Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1904-07-22
st. Louis Republic.

st. Louis Republic.
The early morning scenes of Satur-
day (the last day. in the Convention,
the great speech of William J. Bryan,
the dramatic incidents accompanying
the nomination of Judge Alton b.
Parker. never can die from the men,
ories of those who were there. The
veterans of many conventions declare
that nothing like it has been seen be.
fore and it is not too daring to say
that the equal will not lie seen again
in a decade.
Twelve thousand persons were in
the Coliseum when the convention was
called to order at 8 :03 p. NJ, and ten
thousand were there at 5 40 A. NJ,
when the nomination occurred; ten
thousand men and women endured
sweltering heat for nine hours, so i'm
pressive were the proceedings.
Nine hours of sustained interest,
nine hours of prolonged demonstra-
.ions, nine hours of oratorial flights,
nine hours of political tempest, and a
nine hours punctuated with climax
npon climax and completed by the
one last, eloquent but fruitless en-
deavor of William J. Bryan to defeat
the New York candidate and to nomi.
nate Missouri's revered Senator, Fran
cis Marian Coctrel1
Now that the night is a few hours
gone, two of its scenes are most dis
tinctly engraved in mind. The one
was at the moment when, having
scored the Republican tendency to
militarism, William j. Bryan, arms
uplifted, body quivering with emotion,
turned toward the New York delega-
ton and David B. Hill and in hoarse
though penetrating tones, cried:
"Must We choose between a god Of
war and god of gold?"
Recollection was carried back by
the phrase to that occasion of eight
years ago, when it was cross of gold
of which he spoke. Instantly recurred
to mind the similarity of the circum-
stances-and the dissimilsrity. Bryan
and Hill confronting and pitted
against each other, but Bryan master
then and Hill master now.
His attack on militarism had its
foundation upon the speech of Gov.
Black OF New York nominating Roose-
velt at the Republican Convention.
War controls the destinies of na-
tions," said Governor Black and this,
argued Mr.. Bryan, is the doctrine of
brute force giving denial to the hope
Of the race for peace ON earth and
good will among men.
1t may be imagined that the crowd
followed Mr.. Bryan's every word with
the closest attention. Indeed, the
tension of these moments is impossi.
BILE to describe; the time was one
when auditors waited breathless for
they knew not what development.
Bryan's voice was hoarse, his face
white, with both exhaustion and emo
tion, but his infections for these rea-
sons were only the more intense, the
more filled with feeling and the more
thrilling.
Master of phrase building. master OF
gestures, master of proportions in
speaking, conscious of how to put
rhythm in oratory without descending
to the sing-song, he emphasized this
climax in u way that could not have
been excelled:
Must we choose between a god OF
war and a god of gold?" 1t was
sounded forth like clarion note
through the music of viol.
Electrifying, even, is a poor word to
express the dramatic quality of this
phrase as uttered.
The speech throughout had passages
almost as remarkable in q dramatic
sense. "If l failed with six million
and half of votes to defeat the Re-
publican party, can those who defeated
me defeat the Republican party? If,
under the leadership of those who
were loyal in 1896, we failed, shall we
succeed under the leadership of those
who were not loyal in lS96?" These
bolts were hurled directly at David B.
Hill, the speaker staring the New
York man straight in the eye.
There was not the slightest intima.
ton whom Bryan proposed TO second.
With gradual crescendo in his para
graphs he thundered that because he
4" loves the man." because this man
could stand upon the platform and
unite the East and the West, he had
come to second Senator COckrell's
nomination.
How they did shout-the Missouri
ans! The hall was full of them, and
everyone had flag. They waved the
Stars and Stripes and simply plunged
into an unregulated delirium OF noisy
delight. And Bryan was again the
hero of convention; again the cen.
trail figure; again in the thick of the
political fray.