The Irish standard., 1896-03-21
But These Guns Are Political and
Not of the Death Deaf
ing Order.
Sketches of the Various Places
Where Conventions Have
Been Held.
The Windy City Appears to Have
Been the Lucky Place for
the Democrats.

Chicago inaugurated the idea that ma
tfonal convention halls should be built
| to hold multitude back in May, 1850.
when it built the immense wooden wig
| wan made famous by the first nomlna-
1 ton OF Abraham Lincoln, says the
| Times Herald Of that city. Since then
| the national convention executive COM
mittees of the two leading parties, in 10
eating their conventions in second-rate
cities, such as St. Louis, Minneapolis.
| Cincinnati and SO on, have always de-
manded assurance of the ability of such
! cities to seat, feed and sleep a great
crowd. Chicago has demonstrated on
many occasions it's ability to handle ma
tional conventions, and on that account
! the guarantees that are demanded OF
minor convention cities cut but little tlg-
ure with the Chicago argument. But st.
| Louis, for instance, with the Republican
! convention OH its hands. is unable to sit
| still because OF it's anxiety about the room
| and food that will be necessary for the
crowd to expect.
Chicago, on the other hand, has or will
have three halls, any one of which would
properly accommodate the Democratic
hosts to come in July, and, having cared
for five of the ten Republican national
conventions and three Democratic the
! city is not worrying at all about being
able to manage the job it now has on
! hand. ~
The most famous halls in which nation
al conventions have been held are Tor
were} the two Chicago wigwams-the
! Lincoln and the Cleveland wigwams-
old Exposition building on the lake front
and the auditorium and the Exposition
! halls in st. Louis. Minneapolis and Gin
cinnati 1t would be hard to say which OF
these was most satisfactory, but in the
| minds of those who have attended the
! national conventions Of the last twenty
! five years the wigwam idea is least liked.
The wigwam that sheltered the last DEM
.ocratic national convention is especially
7 condemned because of the general feeling
Ol INSECURITY Ou Iut ulSIL VI iuS otOl III
| that drenched the entire crowd within
| the walls of the ramshackle hall, and be-
| cause it was large enough to hold more
! people than could be properly managed.
With the Coliseum this year. however,
the Democratic committee will be able
to house it's convention comfortably and
securely, so that such storms as that
which threw the last Cleveland cOnven-
ton into panic will not be noticed. = :
AS the railroads of the country have de-
veloped hotel accommodations increas-
ed, and newspaper telegraphing multi
plied. big convention halls have not only
become the fashion, but almost neces-
sity. The Lincoln wigwam was the first
convention hall that gave a liberal space
to the press and the telegraphic force
that recited to the country at large the
history of that great event as it was en-
| acted. The architect Of that wigwam
and of the Democratic wigwam of 1892.
as we'll, had in mind a theater. The con-
yention in the first wigWam was on the
stage, the press occupied the place cf
the orchestra, and the audience was in
the pit and the galleries. In the Demo-
cratic wigwam the stars of the convent
tion were on the stage, the press occu-
pied places in the wings and back OF the
stage, the ordinary delegates were in the
pit and the audience in the galleries.
In neither case did the audience hesitate
to express itself, and in both the order to
clear the galleries was withheld out Of
fear that the galleries might clear the
stage.
The Charleston convention of 1860 was
held in a hall that would only seat 1,500
people, and the three Baltimore conven-
tions of the same year were held, one
(the Douglas) in theater, the Believer
ett in church and the Breckenridge in
hall with a capacity Of not more than
1900. But halls of this size will not an
swer now, for there are almost 1000 dele
gates and representatives of the press
who have business to transact in the
convention building, to say nothing Of
the throngs of outsiders who think it
their duty to see personally to the naming
OF the presidential candidates and the
framing Of the platform principles upon
which they shall stand The rule is that
there are two convention delegates to
each electoral vote. so that there are
twice as many as the membership of
both houses of congress. Besides these
there are the territorial delegates, and
behind each delegate is an alternate.
Many of these alternates attend the con-
yentiOns whether their principals 40 or
not. and must be provided with places.
Another calculation in figuring on the
seating capacity. and by far the most inn
porfant. too, is that there will be about
ten spectators to each delegate.
The Minneapolis hall accommodated the
delegates and the press. but the city itself
could not accumulate the crowd. Meth
{er was it a large enough telegraph center
to handle the. millions of words Of matter
that was written for the great papers OF
ouner cites.
I. The old exposition. on the lake front,
where several national conventions were
held, is said to have been particularly we'll
suited to that use in regard to s.ze, ar
rangement and all other consfdera lions.
The Coliseum and Tattersall's, had either
OF them been picked by the Democratic
committee. could have been arranged in
much the same way as was the old exposi-
ton building, and would accommodate
about as many people hin hearing dis
lance OF the speakers stand
The Auditor sunl. which held the cons
Yention that nominated Harrison and
Morton, was II great favor with q certain