The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-09-13
DEMOCRATIC STATE CONVENTION
SCANTILY ATTENDED AND IN
TEREsT IN THE EVENT
TOTALLY LACKING.
.0VERSHADOWED BY STATE FAIR
Convention Made Up Wholly Of
OmcehoIders and Professional
politicians, and the Whole
Programme Manipulated
by Rosing Machine.

The Democratic convention which
met in the great Auditorium building
in ST. Paul on Thursday of last week
might easily nave been accommodated,
so far as room was concerned, in any
| one of a dozen small halls in the Cap
ital City.
When the roll was called, half an
hour after the hour published for call
ing the convention to order, but little
more than half of the accredited dele
gates
| Answered to Their Names.
and the chairman experienced great
difficulty in making up the committees
by reason of the slim attendance from
the outside counties.
The convention was managed and d.
rected by the professional politicians
and officeholders of the state admins
tration, and motions were put and
passed in listless way by the dele
| gates, who were in a hurry to get
away and go out to the state fair
grounds. The party managers had ex-
| pected a vast attendance.from visitors
| to the state fair, and had counted
| heavily on this source to make a ire
| mendous showing Of interest and en-
thusiasm. The result demonstrated
| that great mistake had been made
for, instead Of the fair visitors going
| to the convention the delegates to the
! convention went to the fair as SUI
| perior attraction.
| The Auditorium building is supposed
| to furnish seating capacity for 70Oo,
and when the Republican convention
| was held nearly every seat In the
| building, including all the galleries,
| was filled. When Gov. Roosevelt was
| in st. Paul it was estimated that 5000
| people were turned from the doors be-
cause there was not room for them. In
| the Democratic convention last week
| there were twice as many empty seats
as there were full ones, and the little
throng Of delegates down on the main
floor looked all the smaller for the
long tiers of vacant seats that
| stretched back from the parquet to
the TT,
| # Balcony ard Galleries.
It was probably this slim attendance
that dampened the spirits OF those VINO
did attend, for the interest was at no
time great or the enthusiasm such as
to pass beyond control.
The prearranged plans We're carried
/ out with clock-like regularity, and
complete control Of the ganlzatlon
was retained by L. A.. Rosing, 3chalr--
man of the state central committee.
who personally directed the business
i Of the day, supplying the chairman
4 the names for the committee, desig-
/ mating the delegates who should NOM
/ mate the various candidates and In
i all ways Tightening his hold upon the
party leading strings.
/ Col. Rosing was assisted IN his
Management of the Convention .
| nv such Democrats as Thomas ~
4 O,Brien of St, Paul, John O'Brien OF
i saltwater, Ed O'Brien of Minneapolis,
A Mai. Bowler, E. M. Pope, J. a.
J. O'Shaughnessy, z. III. Austin, A. N.
Lanphere, P. M. Ringdal and other
!. state officers. The governor who has
so often declared that he was just as
i pood 4 Republican as ever on all mat
/ ters except the silver question re-
/ CURED his managers to steer as lar vas
/ nossible from that dangerous issue,
and, accordingly, the honors OF the oay
were not denied to the sound money
! Democrats of 1896, men who were cam
i didates for electors on the Palmer ana
/ Buckner ticket being drafted as dele
gates at large. f..as .@reE
i The convention at no time dlsplayeu
the enthusiasm which marked the
Minneapolis convention two years ago,
i and when the proposition was made TO
start a canvass for the proposed new
paper at Minneapolis, ~
Ten Subscribers Were Guaranteed,
j and a motion to call the roll and re-
port subscriptions by counties was
i voted down by an overwhelming ma
4 iority. Chairman Rosing announced
4 that the syndicate with which ne had
i been negotiating had agreed to start
the paper If the committee would
! guarantee 10000 subscribers. and ne
said that he had promises OF 4,ooo.
With the ten guaranteed on the moor OF
the convention this left $500 to De Sc
cured before the terms of the synd'-
/ cate could be complied with and the
paper established. The delegates In
personal interviews expressed great
hostility to the ST. Paul Globe because
OF its bolt on the national ticket and
i all agreed that they would not trust
] It with Lind's interests, but at the
same time they did not seem prepared
to go as far as to subsidize great
daily paper. The fact Is that the state
central committee has already invested
more than $4,000 in the newspaper
business, and the chairman has in
formed members of the committee that
it will take $4,000 to make the genera
( campaign, and that until that amount
shall have been raised there will be
no more newspaper appropriations Al
a conference Of Mr.. Rosing, the three
O'Briens, Mr.. Heinrichs, Mr.. Mosier
| Maj. Bowler and one or two other lead
ers of the party it was decided to pro
{ coed with the campaign much after
The Fashion of 1888,
namely, to devote all the work OF the
campaign and all the funds OF tn
committee to the election of Lind, ans
the other candidates on the ticket
with the exception of Ringdal, are e
be sacrificed as they were two years
. ago, and rewarded as were the candl
dates that year, in the event OF Lima
election.
One other fact developed in TIT
course of the meeting, and that is tina
there is to be a concerted effort u