The Portland daily press., 1896-07-10

There was only the faintest applause
on the announcement of this already
anticipated result. AT AZ p. IN. the
convention took recess until s p. IN.
When the convention took recess it
seemed quite probable that ex-Congress-
man Bryan Of Nebraska would be the
nominee for President. 1t was claimed
by his frienis that nearly a dozen states
had desired to sever allegiance to Boies
and other candidates and support Bry-
en-.
EVENING SESSION.
When the convention was called to or
der at $50 p. ILL.,, the galleries were
packed with people. Representative
Richardson Of Tennessee was president
pro tenn. The chairman informed the
convention that the roll of states would
be- called for this nomination of candidates
for the Presidency. By agreement the
chairman added that the nominating and
seconding speeches would be confined to
thirty minutes in length. Mr.. Vest OF
Missouri was the first delegate to ascend
the platform. Mr.. Vest spoke as follows
VESTS SPEECH.
Senator Vest said: Revolutions do not
begin with the rich and prosperous. They
represent the protest of those who are
suffering from present conditions, and
whose demands for relief are denounced
by the benef1oiaries of unjust and oppres-
siye legislation,
When profound sense of wrong.
evolved from years Of dis tress, fastens
upon the public mind In free country,
and the people are determined to have
redress, leader is always found who is
platform in himself, and to whom they
instinctivsly turn as the loyal expone mt
of their hopes. The people are not
iconoclasts, not false to their con victions,
They followed jefferson when he as
sailed the centralizing and monarohical
doctrines of the old Federalists, and was
denounced as communist and levellcr
by the wealth and culture of New Eng
land and New York.
Thoy followed Jackson when he took
tho United States bank by the throat
and was proclaimed tryant and ruffian
by the usurers and money kings.
They followed Lincoln when he at
tackled the slave power and declared hat
this country could not exist half slave
and half FREQ.
The great movement for bimetallism-
the free and unlimited coinage of silver
dnu ROlV al eu6 TdU1O VI ~ VI 1-dHQ the
restoration of silver to its constitutional
status Is
"No sapling chance sown by the fountain.
Blooming at Beltane, in winter to fade. u
1t has come to stay. 1t is protest
against the wrong and outrage of 1878,
when, without debate, and with the
knowledge of only a few men in Con-
gress the silver dollar was stricken from
She coinage, and the red despot Of gold
made supreme as to all values.
1t is declaration by the free men of
America that the United States must
withdraw from the oonspl racy which was
formed to destroy one-half thu metallic
money Of the world, in order to establish
the slavery of greed and usury more de-
grading than the tyranny Of armed force
IL Is the stern demand from nnrequited
toll, bankrupt enterprise and ruined
homes, for change in the money system
which for years has brought disaster
and desolation.
In this crisis of our country and party
we must take NO step backward in plat
from or candidate. We want no unoer
tain nor doubtful leader. No 1aggard Ia
peace, or bastard in war. No latter-day
silver saint, but a grizzled and SCARED
veteran, who has borne the heat and bur-
den Of the day and whose breast ia
marked from edge Oh SWORD ana point of
lance on hundred fields.
Twenty years ago the battle for silver
wasabegun in the halls of Congressaby a
modest, unpretending brave man, not an
iridiscent nor meteoric statesman, but of
the people and from the people, who bes
never faltered for an instant in the ereat
struggle. Others doubted and wave1ed
some yielded to Establishment and NAT,
ronage, and are now holding office under