The true northerner., 1896-01-10
two CITIES RIVALRY
A CONTEST FOR THE DEMOCRATIC
NATIONAL CONVENTION.
The Windy City Versus Old Fogy Gotham.
A Lively Fight Promised-C Chances Rsth-
or In Favor Of clustering Chicsgo-But
New York IL Wide Awake.


will meet In this city to choose the time
and place for holding the national conven-
tion of this year. So far only two cities
appear to be prominent rivals for the
honor OF holding this gathering within
their borders The contestants In this In
stance are New York and Chicago, and 1t
Is the general belief here that Chicago
will easily win. New York, under the
leadership of The Herald of that city has
shown more than It's customary energy as
a convention bidder and will doubtless put
up good fight, but the simple truth Is
that New York Is not In favor with the
masses Of the people Of this country as q
place for any great national gathering.
This Is shown most strikingly by the fact
that few religious, secret society or other
great assemblages are called to meet in the
metropolis. For every one such gathering
that New York has, Chicago has dozen,
and other interior cities excel New York
In this respect ia almost as great ratio.
Prejudice Against New York.
The prejudice against New York is not
wholly geographical. While it is true that
this city is on the seaboard, far removed
from the center of population, that Is not
an insuperable objection. In this day of
easy rapid and cheap travel remoteness
from the homes Of delegates is not seri
Gus matter. The Republicans would have
sent their national convention TO San
Francisco, as told you some weeks ago,
II that city had been able to guarantee
adequate telegraphic facilities, and San
Francisco is /, 900 or 800 miles farther
from the center of population than New
York Is.
Aside from geographical considerations
New York Is not popular throughout the
country. There is a prejudice against that
city as un-American, as snobbish, as un-
sympathetic with American ideas and as
pirations. A great deal of this prejudice is
unreasonable. do not share il myself.
In fact. think New York, so far as the
city itself goes, an ideal place In which to
hold a convention. So / cannot be Justly
accused of being partial to Chicago or any
other city. only give the facts as L find
them, and the facts are that mention of
New York as q place for holding a conven-
tion of one Of the great political parties Is
like shaking red flag In the face of bull
so far as many of the men OF the central
and farther west are concerned. They talk
Of the dominating influence of Tammany,
of Wall street. of the millionaires who look
upon the remainder of the land merely as
provinces not overcivilized though per-
haps good enough place to make money
in.
Hustling Chicago.
It Is true that Chicago has done much to
cultivate this prejudice. 1t has been to
Chicago's advantage TO do So and you may
be sure the lively, hustling men of Chica-
go are not overlooking any opportunities
to build up their own Importance and
trade at the expense OF their great rival
Perhaps New Workers, with their circum-
scribed views and self satisfied ways, are
not aware Of the fact, but for years the
men of Chicago have deliberately made an
assault, all along the lines, on New York's
commercial supremacy. Business men
who are familiar with the facts tell me
that Chicago Is taking trade out from un-
der New York's nose, as it were, by in
vasion of the fields which Gotham once re-
garded as peculiarly her own. 1t is literal
ly true that Chicago comes right up TO the
base of the Alle9hanies with her CONNER
cial rivalry TO New York. AS for the south,
you may have noticed during the past two
or three years the large number of excur-
sions which Chicago has sent to that re-
gion. The business men have gone down
there in bodies They have invited south
erners to visit Chicago They have taken
in the old soldiers and have even gone so
far as to decorate the graves of Confed-
crates in Chicago cemeteries. 1t seems
rather hard To ascribe commercial motive
to all this, but that Is just what it was
Chicago kept up these tactics until finally
New York was compelled to initiate them
In self defense, and 1t Is only few weeks
since New York excursion to the Atlanta
exposition was organized in the hope of
counteracting some of the work already
done by the western hustlers.
st. Louis Still Unsatisned.
look upon this great commercial rival
ry between Chicago and New York as the
most interesting question by far connected
with the choice of city for the Demo-
cratic national convention New York
appears to be thoroughly in earnest this
time, and when New York Is reused she
Is no mean antagonist. The first crucial
test between the rivals came in the Worlds
fair. Chicago won that fight by just such
tactics as she has since employed in the
contest for trade. She reused an anti-New
York sentiment on that occasion, and ever
since every travelling man who goes out
from Chicago drumming up trade puts In
all his spare moments sounding the praises
of Chicago and denouncing New York as
an un-American city, old fogyish and pro-
English. The Worlds fair victory put
Chicago ahead 25 years in the commercial
rivalry, and IL is only of late that New
York has awakened to a realization of
what the loss of the fair meant to her in
the commercial way and what 1t meant TO
Chicago. For this reason the determina-
ton of New York to make bid for the
Democratic national convention of this
year acquires new interest. 1t is revival
Of the struggle between the commercial
giants. So fur the smaller cities appear
to be content to stand aside and let the big
fellows fight IT. out, though there are ru-
mors that St Louis, not satisfied with her
success with the Republican committee,
will enter the lists again and try to creep
In and snatch the bone while Chicago and
New York are quarreling over It,
1t is believed here that the Democratic
national committee will decide TO break
the traditional rule which requires the
party in power to hold its convention first
and fix date for its convention in the
latter part of June or early July, about
two weeks, or perhaps three, after the Re-
publican convention. There Is strate-
gical advantage to be gained in this way,