Evening star., 1896-07-02
Difficulty Likely in Making a Nom
ination at Chicago.
THE FWO-FHIRDS RULE TN THE WAY
How It May Be Impossible to Get
the Required Votes.
ALTGELD'S SHREWDNESS

Chicago, there is q chance of prolonged
contest over the nominat ton of candidates.
While the prospect is that the silver men
will have close to 600 votes. this is not
tWo-thirds of the convention. The remain
ing 32s votes sufficient to tie the con-
yention in strong knot. The vote as 1t
stands, giving the silver men few less than
the coveted two-thirds, does not include the
vote of Michigan, which is placed in the
gold column The prediction of Don NJ.
Dickinson that the Michigan delegation
Will not be tampered with would, if it
proves true, place the silver men in the
tantalizing position of ability to do as they
please ii they only had few more votes.
Assuming, however. that Mr. Dickinson is
correct. and that the silver men will not
have two-thirds of the convention, a great
fight is
The coo votes of the silver men will be
divided between number of candidates.
with Bland and Boies the leaders. 1t will
be impossible to nominate either of these
nen or anybody else under the two-thirds
rule, so long as the adherents OF one other
man hold out, and so long as the gold men
see fit to vote for their own and not
give any help to their silver antagonists
Should 1t come down to a final fight be-
tU cen Bland and Boies, with the gold men
supporting one or the other of the two.
there would stll be no prospect of nomi-
nation a two-thirds majority of the con-
venIion will be go votes AS an example
give Bland and Boies equal number of
the silver votes on the ballot just before a
supposed las, vote is to be taken Say that
the majority of the gold men go TO Boies
because OF his moderate views, but that q
small portion of 1t goes to Bland. or that a
few of Boies' silver votes go to him.
Bland would be sure. under the present
outlook, to hold more than 80 votes and
the necessary two-thirds would be lacking
Of course IL can be argued that the gold
and silver men can unite on one candidate
ard give him over two-thirds, and the
nomination. but the man who argues this
doesn't know the situation at Chicago. The
silver man who is voted for by the gold
men Will be deserted by his silver friends
All shrewd politicians admit that the gold
men will not be allowed to cut any figure
in the convention They will not be per-
mitted to hold the balance of power be-
tween candidates, as is alphabetically sug-
gested above
Leave Out the Gold Men.
Leaving out consideration of the gold
men and taking the vote of the silver men
as basis, the difficulty of their making a
nomination is almost strong as the diff
Guilty with the gold men as factor.
Either with without a two-thirds re-
Guirement the difficulty may be almost as
serious Give the silver men 62S votes in
the convention and figure out the possi-
bility Of speedy nomination on that basis.
Give Bland the lead in the course of few
ballots Say he has $50 votes Boies 200
votes and the balance scattered among
several candidates Is there any possibility
of the followers of either man deserving
him ard going to the other? For instance,
under the two-thirds rule, as long as a man
has % votes, he has much right to hope
that he will be concentrated upon as any
other man Bland will not want to pull out
OF the race and give his votes to Boies.
Inc latter will not want to give his to
hEr ma
Even under a majority rule, unless con-
ditions change. it may be hard to effect a
nomination This would make 465 votes a
majority of the convention Should the gold
men have 300 votes and Boies keep as nany
as 1IJ silver friends with him at all bal
lots this would prevent a nomination undep
a majority rule Boies and the gold men
could prevent a nomination, and it is not
believed that Boies would be blamed for
asking that many of his supporters not to
go TO his opponents He would stand as
much chance of the nomination in the end
as tie man with nearly twice as much
strength
Alf&eld's Shrewd Came
The decision of the Illinois delegation to
advocate the immediate repeal of the two
thirds rule is believed to have the Bland
followers behind it. The decision was ar
rived at Immediately after Altgeld had
talked with Gov Stone of Missouri. The
Bland forces. who now appear to be in the
majority. naturally want a majority rule
With Ii they stand many times a better
chance to nominate than under the other
rule Altgeld wants Bland, and those who
know the shrewd governor of Illinois do
rot believe that 1t is his purpose to have
the rule repealed because he patrioticalIy
thinks the majority ought to rule He
wants it repealed because he thinks 1t will
beat Boies and nominate Bland, giving the
Illinois delegation great honor in bringing
that end around.
Ii Won't BE Repealed mt Once.
There are two courses open at Chicago
for the silver men to get around repeating
the two-thirds rule. One Is to unseat
enough gold delegates from Michigan to
give them the necessary two-thirds The
other is to trust to picking up enough con-
servative gold votes to make the two-thirds
II they do not do this the abrogation of
the rule is a certainty, provided the gold
men stand firm on one or more candidates
History and tradition, 1t Is believed will
prevent the silver men doing ANYTHING
Ggafnst the rule for several days Altgeld
T:llman and others will be in for Dispatch
Ing 1t the first thing, but the old-line demo-
Gratis of the south won't follow them. They
VIII De IN favor of waiting and seeing If
any concessions will be made by their op-
ponents- At last. If the gold men remain
nrm. all silver men will join In repeating
the rule
Advocates u Caucus.
ofle Olner plan TO defeat the aims of the
gold men has been suggested and is being
urged by no less eminent authority than
the Cincinnati paper of John r. Mclean.
This plan is for the silver men to nominate
their man in caucus and support him fully
In convention This plan also originated
with the Bland men, and there is much
significance in the fact that Mr.. McLean's
paper heartily supports it,
The Cincinnati Enquirer has the following
important editorial the subject:
There is STIR one other danger to he
aVold6 d. The votes of the eastern gold
standard delegates stand ready to aid in
the nomination of any man who can be
cefeated through divisions among silver
men If the silver men cannot be duped
INTO the nomination of a weakling or of one
who would betray Them the next and final
effort of the gold men will be to nominate
man offensive to the silver men OUTSIDE.
or the democratic party. They will appeal
TO pa y spirit, to the undoing of the party
itself " possible Beware of the councils
OF the er emy. Among the candidates who
are perfectly reliable on the silver uues-
tion tnere are some who would receive only
democratic support to the exclusion of the
great body of the populists and of the sill