Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1896-07-31

1t was then recognized that there would
be fight in the convention between the
Bryan and Sewall forces and the middle
of-the-road men led by the lob delegation
from Texas. Various names were men
toned. The steering committee Of which
Weaver was the leader, were in favor of
Kolb of Alabama. 1t appeared to the
Bryan men that 1t would be dangerous
for the reason that the Alabama delega-
tion was almost unit against Bryan and
Sewall, and it declared Kolb in the pos
ition OF opposing his own people;
emergencies might arise wherein the
pressure might be upon Kolb, and it was
deemed by the Bryan forces that he
would not be safe man in such emer-
gencies.
The Nebraska delegation was the
special champion of the Bryan and Sewall
cause. Senator Allen was in no position
to be offered by Nebraska for chairman.
The South Dakota delegation had head
quarters on the parlor floor of the Lindel
hotel adjoining the Nebraska delegation
and they had national prominence in the
convention for the reason that thev came
from state having two senators. The
South Dakota delegation, of which was
chairman. at once organized a movement
to make Allen permanent chairman. We
realized that 1t was fight, that the con-
vention would not compromise; that we
could better test the strength of Bryan on
on Bryan man than by any concessions
We sent out and invited into our head
quarters a representative from each OF
the states favorable to Bryan and at once
decided that Allen was the man for
delegation the necessity of advising its
members on the committee of permanent
organization to vote for Allen. This con-
ference was held in the South Dakota
headquarters on Wednesday night. On
Thursday morning the committee on
permanent organization decided upon
Allen for chairman by vote OF 20 to IA.
At ten o'clock the report of the perman-
ent organization was presented to the
convention. A bitter fight was at once
commenced. 1t was conceded on all sides
that this was the test. All parliamentary
means and practices were resorted TO TO
prevent it coming to a vote. In this
nomination the middle. .of-the-roaders, as
they called themselves, moved to amend
the report Of the committee on permanent
organization by substituting Campton Of
Massachusetts, in place of Allen of Neb
All day the fight waxed warm. Speeches
were made on both sides, and finally at
about o'clock Thursday night it was
brought to vote Of all the states. AS 1
remember it Allen received 765 votes and
Campton SAB, giving Allen a majority of
over 2l2, which showed safe Bryan
majority. AS soon as the votes were an
nounced bedlam of enthusiasm broke
loose in the convention. The Bryan men
cheered and yelled their qualification,
they marched around the halls, cheering
for Bryan. waving flags and banners
and carrying their state gudons and
massed them around Nebraska The
middle-ofthe-roaders now recognized
that Bryan would be the nominee of the
convention and that it was no longer pos
sible to defeat his nomination and
that Allen was declared elected
chairman. The fight was then
centered on Sewall. The south demand :
ed the vice president, and, with the ex-
ception of Texas, agreed to unite. But
Texas was uncompormising. her 103
delegates stood a SOLID phalanx against
Bryan aud the middle-of- the readers, as
they called themselves, were for a mid
dle-of-the-road straight Populist ticket.
When the cheering and rejoicing over
the election of Allen by the Bryan men
quieted. Senator Allen for an hour and a
half delivered one of the most powerful
speeches on the principles of the Populst
party and on the necessity Of. at this
time, electing a president of the United
States favorable to silver. showing that
the liberty and welfare of the wage earn
ers and producers demand that silver
should be restored and 1t could only be
done by having an administration fav-
orable to silver. At the close of his
speech, about 12 o'clock at night, the
convention adjourned till morning Of
Friday. That n great amount of work
was doue, caucuses and conventions were
held. The iddle-ofthe-roaders were
determined that vice president should
be nominated from the south. The great
majority of The convention was willing
to concede this, but the middle-of-the-
readers demanded that the rules of order
should be reversed and that the vice
president be nominated first. The COM
mittee on rules OF order had reported the
order to be that the president should be
nominated first and the vice president
next. There was a minority report re-
quiring the vice president to be nonin-