Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1896-06-16

TUESDAY EVENING, JUNE is, 1895.
THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.


THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
The Territorial democratic owen
ton, held in this city, yesterday, for
the principal purpose of choosing Six
delegates and SIX alternates, to repre-
sent New Mexico at the national demo
cratic convention soon to be held In
Chicago, is now a thing of the past
s.They have fought tneir fight, and to
The victvrs belong the SIP %ilts,' may b.
APPLY said of the county delegations
which formed the component parts OF
the Territorial convention that ter
minated its labors, last night.
The report given in the columns OF
this paper of the proceedings OF the
convention, aimed at accuracy and
brevity. All things interesting to our
readers, or of Importance, were men,
toned. Thus having fulfilled its duty
to the public as a newspaper, conf
ments from a republican viewpoint
are in order, and being in order will
now be made.
1t became very apparent yesterday
morning, to even a casual observer,
that there was war ia the ranks OF the
delegates, and,to the difficulty Of recon
Cling or appeasing the opposing fac
tions must be laid the delay IN opening
the convention.
That the reconciliation was only of
veneer was made manifest during the
wordy passages that occurred on the
vote to adopt the report of the CON-
mittee on resolutions.
To say that harmony did not pre-
vail, is a mild statement and mislead-
ing assertion, compared to tha actual
state of affairs, when the committee
on credentials wisely determined to
fight the battle for contested seats IN
private, rather than run the risk of the
almost inevitable splitting asunder OF
the convention, had the contest been
heard IN open session. The hot heads
attem pied to carry matters with an
exceedingly high hand. and actually
proposed to have two sets of chairmen
and other officers, all at work on the
same stage and under n roof stimuli
taneouslY. This was openly stated on
the street by a member of the demo
cratic party who was in a position to
know whereof he spoke.
How very different was this demo
cratic convention from that held by
the republicans at Albuquerque, may
be left to our readers to judge. There
was only to be found harmonious &C.
tion; here was almost open violence,
and a tragedy narrowly escaped.
The thought naturally arises, and
the question follows, what is the
reason of this state of affairs in the
democracy of New MexicoP 1t can be
t%ruthfully answered by saying, there
are two warning factions, composed, on
the n side, of the admirers of the
Cleveland administration, and on the
other side, those who have no earthly
use for him, or the n in which he
has handled the reins of government,
to the great injury Of this great repub-
lie. The local fight OF yesterday was
principally on the point, whether this
convention should endorse Cleveland
and the present administration, or de-.
nounce him. All the federal officers of
this Territory wanted to pursue the
former course, but being in the
minority, did not dare to carry
their point to extremes and openly
declare in Cleveland's favor. The
majority desired to denounce the
present Cleveland administration, but
while not doing SO in fact, did COM
pletely and unequlvocally do so In the
adopted report Of the committee on
resolutions, wherein our president was
ignored as completely as free and I'M
limited coinage Of gold and silver at
the ratio of 16 to l was favored.
This convention was for free silver,
out and out, and as such was most
assuredly %unfavorable to the national
administration. The democrats of
New Mexico have now put themselves
on public record on these points.
Sport Worthy Of the Name.