Evening star., 1896-07-09
EAGER FOR THE END
Bland People Anxious to Reach a
Nomination.
DEfERMMED7f0 FORCE The FIGHTING
Questions IF Parliamentary Usage
cl|Ied Forth.
THE CAUSE, NOT THE MAN
Special From q st.n Correspondent.

Special From . stan Correspondent
CONVENTION HALL, CHICAGO. July
9.-This convention is rapidly forgetting
that November follows July. Like men
who are sitting around sparkling wine. they
| feel the wealth Of all the Indies. They are
losing sight of the fact that this is only
| nomination convention. and does not elect
| the President. They are intoxicated with
the idea that the election of a silver man
is a foregone conclusion, and this spirit
| may. In the end dictate their nomination.
The convention opened this morning with
determination to force the fighting all
along the line. The Bland people are par
ticularly anxious to reach nomination as
soon as possible. The point suggested In
these dispatches Tuesday that failure OF
the gold men to act with the convention.
thus reducing the number necessary for
two-thirds, Is not causing much attention.
New York men claim they Will not vote at
all on the Candidates and though they
should be counted as a part of the conven-
ton. it 10 generally understood now that
two-thirds of those voting. provided quo
rum votes. Will be held to ba enough to
nominate The fear Of the gold men being
able to hold the convention In a deadlock
would Of itself force this. Since this pol
Icy of silence" was announced tremendous
efforts have been made to break it down.
The Bland people are pleased to have the
gold men out Of the fight. and they have
shown in many ways that they would not
grieve II the eastern contingent were
driven from the convention. The friends OF
other candidates are alarmed. but say tina:
they have tried to induce the gold men to
take a different course.
very Interesting situation will arise If
the gold delegations adhere to the policy of
silence. In each delegation there are some
silver delegates. These men say that they
Will vote whether the rest do or not. and
that they will cast the vote Of the whole
delegation II the majority of the delegation
does not vote.
The question would then arise whether a
minority of a delegation. there being no
opposing vote, can act.
The question OF quorum is involved. and
with it that Of counting a quorum Of those
present and not voting. Under the rules OF
the He use, which, govern the proceedings
of this convention. method is provided
for counting''a quorum. The chair woh III
not be apt to hesitate about applying this
rule should the exigency arise. This would
lead to the entire vote of all those gold
delegations which refrained from voting
being cast for silver candidate. 1t would
also lead to a row. and, in all probability,
to a direct bolt. The threat Of the silver
men to follow suc.l course may, however,
prevent the Organization plan of silence
fl ON being Carried out.
The opinion prevails that the convention
may be in session all tonight, and that the
nomination is apt to be made tomorrow
night. But there is a great possibility OF
delay. The consideration of the report of
the committee of resolutions is going to
take several hours. After that when the
nominations come IN order much time will
be taken UP In nominating speeches The
INST ballot Is not expected to result in
nomination, and the many polls of states
which will probably be demanded on each
ballot will take time. If the experience of
yesterday were to be repeated 1t would be
in possible to get through If they sat until
daylight. Chairman White Is going to see
| If it is rot possible to preserve order to-
day, ana will adopt drastic methods to
accomplish it,
There Is little change in the general situa-
ton. Some of the delegations heretofore
not committed have located themselves and
Bland has got somewhat the best of it, so
1t was yesterday. Everything is cleared for
action. The three elements of the contest
are these: A thorough organization and
well-arranged plans. directed by shrewd
| men, on one side; large number of votes
on the other side; and lot of uncertain
delegates yet to deal with.
,.s The Cause, Not the Man.
Bland is the only candidate around whom
there is any great amount of shouting His
followers are vociferous The delegates as
a rule do not seem to be enthused much
over any individual. They go wild at the
mention Of free silver. The picture or the
name Of a man does not excite them.
banner was In the hall with a picture of
Bland on one side and the opponents on
the other. That part of the assemblage
toward which the free silver. side was
turned cheered. while those whb saw the
other were comparatively silent.
The applause shifted from one section of
the convention to the other, as the banner
was turned. This did not appear to be on
account of any lack of regard for Bland A
man with the large following he has in this
convention cannot be counted unpopular
1t was simply manifestation of the most
striking characteristic of the convention
the lifting OF the cause ABOVE the individual.
Both Bland and Bryan are very popular
among the silver delegates. yet the display
OF their banners in the convention yestsr-
day failed to excite the delegates When q
plctures of Bland was carried into the con-
vention hall with a band of music and
when the leader of the newly seated Bryan
delegation, from Nebraska went through
the aisle with alsilken Bryan banner, all
silver and blue, UPON his back. the thoughts
of the convehtiosn naturally turned to. q
comparison between this falling effort to
| excite enthusiaan and that wonderful
scene at the Minneapolis convention, when
portrait Of Blend was carried through
the ais'es. % II:
A Novel Assemblage.
- 34!1
This conversion is making q very critical
study of Its men. The assemblage is that
of new lot Of people together. The lead
ers are not ID touch with the rank and file
The rank and file do not know the leaders,
and are somewhat distrustful of them
Nor are the great majority Of the leaders
acquainted With eeach other. Many Of
them are men who have not appeared in