Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-22
BAY STATE DEMOCRATS.

The democratic party registered anoth-
er pow-wow in Boston yesterday. A
state convention was held in which it was
impossible for the one hundre policeman
present to maintain order. When such
prominent democrats as Congressman
John r. Fitzgerald We're speaking, po-
licemen stood ready to forcibly eject
them from the platform. if necessary for
the conservation of order and to prevent
the threatened riot. 1t was a spectacle
most edifying to the world, being on a
par with the late bear-garden convention
in Kentucky which nominated the
smooth-faced Goebel for governors!
The cause of the riotous scenes, so
graphically depicted by telegraph to-day,
was the method of procedure forced upon
that body by the carefully organized Bry-
an forces, represented by the leadership
of George Fred. Williams. The primary
object of the convention was to nominate
a state ticket. and it was not in the pur-
pose of the anti-Bryan democrats to
enlarge the functions of that body. But
the scheme to broaden it's scope had been
adroitly laid, and when the effort was
made to name delegates to the national
convention to be held next year, the
storm broke in all it's fury. After a most
disgraceful and bitter fight. in which the
entire convention was standing on chairs
and tables, screaming and yelling like
demons, the Williams men, with the
aid of one hundred policemen, declared
themselves winners, and a delegation Of
Bryan men was selected to represent
the democracy of Massachusetts in the
next national convention of that party.
The extraordinary action of a state
convention, in selecting delegates to a
national convention in the year preceding
the presidential campaign. will lead to
widespread discussion. Political usages
and customs ave established the UNI
written law that the selection of dele
gates to a national shall be
made within the year of their service. to
the end hat they may be chosen With a
view to their standing on questions which
may not come up for consideration at an
earlier date. IT is not impossible that the
winter months may in some way change
the focus of what now appear to be the
forthcoming issues of the next campaign.
If so, delegates selected now may not be
what the party actually desires in point
of sentiment, ability or experience.
In forcing the selection of delegates
yaStaT6av IN rnnpaSant tho nartv in
a convention to be held sometime
in 1900, the Bryan men in Massa-
chusetts exhibited an arbitrary haste
that will seriously affect democratic unity
in the east. That they doubted their
ability to hold their forces together till
next spring, and feared some movement
on the checker-board of politics that
would weaken their grip on the party, is
more than yident. They certainly did
not name delegates at this time for the
purpose of showing to the world that the
BRYAN sentiment had overwhelmed the
democracy of the Bay state, and thereby
develop moral sentiment in behalf of
their cause. The fight they We're COM
Dtllcd " al " ~ "NN
the bitter party opposition that met them
at every turn in the road, not only rObs
Bryan of any prestige in the outcome of
the convention but is more than likely
to excite formidable opposition on the
part of his democratic enemies in the
forthcoming campaign.
In the count of noses, when the dele
gates are seated in the national conVen-
ton, the Bryan men can place Massa-
chusetts to their credit. Morally, yes
terday's work will stand in current polit-
ical history like the rape Of the Romans
upon the abine In breaking down
party precedent in the matter of select
ing delegates, in order to secure an ad-
vantage which might have been denied
them later on, the Bryan democrats in
vance their system of procedure in the
national convention, if it becomes neces-
sary to resort to any extreme in order to
carry out their plans inc purposes in
that body. The opposition will be ridden
down rough-shod, if the Massachusetts