The sun., 1900-11-04

and crash OF martial music Mr.. Crokers sour
faoc me,aphorically looked down from between
his sorry little bean poles. planted AT Intervals
In every block. and made faces at II all ana cai'eu
names In silly. peevish little notices In al
the history Of New York politics 1t Is the seherai
verdict that nothing else quite so weak ana
petty has been done as this last enor' oi MI
Croker's; and In all the history OF party com
tcntIon here there never has been an exhibition
OF smnll partisan malice So contethp'uousS
ignored The spirit of the parade IN TINS phr-
ticIlar was I'm keeping With It's siirit In every
o,b.r respect--a spirit OF deep. enthusiastic
e,rne.,n.ss that rose above any thing and every
Thing that was In the way Of making IL tho great
de,nonstra,ion OF power and purpose thstit was
planned to he
AZ 70 the exact number who rna-chct
count by two SrS u m mnde II 10000. oIclus-
I've OF the bands, which beats 1895 y some
1000 And the wret"hed weather rs"licei IN"
number who wouli have marched un Ter snch
conditions as prevailc in iso5. Whilc men
who were well on In years AMI others who
were in fra health who hal inten 'ct IA he
in the parade failed to appear. their places IN
many cases were taken by young men who had
not intended to march. bu' who turned out be-
cause OF that very inclem Nncy CI the weather
which prevented others from getting into hne'
But in process .on OF such enormous dimensions
,hs n,eaencc or absence Of u few thousands
more or less is not Of consequence. When the
outpouring Is Of such a size That 1t can he con-
ssryativeiy described as simply an over" helm
Ing demonstration for the principles OF par
tic,,lar party that Is all that Is necessary from
q political ia dpoint and that Is precisely
what the demon 'tration Of yesterday amounted
to.
Splendid rs was the spirit with which the
paraders met the a,rocous conduct Of the
weather they none the le-s suffered from "
and growlci at II and called II oprrobIoIS
names But this was not after III" inarch
had begun Once the men ecrc In motion
there was a contagion Of enthusiasm IN the
air which seemed to mai" every body forget
whether 1t was fair weather or fou!. " was
in the long drcary waits IN IN" dri"1Ie ana IN"
early morning that wcr" most trying FOR
hour. organizations were drawn up notion
less in the wet in the side street" of
the downtown bi,iuo-5 regions waiting
their turn 20 swius into the line. The
pnti.nce exhibited va. cX"uIlary but even
e,emulary patience mi sht perhaps not be on
tirely free from seleCtai language under the
wretched conditions tLnt existed. such IAN
nrage was also u-et bv 'hr hundreds ol uou-
sand. Of people who. under bobbnG hutierns.
dripping arcldes of umbrellas. lined IN" sid"-
walks on both sides OF the streets all the way
from Bowling Grcen. where tho proro'slon
started. 90 Fortie.h street. where It dispersed.
IL was upon the spectators. IA q matter Of fact,
that the rain and mud and general mixture
Of all the chilly dSagrcc1bilites OF November
got in their really effective work Tn" number
~ peot,le who saw Yesterdays parade was
probably smallcrb by several hundred thousand
than that which saw the parade ~ 1898. when
the spectators were roughly estimated AZ
million or more. Yesterday. as compared
with the parade In the glorious sunshine Of
four years ago, the woman element among
the spectators was largely eliminated. Not
that IL was not present Very far from
that Tens of thousands Of women
saw the marchers from windows and
doorways and every point Of shelter all
along the line OF march. They wero even
present In astonishing force In view Of the
weather and the wet and dripping grand stands
in Madison square Here for hours hundreds
OF them stood waving handkerchiefs tied to
umbrellas tips and all sodden with the drizzle
1t was a dismal enough place on these halt
deserted grand-stand benches In Madison
Square To sit down on them as they were
was out OF the question. and this fact struck
the enterprising genius Of certain fakirs who
were soon on deck with cushions TO sell 10 say
nothing of umbrellas. and they did land office
business after an hour or 30 when even some OF
the men negan 10 get ureo anu "hut sohio-
thing TO lean against
In the skyscraper belt OF the downtown
region women we're almost as much In evidence
as they were In the residence region along
Fifth avenue and Fortieth street. They
swarmed In the windows and even stood on
the dizzy window lodges on the outside OF high
buildings. waving flags aud shouting shrill
cries of encouragement through megaphones
at the endless river of hobbng hats and nas'
and banners down in the street far below them.
In the windows OF the lofty 81. Paul Building.
al the corner Of Ann street and broadway.
there were several particularly enthusiastic
groups Of this kind. who got rousing cheers
from every Organization in tho procession
as 1t passed ds did numerous other groups
all tho way up Broadway and particularly
in the tall business buildings in lower Fifth
avenue, where the exhibit OF patriotic Rcpubli-
can women was particularly brilliant and
attractive out on the window lodges Of one
Of these latter buildings there was n group
Of half dozen or so all wearing bounets OF
red, white aud blue and decorated with rcd,
white and blue feathers. This group was
checred and cheerrd again by narChers as
they passed, ard responded with an enthu-
siasm which had not the slightest trace OF
being cocrced into being BY the trusts.
Speaking OF coercion, it was one OF the senti-
toes that Tapped dIsconsolatcly over tho heads
OF the cheering parader, that they. he paraders.
were "coerced' into marching. but that the
plutocrats aud the trusts could not compel
the honest son Of toll 10 vote against BRYAN
even though they might compel him Ia march
in a Republican parade. II is true that the
strips Of cotton on which Mr.. Crokers mot
toee were painted in many cases were so tousled
BY the wind that they were made
Ia express such things as vote against Bryan"
and other octopus blasphemy. but the sen'i-
ment was there all the same. and that was what
made the spectators laugh as they looked at the
cheering. shouting legtons Of tho coerccd that
PASSED under the banners, 1t moved Gov.
Roosevelt 20 frequent humorous comment as
the cheering ranks swept by him with heads
barred and arms and flags wildly waving.
Poor. cocrced men" Ne said. after p1rticu-
larry frantic demonstration from a body of Last
side tailorS. how contented and happy they
sccm under their coercion.
Bryan is next their hearts. Is he?" said the
Governor again. when his voice In conycrsa-
,ional tour could be heard after n roar Of cheers