The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-01
SILLY FARCE AT COLUMBUS Convention With a Dozen
 Delegates. GROOT THE WHOLE THING Nee !g Held in the Chair 2 mans Bedroom. One sgation Was Unable to Find the Convention and Went to
 the Races-outline of
 the Platform.
GROOT THE WHOLE THING

Columbus, O., July I.-"The Pro-
 gressive Democratic Party was organ ized here today The attendance was so small that many doubted up to o'clock whether any attempt would be
 made to hold State Convention. less
 than a dozen persons being present.
 George. A. Groot was both temporary and permanent chairman today, and
 was made Chairman of the State Com l mittee of the new party. The conven- tion was held in his room at the Great Southern Hotel, and in that small room he delivered his keynote speech Of half hour in length. Those who met l with Chairman Groot were J. w. Lind sey of Delaware. Dr. Abner L. Davis of Findlay, Bernard Hubert of Toledo. Richard Inglis of Youngstown. R. E. | connell of Columbus George W. Moore of Greenville and H. M. Huber of New Richmond.
 I The reporters who were perched on and about the bed outnumbered the del- | egates two to one. A few spectators l stood at the open door. The total at- tendance did not exceed thirty, while the forms of a State Convention were carried out between the hours or ana 4 p. m.
 | A delegation from the Hooking val
 ley headed by Henry Leonard, or bo- | gan. and consisting of Hiram Lan- l ming. B. B. Bates. George Guthrie and l two men from New Lexington. reported | tonight that they had come to the city today to attend the convention and on being unable to find 1t, they went 10 | the races. INr
 1t is doubtful if there ever vas more | amusement at convention than Tn the little gathering this afternoon. 1 Even the promoters of the movement
 who did not disguise their disappoint-
 ment over the small attendance. en-
 loved the participation of the reporters. who used the chairman's bed in the absence of chairs and who were al- lowed to take part in the proceedings with suggestions. At the conclusion or | the proceedings the reporters, who were in the majority. were given vote of | thanks, and they returned the compli-
 ment to the minority.
 The assembly hall in the hotel had | 9 o'clock the delegates and reporters
 took the elevator for Chairman Groot's
 room, the reporters suggesting That the Populist conference last night kept | cool on the fire escape, and that the Convention today might be held in the | elevator"
 Bernard Hubert called the conven- tion to order, and at once announced George O. Groot as temporary chair man and pr. Abner L. Davis as tenn porary secretary. Order was restored at once when MT. Groot was intro- | duced.
 Groot Was Applauded. At the conclusion of his address, Chairman Groot was enthusiastically | appIauded. The temporary organiza- | ton was made permanent. It was an- nounced that the platform sent out | from Cleveland on July 17 in circulars and published at the time in the pa- pers had already been adopted on the referendum system by many subscrib | ing to the same. The features of this platform are the laudation of Bryan. | the reaffirmation of the Kansas City platform and the following blanks: We demand that all public utilities be owned and operated by the public. We demand that all money that is
 
 trdV as a medium of exchange. whether it be gold. silver or paper. shall be coined by the government and distrib- uted among the people without the in- tervention of banks. and that every dollar of it shall be legal tender for all debts. public and private. As long as the money volume ts controlled by the money trust. which is the parent of all trusts. just so long
 will other trusts flourish and. therefore.
 we are in favor of the destruction of
 the money trust. which can only he done by the proper increase in the vol ume of money. We do not lose sight of the importance of the question of imperialism as we regard that as he- ing involved in the money question for without a money aristocracy to support 1t there can be no imperialism. The Question of Trusts.
 "We demand that laws be passed by the State and nation for the purpose of destroying commercial trusts and combinations of capital organized for the purpose of controlling prices and
 if necessary, to accomplish this end that the government take charge of their franchises for the benefit of the people.
 We recognize that there Is a move
 menI on IOOI III LnlS country among men who claim to be Democrats. but who supported Mckinley for President and approve of the policy of the Re- publican party upon the money oues- ton. to get control of the Democratic party. in order that they may control the organization and secure at the next Democratic National Convention the adoption of a platform which shall be in favor of the gold standard and thereby attempt to eliminate the dis cussion of the money question as a political issue. and we denounce all l such persons as traitors to the best in terests of the people. and declare they are Republicans, and advise that they | stay with the Republican party with | whom they have affiliated for the past | five years
 On returning thanks for ms election | as permanent Chairman, MT. Groot |