends ?" demanded the thoroughly
| aroused speaker.
| He had cast at D. NJ. Burns a look of
open defiance, and everybody was con-
| vinced for the moment that he referred
| to the San Francisco leader. Mir. Burns
looked az him inquiringly, but remained
| impassive. All around him his friends
were on their feet. They did not know
what was coming and were anxious to
| head it off whatever it might be.
There were cries of "Orderw "Order /
| from various parts of the house; but T.
II. O'Brien of San Francisco was one of
| the most aggressive of the objectOrS, and
| succeeded in gaining the recognition of
the chair II call the gentleman to
order" be yelled. fully as much excited as
L
gent leman TO order," he said. "He has no
right to go into person alties on this floor.
and this has go ne far enough"
Blennerhassett held his ground. and
discaimed any personal assault. 81 have
called no names," he could be heard crying
| at the Top of his voice. ''E have a right
to speak, and l expect to he heard"
''Sit DOWN. cried members in various
! parts of the huge auditorium, and Chair
man Knight, seeing that the delegates
were losing their heads, and that he
might in turn lose control OF them, used
his gavel vigorously and commanded order.
His voice rose far, above the din and some
WhaC checked 1t.
This is no bear garden" he said.
Gentlemen will be heard in this hall. but
they will be required to speak to the ques-
tiOn under discussion. AS chairman
shall require you all to proceed according
to the rules of debate"
This declaration was greeted with wild
shouts of approval. Blennerhassett was
then permitted to proceed, and he at once
threw the convention into still greater dis
order by demanding to know if man who
had been charged with being felOn should
rule body of freemen.
This remark was almost drowned by the
roar Of dissent which it called forth
O'Brien was up again, and dozen other
delegates waved their hands in protest
Burns evidently thought that the last i'm
putatiOn had been intended for himself
| His face flushed and he seemed for mo-
ment uncertain as TO what course to pur
sue, but he decided to let matters shape
themselves and remained quiet Blenner-
} hassett endeavOred to proceed, but he
could not be heard until the chairman
{ again asserted himself and brought the
/ yelling delegates TO some degree of order
/ The proxy-holder still insisted upor
being heard. He promised not TO pursue
l the line he had before adopted, and during
the tenn porary lull he was allowed to noun
: the platform to continue his remarks. 81
D disavowed any assault on Dan Burns ant
{ said the reference he had made was Il
another. He continued: I'VE must admi
a free debate; the free speech that ne con
stitutlon gives to all OF you. Why dt
these gentlemen wish to shut us offP 1t il
monstrOus. It is a disgrace to shut of
, any one on this floor from thu
, discussion of anything. Mr.. Chairman
are you prepared to submit to any injus
tice? / ask the leader Of the San francisco
r delegation if be is prepared to gag us
, Will he answer me? l say: Will he answe
I me? ] think it is a crime to shut US off il
this debate. Never has it besn done BY
this party. l call upon the mothers o
these men to instil into their hearts tn,
rights of free speech, and to give tht
mothers, wives and daughters the right O.
free speech" [C1eers.l
Savage of San Francisco called for th'
question, and asked the chair to explain
what the amendment was.
Mr.. Knight explained that the obnoxious
clause was that all resolutions should bt
referred without debate to the committee
The amendment was to strike out this.
Judge Fulweler offered an amendment
to the amendment that all resolutions Of
fered before the report of the committee
on platform and resolutions be referred
without debate. This was not seconded.
John T. Dare rose. but Savage mad,
the point of order that he could not speal
on the motion. The chair ruled the poip
of order we'll taken and Dare sat down
The motion was carried and Savage called
for three cheers for Knight. which wer
choked off in the inception by the chair
man.
Recht of San Francisco moved that al
nominating speeches should be limited Il
FIVE minutes. This was carried, but tn
only time it was enforced subsequent,
was to call down T. II. O'Brien. The re
port was adopted as amended. delegat
from Tuolumne calling in vain for roll
cali.
General Dickinson of San Francisco de
clared himself In favor of change in tn
proposed order of business. The conven
}. tion should first nominate two Justices o
Q the Supreme Court for the long term. on
Associate Justice for the short term, AM
!. | after that the nominations should be mad
O according to the provisions of the report
J. General Dickinson went on to explain tha
. his reasons for this course were that n
!. thought the Office Of Supreme Judge wa
/ one of the most important within the Who'll
n list of positions. A Justice of tn
a Supreme Court handled lives and liber
!. ties. 1t would be wise to take the nom
a nation of Judges without the seethiD
g foam of a political convention. Th
q ermine of the Judge should not be dragge
d down into the political pool. But Geners