Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1900-07-10
KANSAS cITY's FOURTH.
Hot Time in the Missouri Town on Il
Nafionss Natal Nav

Hot Time in the Missouri Town on the
Nations Natal Day.
Kansas City was one of the warmest
places on earth on the Glorious Fourth.
Within the confines of the city, in its
hump-backed streets, in the corridors of
its hotels and i'll the convention hall,
there were no less than 100000 visitors
who helped to make the biggest noise
the town had ever heard. From Kansas
land Nebraska and from every corner of
Missouri thousands Of visitors came to
celebrate. And, Kansas City let loose its
own population for holiday The roar
and rattle of the giant crackers and the
swapping d fireworks almost drowned the
noise mace by the convention orators.
Kansas Cay may never have such a day
again, and therefore endeavored to make
the most of it.
The delegates to the convention pinned
for cool retreat on the Fourth, but the
| crowd was so great thai no spot was free
from jams. Kansas sent forty train
loads of people Wednesday morning to
witness the opening Of the convention.
About $4,000 visitors came from the Sun
flower State. j. Mack Love, chairman
of the Kansas State central committee,
was besieged by hundreds of kansans
demanding tickets to the convention hall.
The Missouri headquarters We're also be-
sieged for tickets. Cheap excursion trains
were run to Kansas City on the Fourth
from nearly every city in the State, 1t
is rare that such a program has been Of
fered to westerners. They expected TO
attend the session of the convention at
which Bryan was nominated and also
take part in the general celebration of the
Glorious Fourth. The railroads brought
nearly $4,000 Missourians to Kansas
"Wednesday, and Nebraska sent in a host
of rooters for Bryan. Some came by
road, some by rail, others on bicycles, AID
still others in prairie schooners.
Monday the arrivals were by hundreds,
Tuesday people came by thousands, and
on Wednesday by the trainload. All week
until noon Wednesday, when Chairman
Jones gavel fell ut the opening of the
convention, special trains bearing State
delegations, political organizations,
marching clubs and bands of music ar
rived almost hourly.
BY Monday night the people of Kansas
City began to realize what it meant to
have big political convention on their
hands. However, the people Of the me-
tropolis of the Southwest had arranged
to take good care of their guests. That
they are accustomed to doing things well
was amply evidenced by the notable ac-
complishment of reconstructing the con-
vention hall in less than ninety days.
Three months ago fire swept the great
hall TO the ground. Undaunted by the
disaster, Kansas City decided that an
other magnificent structure should rise,
proeniX-like, from the ashes of the old.
The national committee, at the head of
which is Senator Jones, occupied the
palatial quarters Of the Kansas City
Club, which, with its reading, reception
and sleeping rooms, had been turned over
for their unrestricted use. 1t is quite
near and in close communication with
the vast convention hail. which is on the
northeast corner of Thirteenth and Cen
trail streets. The three largest hotels are
from three to nine blocks away.
The entertainment committee had a list
of IL 900 lodgings where visitors could
obtain rooms that were guaranteed to be
as desiIed. Among the thousands Of
householders who placed their rooms at
the disposal of the bureau of information
were hundreds of the most prominent
men in the city, many of them million
aires. 1t is said that these acted purely
in a spirit of local pride and did not stip-
alate that their guests belong to their
own grade of society or wealth, but left
the matter of guest selection wholly with
the entertainment committee.
The collection and codifcation of these
II 0O0 roopniuO nlaco o1dpaSSac xvoc n
task that kept large force of eanvassers
and clerks busy for over a month. At
one time in May more canvassers were
engaged than were in any one business in
the city. They received no pay for their
services, but We're melted by the fears,
expressed in outside papers, that Kansas
City would find in the Democratic CON
vention an elephant the municipality
could not handle. Wealthy and poor
alike turned in together, made a house
toulouse canvass for rooms and returned
to the headquarters mass Of contracts
that satisfied local officials that the city
could handle all the visitors likely to
come.
A peculiar feature of the system adopt
ed was that visitors were not allowed to
inspect the rooms to which they were as
signed, but must pay in advance. If the
rooms were not desirable the bureau
agreed to refund the money. On the 9TH
er hand, the householders had to wait
until July 8 before they received the
money paid by their visitors of a few
days. BY this arrangement the bureau
retained control over both hosts and
guests until the period of complaint was
past.
A careful canvass of former conyen-
tons shows that the average delegate
spends about 500 besides his railroad
fares. including 81 or So a day for see
ing the sights" which will bring the
total increment to the city generally up
into the millions, so that as an invest
merit alone the securing of the conven-
ton for Kansas City has been looked
upon very favorably by those who so
freely subscribed their dollars for the
magnificent hall