The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-05-05
A UNIQUE JOB IN POLITICS.
THE SERGEI NT-IT-. or 4
 NATIONAL CONVENTION.

He Is Really the Business Manager oi
 the Meeting of His Party and Has
 Varied and Laborious Duties-Long g
 Work of Preparation Large sums
 speMt by Him.
 In the eye of the public, the perma-
 nent chairman of national convention
 is by far the most important officer of
 such gathering. But there is one otfh-
 CT functionary who is quite as lndls-
 pensable and often has greater actual power. The chairman has no patronage,
 or next to none, at his command, put
 this other functionary, officially known as the sergeant -at-arms, gives 1t out In
 chunks His title would be far more
 accurate were he termed the conven-
 ton's business manager.
 The sefgeant-at-ar is appointed by the conventions subcommittee of t2e national committee. All matters of gen. eral convention policy are discussed and settled by the subcommittee, but the carrying out of the details is intrusted to the sergeant-at-arms solely. In short, the sergeant -at-arms IS m the way of doing either a good deal of good or a good deal of harm, according to his lights. Financially, his responsibilities are heavy, since, besides the large amounts he pays out in local expenses, he has to arrange in measure for the expenditure of several times as much more, and thus the total expenses of convention may be greatly increased or decreased by the sergeant-at-arms. 1t certainly may be said with truth that he must be man of exceptional judgment, great capacity and unusual executive force.
 Naturally, one of the first things to which the sergeant-at-armn must give attention is the building in which the convention is to be held. It Is not suffi- cient that it shall contain a big enough auditorium to seat the delegates and others in attendance; 1t must have many auxiliary features that are pos sessed by few of the great halls. It Is not too much, perhaps, to say that there is only one building in the United States not built or remodelled expressly for the holding of national convention, that could be used for that purpose without many changes and additions. This is Madison Square Garden, in New York. In 1896 building had to be specially erected for the republican convention in St. Louis, the city then having no struc- ture at all adapted to convention uses This made the total convention cost of that year very large, but the building remained after the adjournment of the convention, and will be available for any like national gatherings that may hereafter be held in St. Louis.
 Many thousands of dollars must be spent on the hall in Philadelphia, in which the republican convention is to be held this year before it will be ready for the big gathering The auditorium itself must be renodelled number of waiting, subcommittee and other spec ial rooms must be put in, new sanitary and ventilation systems must be provi- ded and facilities for the correspondents and reporters must be created These include desks and seats in the big hall, l a writing room just off the hall rooms for the operators of the two big tele- graph companies and the press associa- tions and the installation of wires and instruments.
 In making the hall ready for the con- vention, then, the sergeant-at-arms must have dealings with architects, builders, electric outfltters, plumbers and all sorts of tradespeople, besides the newspapers, the press associations and the telegraph companies, and this part of his duties alone will test alike his pa- tience, his tact and his capacity for work. One of the most difficult tasks of the sergeant-at-arms, will be to satisfy the newspapers Readers of the full convention reports that will appear in the newspapers next June and July may occasionally give thought or two to the immense amount of labor involved in the daily presentation of the news hot from the bat. But no one who has not had something to do With the work can have any save the most inadequate notion of the preliminary detailed work that alone makes them possible. To be- gin with, the sergeant -at-arms must be absolutely impartial in arranging the | press facilities. That is, he must see to 1t that no one newspaper, press associa- | tion or telegraph company has undue advantage over any of the others Of l course, greater facilities are given to the | great newspapers of New York, Chica- go, Philadelphia and Boston than to pa pers in the smaller towns.
 If the duties of the convention ser geant-at-arms were fully indicated by | the foregoing paragraphs he would have comparatively an easy time, but his | work would be only partially done were he to stop with getting the hall in good order and making the arrangements for the press. Providing for the comfort and convenience of the delegates is real 1y the most important of all his tasks. This involves arranging the seats in the body of the hall and the galleries so that | all shall be sa tisfied, and furnishing the various subcommittee rooms and the like There are tickets and badges to be printed, and, though you mightn't think 1t, this is a job of no small magnitude. Giving out the contract for printing the tickets is one of the first things attend ed to; it has already been looked after by the republican sergeant-at-arms of this years convention and probably by the corresponding democratic functional ry also. Arrangements have also to be made by the sergeant-at-a -arns with the hotels as to headquarters for the vari- o,e JaIaoatio11r and with tl1a ra ilrpa5S