The age-herald., 1899-07-21
ONLY ONE MAGICAL WORD AMONG DEMOCRATS
 AT CHICAGO MEETING AND THAT WAS BRYAN
Hon, John W, IOmfnsOR of Alabama, Chosen
 President of the BimetaHiC League,
It Was a Silver, Anti- Trust and Ani-ESpan-
 sion Meeting,

ing of the silver episode.
 The fight against P. J. Devlin, editor of the press bureau of the national committee,
 was brought to a finish, the Harrison fac tion of Illinois securing his deposition for
 the part taken by him as an officer of the national committee in the last mayoralty election in Chicago.
 Beyond making several changes in the
 rules governing the committee nothing else
 was done during the day
 Changes in the Rules
 Section i of the rules which prescribes the formation of the national committee
 was amended so as to permit the election
 of vice chairman to act when the chair
 man is unable to be present. Upon the mo-
 ton of MT. Clayton, of Alabama, sections
 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, ', S. g and 10 of the rules were stricken out.
 Section provided for the manner of the l election of officers of the committee Sec tion gave the chairman power to appoint 1 subordinate officers of the committee with | the concurrence of the executive commit I tee.
 Sections 4, 5 and declared that the chair
 man, secretary and treasurer of the com- | mittee respectively should perform the duties of their position.
 Section covered the formation of the | new national committee and the relations that should exist between the incoming and outgoing organizations
 Section empowered the chairman to call meetings whenever he deemed 1t for the l best interests of the party.
 Section provided that the chairman | should call a meeting upon the receipt of | written request by one-fourth of the mem- | bers of the committee. Section 10 provided l that the sessions of the committee shall be | governed by general parliamentary laws | and that the committee shall adopt any standing rule for the disposition of business coming before it. Sections Il, 12, 13 and 14 l remain as they were.
 Fight Between Illinois Factions The fight between the Illinois factions | began as soon as MT. Bryan arrived in the | city, which was o'clock in the morning. | He was immediately beset by men of both sides, the Altgeld faction asking him to be at the meeting without fail and by the Harrison men who asked that he remain away from the auditorium altogether MT. Bryan was in a dilemma, and for a long 1 time would not declare himself as being in | favor of the meeting or not. He said that | he had accepted the invitation for the meet | ing and there was in apparent reason why l he should decline at the last moment at the | demand of a political faction hostile to that 1 which had invited him to the city. At the same time he expressed himself as being anxious to avoid anything that would create l further friction and as a remedy proposed I hot tha t11rp ha ] trol of the meeting to the national com l mittee. MT. Altgeld was personally willing l that this should be done, but the majority l of his adherents who are bitter against the l Harrison men heard that there was opposi- | ton to the plan in the Altgeld camp and l they openly fought the passing of the meet | ing under the control of the national com | mittee. The arguments on both sides were | hot and fierce for several hours, and there seemed to be no chance of a settlement. l The large majority of the members of the | national committee declared themselves as l being opposed to having anything to do | with the meeting in any way. They main l tained that they had fight before the com- l mittee born of the outraged feeling of the | Harrison faction because 1t believed that | the national committee had taken a part l in local matters and they were disposed to 1 keep their hands out of the present fight. Could Get AIon. Without Him Finally, MT. Altgeld sent word to Mr. | Bryan that if he considerd that his attend
 ance at the meeting would embarrass him l he could feel at perfect liberty to remain away The meeting could get along with | out him. This message was declared by the l Altgeld people to be one of simple courtesy | to MT. Bryan, but the Harrison men de- l clared that it was a message of sarcasm | which meant that if MT. Bryan was afraid | to keep his word to address the meeting, it would be a success without his presence 1 It was late in the afternoon before Mr. l Bryan hade up his mind to attend the meeu4g. The Harrison people, who were l in good humor over the defeat of Devlin be- l fore the committee, announced that he | might attend the meeting without causing | any hostility to himself in the Harrison camp. This message, however, had noth- | ing to do with the intention reached by
 MT. Bryan regarding the meetng,- for he l decided to attend before it reached him. | Meeting of the Committee l When the national committee came to | order in the club rooms of the sherman | house at 12~o'clock all the states were 1 represented, either by proxy Or by their | regular committeeman, with the exception
 of North Dakota, Oregon, Texas, Utah, | Vermont West Virginia and Arizona. MT. l Bryan held proxies for Michigan and
 South Dakota, and was present throughout
 the meetings of the committee, although | he did not take any active part in the pro-
 ceedings. Ex-Governor Atgeld was of- 1 fered the proxy of Committeeman White, NY 1..f I.a1l lnna nd lie 1 ]. Abbot, of New York, acted for that state.
 Mayor Harrison held the proxy for Alas
 ka, but did not attend either session of
 the committee
 As soon as Vice Chairman Stone had | called the meeting to order. Congressman
 Furguson, of New Mexico, was elected to fill the vacancy from that state caused by
 the resignation of r. A. Manzanare. The