The San Francisco call., 1898-08-19
The Fire=EaterS Did Not Rave When the Medicine
 Was Presented.
Cut=and-Dried Programme Was Well come, but This One Was Altogether Too Coarse.
BY HENRY JAMES.

MENIO, Aug. 1S.-1 eSterQay there were plenty of Democrats swearing by the. shade of Jefferson they would never submit to fusion. To-day the!
 meekly submitted The OK and tht ass are duly yoked
 < am bound to say the situation is of the team.
 :. The report of the fusion committed was received almost as soon as the con- vention had been called to order. There was no opposition, no enthusiasm The Democrats who had threatened to speak against 1t were silent, and when "a Democrat Is silent he has been hard hit: After fusion had gone through with a rush Deuprey arose in his place and, began to talk. The day was hot, the electric fan was at rest and mo- body felt in a mood to hear remarks from anybody but himself Voices .suggested wearily that Deuprey go to the. platform and he went, despite the fact that Chairman Cassin declared this unnecessary.
 =: sdigress to state that as chairman Cassfn Is the most inadequate and helpless person ever holding the gavel. He does not have the faculty of con trolling men and he knows no more about parliamentary law than an ele- 'phailt does of rope walking.
 Q; So Deuprey took the platform. He explained hoarsely, for some of the thunder he has hurled has strained his vocal. cords, that he did not think the game should be delayed until the adop- ton of the platform but should pro- ;ceed: at once to nominations.
 .. The plan was accepted. for the can didates would have to stand on the platform when they got one anyhow. There was a little noise, some talking, no attention to Cassin and then AL ford came forward.
 To this young man had been dele gated :the task of nominating can -didate for the Governorship and there was a suspicion that Mcguire would be: the: choice. Such proved to be the case; :: Afford had a speech all ready. Considered apart from it's delivery, it was not a bad one. It told of the mellow light of history and the camp fires. of progress, touched upon indus trial. freedom and to the accompani- ~mert of casual and modest applause finally reached Mcguire. Then there were wells. but nothing indicating wild enthusiasm.
 Twas surprised at this.
 +Maguire being regarded as the only man: on the cross-bred ticket sup :posed to have a ghost or show or election. there might have been an ex- .c,lse for noise. Afford proceeded to Saw that in the presence of Mcguire ai,io5rIz. stood mute. and then launched into a wild encomium which boosted :Mae,rire far above the clouds and left him. bereft of human company but thrilled by the f1utter of angel wings. I had not known that Magulre was so good. If all Afford said is true heaven Is Maguire's home.
 :: Senator Whites seconding speech aedienified. marked by many strong ,no,nts and happy in its allusions to Inc soldiers and sailors recent tr,i,roDbs bv land and sea. It was not lacking in quality of pathos and the reserved. tone in which 1t was deliV- cred added much to its effectiveness. There was in it no trace of the bitter ness which had marked Affords, which seemed to have been colored by a mo- ton that the press had been unkind. =. Here came nominations to the Su- preme bench. I violate no confidence .in saying that they were weariness to the soul. Every man with a can didate to propose had also speech Of great length and inutility. He ap- .peared to feel it incumbent to give the biography of the aspirant, not only from the cradle to the glorious pres ::en+ but for about three generations back and an eternity ahead. He would anohla on with a riot of words and phrases, with large chunks of personal and wholly uninteresting history. The O. .tions. perspiring the while profusely, growing red in face, bending, gesticu- lating, and in the audience others would be waiting for a chance to do the same thing.
 :. The speeches should have been lfm- ited to two minutes. I did not time them, Probably they averaged ten or twelve minutes. but they struck the senses as about an hour and hair each. Between the speeches Cassin would beg that order be preserved, but he could not induce any one to take his view of 1t. After all the speeches devoted to eulogizing everything in sight, to memory dear, or extent in : the. vague realm of hope, the flow of :eloauence was damned, so that action :coufd be taken concerning the plat form. l trust the esteemed compositor will spell the word damned correctly, although, except for moralitys sake, he rought to spell it the other way
 1.-The platform was read in a droning monotone calculated to induce slumber. It received little attention, excited hardly a ripple of cheering and as it conformed to the programme in all re- spects was adopted, just as the nomi- nation of Mcguire was made by accla- There SiT1rlxy ro oth course to take.
 While the convention dragged along there were members outside who were attending to other prescribed details Barry got the nomination in the Fourth Congressional District, but not until McNab had it offered to him with a string attached. With a gesture patterned after that used by Caesar, when he rejected 8 crown, McNab mo-