The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-27
DRIVING TO KANSAS CITY
Delegates TO the Democratic Con.
vention Going Overland.
Prairie Schooncrs TO Convey Farmer
Representatives of the Party From
Their Homes in Western States.
They VIII Camp Ont En- Route.
An EiEhty-Year-Old Campaigner.

The most extraordinary spectacle in the
history of great national conventions will
be witnessed this year in connection with
the gathering of the leaders Of the Democ-
racy at Kansas City. great number OF
the delegates to the Convention. instead OF
going there in Pullman sleeping cars, OF
even in the ordinary day coaches. will start
for Kansas City many days or weeks be-
forehand, and slowly wend their way
across the country In old fashioned prairie
schooners. Just as the Forty miners
going to California after the discovery OF
gold fitted out wagons with beds, stoves
and every road necessity, SO these dele
gates to the Kansas City Convention will
stream across the prairie in canvas COW
cred wagons. many bearing on their sides
the legend. nc to L.
Never before have delegates to a great
party gathering for the nomination of a
Presidential candidate gone to the meeting
place in such primitive style as this. An
drew Jackson was nominated at a conven-
ton where there was a considerable affec-
tation of simplicity, but little real pow
horseback. But these were gentlemen rid
ing blooded animals. carrying silver TASKS
of old whisky, and many of them with
money to burn" at the wayside inns
where they stopped and INDUCED in games
Of chance.
Far different are the men now preparing
prairie schooners" in Missouri, Oklahoma,
Kansas. Nebraska. Colorado. and Arkansas.
They are determined to show the Conven-
tion what real Democracy is according to
their light One of the schemes for doing
this is TO camp out in Kansas City and live
in the prairie schooners.'' instead of in
the hotels, during the Convention. One
Western leader has stated that this will be
a stronger protest against plutocracy than
any Of the speeches made at the Conven
ton, and that in seeing these hardy sons
OF toll actually living on 10 cents day. too
poor even to stop at a hotel although rep
'resenting thousands of taxpayers the East
ern delegates will have forcibly brought
home to them who are really 1.-The people"
1t is likewise estimated that. aside from
the delegates from all over the neighboring
country who will flock to the Convention
in prairie schooners." many hundreds of
spectators will likewise adopt this extra
ordinary means of visiting the city. OF
course, the great reason why nothing like
this has ever before been witnessed is that
this year. for the first time in history,
National Convention of one of the two
great parties viii be held west of the Mis-
sissippi. 1t would have been impossible
for prairie schooner" delegates to go to
the convention at st. Louis. Chicago, or
Cincinnati. Many people in bleeding
Kansas" and the adjoining States and Ter
ritories are now rejoicing at the opportu-
nifty presented to them of giving 1.-The East
practical object lesson in modern local
conditions.
The Short Grass Country.
There is in western Kansas what is
known as the short grass country" so
called from the short curly buffalo grass
that grows there. This is the country of
draughts hot winds, deserted towns, and
burst booms.
IL man can live in the short grass
country" he is sturdy indeed. Some men
do live in It. and prosper in a way. and
these will be part IF the prairie schoon-
err delegation. Conditions are exceeding
~ hard in the short grass country" and
men become accustomed to hard fare and
harder journeys. A silver dollar looks
pretty big out there. and man will en-
dure considerable hardship before he will
spend one for purely physical comfort
These people are accustomed to long wag
on journeys. and make them with less dis
comfort than many a city man would ex-
perience in day coach on a slow train
Fer years they have been accustomed to
go about the country from one State to an
other, or from county to county as crops
failed or seasons were bad. They loaded
their possessions into wagons and trek
ked" across the prairies. When they
found locality that suited them they hir-
ed farm. planted their seed. and worked
the farm until another bad crop came
Then they packed up and moved on. These |
In the West are called movers" "Mov- |
ing" has become a habit with them.
Many of the men who have become more |
OF less prominent in Oklahoma politics !
went there from Kansas in movers |
wagon the modern ''pprairie schoon- |
err is called in that country. Arkansans |
and southern Missourians-the Ozark |
Mountain folk-rude proud and as full of |
fight and radical views as their mountain |
brethren of Kentucky or the Carolinas are \
famous movers also and their religion is |
free silver" |
The farmer delegates OF Colorado and |
western Nebraska may have moved" at |
some time from Kansas. Oklahoma, or Ar |
kansas. fitting until they found a congeni- |
al soil and prosperity. These folk used |
TO travelling the roads in wagons will be |
the prairie schooner delegates and Wis
itors.
II is not to be supposed that all those
who journey to Kansas City in July in
prairie schooners are too poor to buy rail-
road tickets and pay hotel bills. Many of
them will be prosperous farmers and mer-
chants-the political leaders in the farm
ing districts of the new country. They Will
travel &c the Convention In wagons, camp
ing by the roadside, and going from their |
camps in the city to their seats in the Con- |
vention to show the world at large. and |
the delegates from the East in particular. |
that they are true exponents-of Jeffersoni- |
an Democracy and simplicity. They will. |
they say. be living protest against COL |
lege graduates, cigarettes, Pullman cars,
and plutocracy.
In the Prairie Schooners.
The prairie schooner is curious yet |
simple vehicle, and it all depends upon the |
ingenuity and taste OF the owner how COM |
Portable il may be. 1t is made of an crdi-
nary farm wagon fitted with oak bows. |
over which wagon cloth" OF canvas is |
stretched II the owner is rich enough or |
sufficiently ingenious he will fit up the in
terror with hunks, grub box a looking |
glass and many other conveniences. In |
the wagon will be a sheet-iron stove
with as many iron and tin cooking uten-
sils as are necessary for the simple cuisine |
Of the individual or party.
These wagons will likely be provisioned |
on the farm with ''home-cured side meat"
potatoes and corn meal, sufficient TO last |
until the Convention is over and home is
reached once more. Thus the cost of the |
journey will be practically nothing. From 1
Oklahoma 10 Kansas City is about three
hundred miles. Railroad passenger rates
are cents mile in that country, and it |
is not likely that they will be reduced.