The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1900-07-11
BRYAN AlD
STEVENSON
THE STANDARD BEARERS.
A STONG PLATOON ADOPTED.
During the Reading of Which by Sen
ator TiIlman the Convention Grows
Wild With Enthusiasm.

During the Reading of Which by Sen
ator TilIman the Convention Grows
Wild With Enthusiasm.
Mr.. Tillman now stepped to the
front and was greeted with a cheer.
He read the platform in full round
voice, easily heard throughout the
hall.
As he proceeded each plank was
greeted with applause. The Sena-
tor accompanied his reading with
emphatic gestures, stridipg up and
down the platform, turning this way
and that, after his manner in the
Senate. There was howl of ap-
proval as he olerched his fist and
fercely arrsigned the course Of the
administration in Cuba. But it re
maiued for his reading of the de-
claration that imperialism is the
paramount issue of this campaign"
to evoke a storm of applause. The
delegates
sPRANG TO THEIR FEET,
standing on their chairs, waving
hats, bandkerchiefs, umbrellas, flags,
while the galleries took up the
chorus and carried it along for many
minutes. Senator Hill could be seen
marshalipg the hosts to cheer. He
held fan high above his head and
added his voice to the shouting. A
second time Senator Tillman read
this declaration, and now even a
greater demonstration than before
carried the convention off its feet
Suddenly hundreds, then thousands
of miniature American fsgs were
passed among the delegates and the
whole floor of the Vast structure be.
came a sea Of flags. An instant
later the flags swept over the ga
leries like a mass of fame. Bundles
of them were tossed upon the seats
and distributed. The scene was
magnifcently inspiring and the great
audience was worked up to a fever
heat. O1 each flag was the device:
The constitution and the flag are
insepsrable, now and forever. The
flag of the republic forever; Of the
empire, never"
While the demonstration was at
it's height, the band sent another
thrill through the audience by play
ing "Dixie" and medley of patriotic
airs. State standards were again
torn from their sockets, banners were
raised and q
TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION
of the delegates marched about the
hall. Now the strains Of the band
turned to "My Country, lis of
Thee at which the entire audience,
as with a single voice, joined in
mighty and swelling chorus. Amid
the following Of flags could be seen
tall standard bearing the inscrip-
,iou: "Forcible annexation would
be criminal aggression. ."-Wllliam
Mckinley.
It was at this jlncture that the
climax was sprung upon the great
assembly. A huge flag had beer
flung across the roof between two
trusses, and as the signal was given
the cords were cut and slowly it un-
rolled it's white and crimson folds as
it fell gracefully and swung over the
platform slightly to the rear and
south of the speakers desk. The
banner was an enormous affair, being
fully so feet long and about one
half as wide. Upon the whie
stripes were the printed sentences in
large letters of blue: ''Constitu-
tlonal governments derive their just
powers from the consent Of the
governed"
'The constitution and tie flag, one
and inseparable, now and forever.
The flag OF arepublic forever; OF
an empire, never
"a republic can have no colonies. y
To the vast majority Of those in
the hall the flag was an unexpected
incident, and Its appearance Was the
signal for
FRANTIC r AR,
which caused everything that had
gone before it to sink ilt) insign Il
canoe. For full two minutes the
cords of the f.g caught aud would
MT rcrno,t II "a { II TO its fnll lenoth