The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1896-07-15
And ssBust' t. He Did.
Tillman Had an Opportunity
And Lost 1t.

Special to The State.
CHICAGO. July 9.-I will leave the
rhetorical fireworks for the able press
association writer's. dnd myself hard
to enthuse. The convention has been
prosY as national conventions 60, with
the sole exception of the debate on the
platform, and tee one speech that really
thrilled the air was Bryan's,
Tillman mad great opportunity aud
fell far short of it. The silver majority
expected much OF him and everybody
was curious to hear him. He Was
warmly received at first, but bis speech
proved to be not real defense of the
platform, but an advertisement of Till
man and bis pitchforking sortie. he
had ability enough to do vastly better,
but drunken with egotism. he made
just and ordinary speech Of the sort be
has dished out so often to ''wool hats"
at home.
And be had for once taste of his
Own Tillmanite medicine when the
g;lded galleries howled him down. He
was frequently applauded, but almost
continuously hissed. Waves of sioll-
laps sound swept around the vast arena
and gave him frequent pause. OF
course sbs gold bugs did it, but DO
other silver speaker was 80 treated, and
that is significant enough Of the esti-
mstiou 10 which he is held. TIE Sill
yer meu thought be spoke in bad taste
and 10 manner to isjure their cause.
Senator Jones, of Arkansas, chief CT
the silver propagandisss, felt compelled
to repudiate his raising of the sectional
issues. Bryan, of Nebraska, felt COM
PEELED to say that the silver men would
vote down his resolution abusing Cleve-
land.
The silver men in South Carolina will
now realize that The State was right
when it told them that Tillman was
working for TilImao more than for sill
yer, and that be would burt the bimet-
tallic cause more than he helped 1t. He
withdrew his resolution on Cleveland
simply to avoid the added humiliation
of having it defeated by silver votes
As Bryan said, the issue was too great
to be degraded into personal one.
Hill is net eloquent. but his speech
was very forceful and adroiS
Villas was eloquent bat uDsubstao-
sial.
Russell was both eloquent aad impress
sive
Ba. Bryan's was the speech that the
convention had waited for aud wanted
to hear, no: knowing whence It would
come. 1t aroused enthusiasm real apd
profound 1t was great speech at a
great moment. bestropgest gold men
admit that. Bryan is of Virginia par
en,age and Irish ancestry. He is just
old enough to be President. He locks
like composite Of Edwin Booth. Jobo
w. Daniel and Mckinley himself. A
handsome fellow he is. and an orator Of
extraordinary fire. His voice was su-
perb. his gestures dramatic. his utter
ances epigrammatic. his manner IN
teuseiy earnes, aud his every point was
telling. More than this he showed
high logic ability. Bryan has been
a=sociasing too muoh With Popuiists to
please me. but he has folly earned this
tribu.e. With this young man as can
didate for President. swinging round
the circle Ct the States, the Democratic
party weu,,!! make campaign sapar-
relied AID say this without abao-
dooirg preference for Boles.
The reception Of bis speech was oe-
yoad description He had net the
ables: champions of gold aod defeathed
them. A Pennsylvania delegate admit
ted regretful!y tia; it was tae finest
der,sgcgue speech he ever heard. The
convention was sorely puzzled what to
do 10 the event Of a deadlock Bryau's
speech solved It's doubts, 'iinG. 1t
saw before it 8 man fitted 20 d. sne
AID spicOdid exponent Of it vi, ,'':a
half az hour after his speech a~less-
tioos had begun to declare i,r a'm.
Toaight's vote will tell the result.
The platform is somewhat dissappo'ns-
ing. 1t must be admitted that it was
framed rot only to declare Democratic
principles, but to catch Popul'ss votes.
lis compromise Of the south With the
west. do not see how the Popullsts
and boiling Republican can vote
against it. The currency plaok, when
closely examined, does not declare
against State banks Of issue. The door
is left open for item Of course State
bank notes cauuot be made lega! ten
der by the United States. II they
could, they would lose their 'homlns'
tendency and be capable of congestion
10 the money centres Tillman wa'
9 bea.eu when the sub-commlttee's plank
was rejected for this one. He was
l.