The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-06
Leaders Boldly Condemn the
Policy of a Cold
Standard.
THE COMMUNISM OF PELF."
Tactics of Mr., Cleveland Declared
to Be Not Those of the
Entire Party.


| to the Democratic State Convention. More
people came than any one expected, and
the streets are thronged with silverites.
Blue badges bearing the inscription
free Silver, 16 to l." futtered from the
coat lapels Of the incomers, and many
delegations carried banners proclaimihg
their belief in free coinage. The delega
tons that came in yesterday and last night
were up almost with the sun this morning,
and silver speeches by enthusiastic be-
levers IN free coinage could be heard In
the lobbies of all the hotels.
Every delegate seemed to be for the free
coinage of silver, and if there were any
opposed to it they were so quiet as not to
be noticeable. There is no doubt that
radical free silver platform will be adopted,
and the Democratic party in this State will
be committed to that policy.
During the morning the different con-
gressional delegations held sessions for
purposes of selecting members of the Com
| mlttees on Credentials, Rules, Permanent
Organization and Resolutions. In many
cases resolutions were adopted upholding
the Democratic State Central Committee
for calling a silver convention. When the
committees concluded their work stam-
pede was made to get desirable seats in
the Senate chamber, which was to be the
convention hall.
Secretary of State Hinrichsen had ar
ranged the hall in gala attire with bunting
and flags in profusion. The galleries filled
rapidly.
When w. B. Hinrichsen, chairman of
the Democratic State Central Committee,
walked upon the stage there was cheering
After it subsidized Rev. T. W. Taylor led in
prayer.
At the conclusion OF the prayer Hinrich-
sen spoke. In calling the convention to
order Chairman Hinrichsen said:
| The question has been asked, why was the
convention called SO early. 1t is easily an
swered, for there were two good reasons. One
was to forestall the action of the National Sill
yer party, which was preparing to launch
| boom that would have carried away many
good Democrats in this and other States, and
| the other was for the purpose of opening up
| the question for discussion long enough before
! the meeting of the National Convention in
1896 to prevent a hopeless split in the party
1t will be remembered that just previous to
| the convention of 1888, when the Democratic
party was divided on the tariff question, much
| as it is on the money question to-day, Pres-
! dent Cleveland issued his famous message
committing the party to tariff reform and that
| the shortness of time between the ISIS uing of
| the message and the election prevented the
! thorough discussion of the question and SO
! brought on Democratic defeat. This was one
| Of the mistakes of President Cleveland that the
| committee did not care to initiate.
! It has been asserted that a State Convention
| has no right to discuss National issues, and
that consequently this convention should not
have been called. Such a suggestion is absurd.
A National Convention is made up of dele
| gates from the different States, and the party
| in each State has right to express ITSELF at
any and all times, upon any and all questions,
and to instruct its delegates to the National
| Convention as to the policy it desires carried
out. While the action of this convention can.
not bind the delegates to the National Conyen-
| ton of 1896, yet its action can and will serve
| as basis for campaign of education to be
| carried on by the State Committee to the end
| that the party be united on one common OBJ
! ject.
The committee has been severely criticized
| for calling this convention. The worst mo-
tives have been suggested, the vilest epithets
have been used, and men calling themselves
Democrats have not hestated to say through the
public press that this action Of the committee
was irregular, illegal, traitorous and destruc-
| tive.
| This convention was not called for the purpose
of reading any man out of the party, nor has
| the committee or any member concerned in
| the call given utterance to any expression that
| would indicate any such intention. On the
contrary, every effort has been made to prevent
anything like rupture in the Democratic
ranks. At the same time the committee has
resented the attempts of few would-be bosses
| to control the masses, either by means of pub
| lie patronage or by threats of leaving the par
| ty, and now that they have SO evidently failed
to accomplish their purpose and desire to leave
us we can only bid them good-by and wish
them better luck in bossing the opposition.
| Gentlemen you have responded to the call
of the committee in coming here to-day, and it
is my hope that your further action will not
| only mark out a line of policy for the commit
| tee to follow, but will serve to unite the Demo
cratic party on one common object and enable
us to again write ourselves the majority party
| in the State and in the Nation.
| Hinrichsen's speech was interrupted by
frequent applause. At the conclusion of
the speech Hinrichsen said the State Gen.
| trail Committee would announce the list of
temporary officers. The temporary chair
| man named was Monroe G. Crawford of
Union County; secretary, Arthur w. Bent
| ley OF Pike County.
F.! When Judge Crawford's name was an
nounced, there was tremendous applause
The districts were called for the purpose of
| receiving the names of the committeeman,
and the fact developed that a full list of
the district delegates had been selected in
the caucus this morning to attend the
National Monetary Convention, should one
be held.
The committee on resolutions named in
cludes Richard Michaelis, P. P. Keenan,
and J. W. Lanehart of Chicago, Attorney
General Maloney, N. E. Worthington of
Peoria and ex-United States Land Com
missioner w. J. A. Sparks.
Thomas Nelly of Menard County moved
that all resolutions of political nature be
referred to the committee on resolutions
without being read.
Thomas Merritt created considerable ex-
element by opposing this method. The
convention was called for the purpose of
considering the great question and he was
opposed to all gag methods.
Adjournment was taken until o'clock
to give the committees time to meet and
formulate I hoir roDortS