Evening star., 1896-07-02
The Chicago Convention Will Not
Be Cut and Dried.
CONTEST OVER THE CANDIDATES
Opposition to AboIishing tho Two.
Thirds Rule.
TEMPORARY GUARDIANSHIP


4
| CHICAGO. July 2.-It does not now ,ook
as IL the work being done among the dem
otratic leaders this week would sltopetber
| 1orestall the action Of the Chicago conven-
| tion The prospect 10 not promising for the
1uinllment or the suggestion that the silver
men should decide upon their candidate as
"ei as on the platform, SO as to have
| everything cut and dried when the CON-
| 'enton assemblies. The situation found to
| exist when the big silver leaders arrived
| was not such as 20 encourage such a plsn
Ihe contest over candidates is active and
indications are that IL will be protracted
| "hiie the delegates are not vet here the
| irihcll'al leaders are assembled, and the
| contest Is on almost as actively as IL the
| convention were actually in session
Inns much is settled-the silver men are
| In complete control They will write tbs
| platform for free silver I6 to l, independents
| ~ OF all other nations. and will nominate
| an out-and-out free silver man who's. ,,ov,-
tioh on the question has never been in
| doubt.
lhey do not assemble in any snirit NJ
cohclhaton. No disposition is manifested
u! the men now here TO placate the eastern
seio H'eh Inc disposition is to regard the
soid delegations as meIe lookerson and TO
| treat then somewhat cayalierly. Ii ia nor
proposed that they shall have any voice ,n
the convention except the voice of protest,
| Tor that they shall have any share I'm The
| organization.
Hill 1or Temporary Chairman
Even the temporary Craftsmanship is to
De dictated by the Birnetalic League. A
lew very few, of the leaders advise the
| acceptance of gold man for temporary
chairman, II the national committee will
suggest a man whom they can RELY on nor
to give any trouble These few have I'm,
che name to suggest in this connection It
Is that OF Senator Hill. They advise that IL
HliI name is proposed it should be ac-
cepteo on the grounds that he is too strong
a partisan to say anything that would he
apt TO hurt the party, and that he Will
surely support the ticket when nominated
They add under their breath that HIN In
not at heart much of a gold man any,
now. and mat he must be depended on 10
preserve the party organization I'm tho
esst.
Even this advice is not received with
much favor by majorty of the men who
are shaplng the course of the convention
Inc silver men are generally confident OF
their strength and defiant OF the eastern
sentiment. IL may be that argument will
| prevail SO that they will yield this one point.
but they are not at present disposed TO do
SO.
The Idea of a possible bolt does NOT an
pear to have any terror. Probably a more
sanguine and independent set of men than
i are the controlling spirits of this CONVEX
tloh never got together In a daring enter
prise. Ihelr confidence may carry them so
| lar as to cause them to ignore those men
OF the two other parties who are their nat
flood tide in the democratic party as in
dicative of the sentiment of the country.
and seem to expect it to sweep through the
general election this fall as it has through
their own party primaries
The Two-Thfrds Rule.
There is not the sentiment there
| was few weeks ago in favor of abolishina
| the two-thirds rule. On the contrary, con-
| siderable opposition has developed to any
| change. The silver men expect to be able
| to nominate under that rule and it is urged
| that there should pe few departures as
| possible from me-honored customs of the
| party. Altgeld is the chief advocate OF a
| majority rule, and those who hold with
him that the change should be made do SO
| because they suspicious OF design on
the part of Mr.. Whitney to beguiie them
into adhering to the two-thirds rule for the
purpose of preventing a nomination. This
| fear is gradually giving way, and the indi-
catioLs are that the two-thirds rule will
| be adhered to.
Though there is a clear and effective ma
| tority In perfect agreement on the 16 to L
! silver plan k. the framing of platform is
| not going to be easy task Tie prob
| lem which perplexes is how to deal with
| other questions so as to hold together all
| the silver people from all parties, and at
the same Time not seem to sacrifice any of
| the cherished democratic doctrines There
| is strong sentiment in favor of a one
| plank platform, with merely a declaration
that the party still adheres to the prnci-
| pies which it has proclaimed as the doc
| trine of democracy.
Some of the men, however who have
long championed low tariff are greatly op-
posed to that question being disposed of in
| so summary a manner, and the situation
has In it the possibility of considerable
contest. Ir whatever manner IL is settled.
| the platform will present the financial
question as to make it the sole issue of the
campaign, so far as the democratic party
| can control IT.
Silver Caucus Given Up.
The idea of holding preliminary conveD-
| ton Of silver men to select from among the
candidates man whom all the silver
| men shall support I'm the convention has
| been abandoned. There is too much riv-
| airy among the candidates for this. And
| the wisest lie lders are of the opinion that
\ hasty decision on this question might
| Tot result In the nomination of a strong
| ticket. Things are not working out as
| ct silly and smoothly in this respect some
anticipated 1t is evident that the nomina-
| tion is not going to be made without .
hard struggle, and IL is by no means GER
| tain that the advice of the men of most
political experience will be followed.
The reason that some have for concluding
| that the two-thirds rule should stand In
| that they want to delay the nomination
| lorg enough for mature consideration Of
| the availability Of the candidates. All the
| conservative leaders are urging that the
| cnly consideration that should control In
| the selection Of a candidate is to find the
man who can secure the most votes by be-
| ing acceptable to all classes of free silver
! Men. Tho more impetuous are sangui,s