Evening star., 1896-06-16
SOME SCENES AT ST. LOUIS.


SOME SCENES AT ST. LOUIS.
Pen Pictures Before the Convention
Met.
Special From a STAFF Correspondent.
ST. LOUIS, June 1G.-A man stood upon
the counter Of the middle of the hundrea-
foot bar in the Southern Hotel and sang
one OF Tony Pastors old songs, the refrain
Of which is:
Geld, god, gold
i love to hear 1t Jingle.
Gold. gold, gold;
Its power Is untold,
For the women. they adore 1t,
While the N en- try hard to store IT;
There's not a better thing In life than
Gold. gold. gold"
The crowd took up the catchy refrain.
and as they sang 1t tinkled an accompani-
ment upon their glasses with gold pieces.
When the last stanza was completed,
shower Of half eagles rained upon the
counter. and everybody pressed forward
to drink a toast to gold.
1, is said that 100000 in minted yellow
metal was poured u.on the town yester-
day. 1t flowed like water through the
channels os trade. and as 1t flowed, Its
sound was sweeter than any biitha5ome
brock that ever babbled. 1t was shrewd
scheme. 1t is not exaggsration to say that
the magic Of the metal, the object lesson of
its presence in the concrete. was partly re-
sponsible for the gain Of over 100 delegates
to the support of the gold standard platform
which Senator Lodge counted his own
when the sun went down.
Far INTO the night last night the delega-
tions 1abored in their rooms getting ready
for the business of today. The sickiy
morning sun peer:ng sleepily through the
mist of tine dawn and the smoke Of the
awakening city shoDe into rooms where
men We're still struggling with the arrang-
ing of representations upon the great COM
mittees of the convention from the various
delegations. Each delegation selects its
own members upon the committees, ana
many delegations settle questions of policy
to be Incorporated in the general platform.
The struggle for gold was carried into the
delegations. therefore. and had to be fought
out primarily there. The outcome was
told in the selection of the man to repre-
sent the state on the committee on resolu-
tions.
The fight was bitter in Indiana, Michigan.
Illinois, Iowa. Minnesota and Kansas,
where the factions were we'll matched upon
the respective sides of a declaration for
Sound money and the existing stand
ard or for the little word gold"
As the morning wore on one could OBJ
serve the enthusiasm Of the delegates rise
under the influence Of the approaching
hour of the convention as the mercury rises
in the shade as the sun climbs the heavens.
Enthusiasm of this kind IL infectious and
quickly communicated. A stirring burst Of
music from a band. followed by five min
utes of timely and vigorous cheering, will
start the pulse to throbbing with a quicker
beat. and you see the effect of 1t in the
moving Of the crowds. There is restless
ness. a shifting to and fro in an aimless
way while the Infection spreads, buzzing
like bunch of bees preparing to swarm.
until directly banner Is lifted aloft. the
band strikes Up again. ard with a cheer
and then another the crowd moves along
gathering accretions as it goes, as the
whirlwind picks Up the chafr in the streets.
end the whole place is In tumult Of en-
thusiasm.
Then another movement starts in to coun-
teract it. Stimulated by the enthusiasm of
their opponents the other fellows whip
themselves into furor Of loyalty for their
own candidate, get their band and gather
their crowd while they also proceed 10
sweep the corridors. When the two streams
of hunt nifty meet there is a comm:ngling
of currents in q whirlpool of confusion,
frally separating to later gather around a
Few center Of attraction. Everything is
movement. noise and exhilaration If a
man talks to YOU 1t IL in a high. nervous
key, and you find directly you have taken
the infection of his excitement insensibly.
Two thousand hot and happy men in
the great corridors of the Southern Hotel.
pouring In and out OF the four cross
square entrances. Two thousand throats
cheering. yelling. laughing, protesting.
making Babel Of noise, commngling
with the discordant crash Of conflicting
bands. Heat. dust. the glare of electric
lights. the shrill roll of snare drum in
some corner. calling the assembly and for
the instant drowning all other noise; n
pushing. jostling. good-natured crowd fol-
lowing the impulse of their excited brains
that drives them here and there; drinking
singing, speech-making. hurrahing for can
didates here and there; scrap, followed
at once by maudlin reconciliation at
the bar. Every man has cut loose from
all restraint and gives free vent to the ex-
cited. irrational. ridiculous impulse of the
moment 1t only needs an element Of
viciousness. which fortunately is lacking
to make the scene little annex of Hadss
N. o. NJ