The San Francisco call., 1898-08-24
CALL HEADQUARTERS,
 SACRAMENTO, Aug. 23.

CALL HEADQUARTERS,
 SACRAMENTO, Aug. 23
 My country, 'tis of thee.
 Strains of melody such as touch the heart swelled up through a waving forest of flags; then from a thousand throats came the words of a well-loved song
 The Star spangled Banner.
 At the first note the vast audience, act ing on a common and instant impulse, was lifted to its feeti the banners kept time to the music. There seemed to be radi- ant garden of bloom. The men and women who sang were earnest They for- got that they were at political conven- tion For the moment they were noth- ing but Americans and patriots. the colors of their country all around them, the em- blem of liberty. which valor has newly planted on alien shores, the one thought High above the red, white and blue formed a canopy. Around the walls were ranged pictures of heroes.
 The singing was led by a double quar- tet of sweet and powerful tone, to the accompaniment of horns and drums
 The scenes and the sounds were inspir- ing Men who an hour before had been shouting as they marched the streets be- decked with the gaudy badge of their chosen leader stood grasping the stan Of a flag and joining in the refrain. There were tears in the eyes of some or them There was a tremor in many of the voices It was as though a prayer were being sung.
 There was span of silence, and next three cheers for the Star Spangled Ban ner" was floating afar, rolling through the open windows to subdue the turmoil of the street dying away among the rart- CTS of the immense pavilion, leaving an echo and a memory.
 No such cheers had been heard there week before No hail to the Stars and of ri feTVOr. nOth- ing but a sordid clamor for office, the hurling of an epithet a ripple of laughter at some joke.
 To one who had been, present on both occasions the contrast was almost humil- iating for the throng of the week before had been American citizens, under the protection of this same flag. They sim ply had forgotten. They had business on hand which they deemed of greater i'm uortance. They had personal grievances and selfish ambitions which had to be con- sidered first. If similar things crop up be- fore the adjournment of the second con vention they will have to await proper period.
 To-dav,s cheers were not all of the char acter marking the opening. save that they were hearty. There were more for the President of the United States, and for the ladies' The fair visitors smiled and bl,lshed The crowd was in a mood for cheering. Tn an OTueIlS pIOpSI way it made manifest desire to shout.
 There was not much loss of time. h. deed. these prelfminaries did not repre- sent loss of time but after they were over the gathering was at once down to business The speeches were short and crisp when a choice was to be made of temporary chairman.
 Personally I was sorry to see MT. Neff take the chair. because he did not seem physically fit for the ordeal. It is not probable he will have to throw diplomatic barriers between hostile factions, as Budd did last week There is no reason for supposing he will be obliged to devote his energies to keeping two Yarm gen. tlemen from publicly blacking each oth- CTS eyes. Such tasks, doubt not. would be trying to one of Neffs age and appar- ent infirmity. But the chairman made a manly and forceful address, in which he denounced as false the charge that he was there as the representative of any clique or boss He did this with a vigor which made the operation virtually that which the fighting Democracy acquired the habit last week of terming ram ming the lie down the throat of the op- position" Yet Mir Neff did not deem it necessary to so describe it.
 There was a recess so that committees could be named, and during the recess I write this. It IS not my province lO go into an analysis of the situation. The sit nation is set forth in detail, and the State is full of as good guessers as my self. was struck with the enthusiasm, the genial candor and the celerty of procedure The speakers were in good voice and could be heard. Even Grove L. Johnson of Sacramento and San Fran cisco, and boundless hopes of being else where, piped so as to be audible three rows of seats from where his whiskers wagged Several men so elderly that years had crowned them with snow white hair stood well back in the house, and yet when they spoke not syllable but was distinct.
 I had judged from the Examiner post CT, 1t being of a size to make horses shy, that after Tom Williams had viewed the landscape OCT, there would be noth- ing to say of what had passed, while the prophetic eye of General Barnes would lay bare the future minutely that to know 1t in advance would require only the trouble of reading after him. l con- sess to some disappointment I think that Williams greatest success has been in providing for persons who incautious- ly insert want ads in Hearst's paper those cunning little chromos at one sight of which they never want anything more enough to advertise for It. Readers are becoming as timid the people who used to insert want ads, They must get a Williams chromo with every copy of the Examiner, and If they don't want to buy copy it is thrust upon them. But