The San Francisco call., 1896-04-26

candidate as chairman of to-day's county
convention. The effort that was originally
planned by the old-timers to MAKE fight
in behalf of Aaron A. Bretz as presiding
officer was abandoned, and Adna A.
Den1son was elected unanimously to that
position.
test Of the strength of the two wings
was made when the election for per-
manent secretary took place. The younger
element, or "short-Eairs, nominated w.
HI. Chapman, and the "long- hairs" put up
Il. NJ. Frick, ex-messenger of the Police
Department. Chapman received tifty-two
votes and Frick forty-two, and they were
declared secretary and assistant, respec-
lively.
When Chairman Moore of the County
COMMITTEES called the convention there
was an almost complete attendance, and it
was the most enthusiastic Populist gather
ing yet held in Alameda County. In the
natural order of things, Mayor Davie
should have been the presiding officer, but
his Honor has not been in perfect har.
mony with the County Committee for
long time, and he was not seen at the con-
vention. Commissioner Peirsol of the
Board of Works paid the hall visit. bur
took no active part in the proceedings.
The most noticeable feature of the con.
ventlon was the sudden springing into
prominence OF Adera A. Denison, who pre-
sided. For several years he has been on
the outside edge of politics and occasio n
ally has made an active move, but it was
not supposed that his strength was suffi-
cient to enable him to become the recog-
nized leader of his party. Two years ago
he ran for Supervisor on the Populist
ticket and he has also served term a
library trustee, but he was elected to that
Office rather by the Nom Partisans than by
the Popuiists. He is newspaper reporter
and prominent member of the Insti tute
of Applied Christlanit y. He will prob.
ably make, strong fight to capture
supervisorship next November.
Chairman Denison made very short
opening speech. He said: "This is not q
time for words, but q time for action.
Little by little the Peoples party made
progress at the first. but n ow it is going
ahead by rapid strides. The personnel Of
this convention is evidence of the stability
of the party in this cou nty. To continue
making progress we must work together
in harmony, and trust that our delibera-
tions will be characterized by a singleness
of purpose. The best of good d-fell 1wship
should prevail at our councils. We see on
all sides the old parties tottering to their
fall because of internal dissensions. and
We must see to it that we do not follow
suit
The chairman named the following COM
mittees:
Credentials-William Gregory, J. M. Moore
E. S. Broadwater Jr., W. r. Batten, A. Hoenisch
]. C. Butner.
On order OF business-W NJ. Brown, Dr. AL
len, w. ]. Donovan, Ed Mcguire, B. K. Lowe,
r. w. Good.
Instead of having long recess while the
comm ittees were preparing their reports
the chairman called E. Nj. Wardell, chair
man of the Populiss State Central Com
mittee, to the platform, and the gentle
man told of the great progress made by
the party in the southern part OF the State.
1t was originally intended that the dele
gates should go to Sacramento in teams
rather than patronize a corporation, but
this idea has been abandoned. but the
speakers will make few addresses en-
route. The speaker said that the only is
sue to-day is the money question, and it is
absolutely necessary that the campaign be
conducted along these lines.
The district conventions met and chose
their delegates, which were all ratified by
the convention. They are as follows:
Forty-sixth District-W. W. Brown and j. D.