The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-06-18

ST. LOUIS, June 1.-THE Repupil-
can national convention cleared the
decks for action today.
Two sessions were held, one OF an
hour in the morning. and one of three
hours in the afternoon.
The permanent organization was eff
fected and the permanent chairman,
Senator John Nj. Thurston, of Ne
braska, assumed the duties of presid-
ing officer in a ringing speech at the
morning session. and the report OF the
committee on credentials was received
and adopted at the afternoon session.
This leaves the battle royal over the
platform and the nomination of can
cdda1es for tomorrow, 1t is probable the
platform would have been disposed OF
tonight had it not been that night
session would Rave interfered with the
mammoth Mckinley parade of march
ing clubs previously arranged for to-
night Nothing could have been IN
more striking contrast with the dusL,
reatureless session of yesterday than
the brilliant.
ANIMATED AND ENTHUSIASTIC
session of the convention today. The
vast hall was packed to its utmost ca
pacity with thousands of spectators,
keyed to the highest pitch OF entnusa-
asm and responding with cheers and
handclapping to the electric touch CT
words. or with the hoarse roar of 10000
voices as it came laundering down to
the nit from the black walls of people
on all sides. accompanied by the waT-
ing of handkerchiefs, hats and flags,
az making a tumultuous noise and mo-
ton that made the pulse beat a. faster
tune.
The brief but electric speech of the
perman ent chairman. Senator Thurs
ton whose warm. magnetic eloquence
found ready sympathy in the vast con-
course of Republicans. seemed to shake
the audience free from its lethargy and
with their spirits thus aroused every
incident evoked cheers. AS he recalled
the fact that he had presided over
the convention OF 1883, which noTnin-
ated the last victorious ticket of the
party, and predicted that he was now
presiding over q convention which
would nominate the next president of
the United States, the
ENTHUSIASM BROKE BOUNDS.
For se--ral minutes the convention
cheered and yelled and shouted. Yes
teCday the appearance or mention of
the names of the great leaders of the
party evoked no demonstration. Today,
Ct was like applying a match to a pow
der me- gazine to mention a distin-
gEIhshed name, and several times. when
there was no occasion, the exuberant
galleries applauded their explosions
with a. chorus of shouts for Mckinley.
At the morning session there was
brief contest over the question of pro-
ceeding with the election Of permanent
officers before the report of the com
n7ittee on credentials had been acted
Veil nd
gresham Mudd. of MARYLAND. and Dele
gate I.ittlefield. of Maine. mainly pro-
tested that il was Irregular, that there
was no convention until the credentials
of the members had been passed upon.
tut their protests were swept aside
LIKE CHAFF BEFORE THE WIND.
The convention, brimrning over with
enthusiasm, was in no temper to be
delayed.
At the afternoon session, the first
test Of strength between the Mckinley
followers and those of Reed. Allison,
Quay and Morton came, and although
the issue presented was not as strong
as Mckinley. it demonstrated to the
satisfaction of all that the candidate
has a clear majority Of over hundred
in the convention. The question was
the adoption Of the report Of the com
mittee on credentials. which ratified
the action OF the national committee in
giving almost all the 159 contested
seats to the McKinleyites and decided
the Texas contest in favor of the
Grant (Mckinley) delegates. and that
in Delaware in favor of the Higgins
delegation The presentation of the
report was adopted with a violent
minority report, denouncing the com
mittee on credentials for presuming to
accept unchallenged the findings of the
national committee. The presentation
of the issue famed into a fame
ALL THE BITTER ANIMosITIEs
Of the convention. Messrs. Fort, of |
New Jersey. and Grosyenor, of Ohio, |
were put forward TO champion the re-
port and Mr.. Hepburn. Of Iowa, led the
opposition. The lines were not drawn |
absolutely, as quite a number Of dele
gates who are pledged to Mckinley
voted with the opposition, notably the
Maryland delegation, but II was ap-
parent from the cheers with which the
OF every vote in their favor that they
were marshaling every available vote
at their command. They were de-
feated-5451z to 35955.
They realized that they could not
overthrow the victorious hosts of Nc
kinney and made no attempt TO en-
phasize their discontinue by demand
ing roll call on its final adoption
While the convention was proceeding
with its work a dramatic scene was be-