The record-union., 1898-07-11
WILL THE DEMOCRATS WOO?
POPULIST DELEGATES AS COY
AS MAIDENS.
Some Would Like to be Courteu,
and Others Wouldn't-The
Hosts Arriving.

Already are the Populist clans gath
.,ing for tha State Convention which
will be opened at 10 o'clock tomorrow
in the Assembly chamber in the Capltoi
building, and while the city was not
oyerr,,n with them last night a very re-
spectable number had put in an ap-
peaI-ance.
Prominent among the San Francisco
delegates who arrived last evening was
Thomas V Gator, who has been prom
inently identified with the party and
was credited with controlling the State
convention of 1896. He has held his
own, and heads the San Francisco del
egation with all the assurance OF for
mer years.
G.. w. Baker is also on the ground,
and the tall form and gray curly hair
and beard of A. Bretz were in evidence.
That Bretz is capable of creating
breeze was evidenced in the Legislature
of 1898, when he accused Congressman
Cannon of influencing a Los Angeles
Pcpulist member to vote for stephen M.
White for Senator, and intimated that
money had changed hands on the deal
Bretz was suspended from the Assem-
bly, for a week. but was happy, saying
that she was the most talked about
man in the United States"
T. w. H. Shanahan was also on the
gre und early. He has been prominently
mentioned for some time in connection
with the place at the head of the ticket,
but delegates were too scarce last night
and the question of fusion with the
Democrats was too uncertain for them
to discuss the subject.
E. S. Van Meter J. S. Dore and D. S.
Church arrived from Fresno during the
afternoon, the other seven delegates ar
irving on the southern train, which
was six hours late, arriving here
shortly before midnight.
On the late train also came Chairman
Wardall of the State Central Com
mittee, and the rest of the Los Angeles
delegation, and the primary work of
the convention may be expected to be-
gin in earnest to-day.
That there will be a sharp battle on
the question of fusion is evident, but
unless the interior counties bring in
big anti-fusion delegations it is not i'm
probable that the Populists and Demo-
Gratis will sail in the same boat. Re
cent events have shown that the fusion
spirit is strong in San Francisco and
Oakland, and the same appears to be
true of Los Angeles and other southern
counties The Fresno County Conven-
tion was unanimous in instructing its
ten delegates to vote for "co-operation"
with the Democrats, and incidentally
with other organizations, and Co
operation" was supplanted further on
by fusion presumably SO that no
doubt should exist in the minds of dele
gates regarding the instructions.
The Sacramento County delegates are
uninstructed, though it is understood
that a majority will vote against fu-
sion. 1t is also said that the delegates
would have been so instructed had not
w T. Hamilton led the anti-fusion
forces. AS it was. the convention hes
itated about adopting his views. Be
that as it may, Sacramento County s
delegation will be divided when it
comes to a vote.
For some time past there has been
war in San Francisco, the faction
known locally as the Buckley Gallag-
her-Maguire contingent using every ef-
fort with the County Executive Com
mittee to keep Thomas V. Gator from
being named as a delegate. 1t seems
that the fight was waged for the pur-
pose of keeping Gator off the floor of
Alc Jul lAit cRpOS4l4OA w DIS
not strong enough, and Gator is here, a
fully accredited delegate. The Execu-
tive Committee seems to have turned
the tables on his opponents and seated
him without regard to the opposition.
The friends of fusion simply say that
If the Democrats do what is right, and
divide UP the places with the Peoples
Party, everything Will move swim
mingly along, while anti-fusionists are
emphatic with the retort that the Dem
ocratic party will do nothing of the
kind, and merely wishes to use the
Populists as a cats-paw with which to
rake their chestnuts from the political
fire.
1t is whispered about that a slate
will be formed and that everything will
be cut and dried before the convention
is called to order, though a few of the
old line Populists hoot at the idea and
declare that in such an organization a
slate" is an impossibility.
1t looked last night as though the
Silver Republicans will have to go II
alone, so far as the Peoples Party is
concerned. Some of the delegates in
sist that there is not a shadow OF
populism in the Silver Republican
ranks, that the issue of free silver is
"a dead one," and that the Peoples
Party does not favor metallic money OF
any kind.