The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1896-08-07
THE PRELIMINA ARIES.
Chairman Borst Gives Forth a
Calamity Howl.

Chairman Borst Gives Forth q
Calamity Howl.
The convention was called to order
in Union Hall at lilo a. m. by Chair
man W. S. Hammond, of the Demo
cratic congressional committee. Sec
rotary W. L. Comstock read the Off
cial call.
Mr.. Hammond said that the con-
greSsional committee recommended
Wilson Borst, of Cottonwood county.
for temporary chairman, and John E.
King, of Mobiles county, for temporary
secretary. He explained that this
was customary thing for the com
mittee to do.
The delegates seemed a little sur
prised at the move, but after some
hesitation the report was adopted on
motion of Gen. Pope.
Mr.. Borst thanked the convention
and then went into politics without
any further preliminaries, and made
characteristic Populist calamity
howl. He said that the mechanic and
farmer are entering into the cam.
paign as never before. 1t stood them
we'll in hand to do so. We are in the
land of plenty, with abundant har.
vests, yet we see want and misery all
about. THE delegates thought this a
proper time to applaud.) Mckinley
lays this to the tariff. We have a
high protective tariff, but this is not
the panacea. The true cause is in
the monetary system. The speaker
went into details on this question,
referring particularly to the "crime
of '73." He said that the speeches on
the subject then were subsequently
printed in the congressional record,
and were never made in congress, but
sent out as campaign literature after.
wards. The illegal crime" has closed
our factories, reduced our commerce,
and wrought havoc in general He
brought in the old chestnut about its
being violation Of the constitution.
He said that he had found no reason
for demonetizing silver then, but il
the times had been as they are now
there might have been some reason
for it. He said that he presumed
that he was talking to silver men,
and If they were not they ought to be
(Applause.) 1t is the duty of the
Democrats to wage a relentless wal
on this gold question and to carry it
into Wall street and the London Jew
shops. The speaker thought the
Chicago platform in line with the
American people, but the silver
plank was the one on which the bat.
tie is to be fought. He referred to
Bryan as an imperial American, and
the audience took the cue to applaud.
He then appe d to all to lay
aside chickering's and animosities. The
Democratic party is in minority, land
help must come from other parties
Whoever the nominee may be, stand
by him and he will surely be elected.
On motion of Byron Hughes, the
chair was authorized to appoint Gre.
dentials committee, which he did as
follows: H. J. Essler, Nicollet; Byron
Hughes, Blue Earth; John Baldwin,
Jackson; G. A. Sands, MOBILES; Albert
Steinhauser, Brown.
Carl Berg, of Sleepy Eye. moved a
committee of five on resolutions, and
this was passed after being amended
by w. S. Hammond so as to consist of
one from each county in the district.
1t was appointed as follows: Blue
Earth, Chas O'Connor; Brown, J. J.
Green; Cottonwood, VIM. Besser
Faribault, H. L. Bulls; Jackson, V.
B. Crane; Lyon, M. E. Mathews:
Martin, H. H. McGovern; Murray,
VIM. O'Neill; Nicollet, G. 81. Rinkel
Mobiles, John S. Blair, Pipestone, VIM
McGillivary; Redwood, R. Morton;
Rock, D. c. Brownell; Watonwan, A.
K. Peck.
The following committee on perma-
nent organization was appointed: G.