The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-01-12
Former Gold and Silver Men
 Hobnob Together
GOOD ID HEAR LEADERS TALK
Van Wyck Says New York Will Go Democratic Because the Great Mer- cantiIe Houses Are Afraid
 of MT. Roosevelt.
BY wATTERsoN srEALEY.

Washington, January 11.-(Spccial.)- Representative democrats from all over the union are here tonight to attend the meeting of the national democratic com mittee tomorrow at noon at the Shoreham hotel to fix upon a time and place for naming the next President and Vice Pres ident of the United States.
 It does democrat good to mingIe among the democratic leaders and hear them talk. They are chock full of con- idence and enthusiasm and give glowing accounts of the political conditions ex- isting In their respective states. Accord ing to what they say, harmony prevails in the party everywhere and 1t will pre- sent united front to the republican ene- my In November.
 Delegation Are Enthusiastic.
 The New York, Indiana, and Illinois del- egations are especially enthusiastic over the political conditions in these three great states, which swung to the demo- crat column in 1892, to be captured later by the republicans only for the reason that international dissentions disrupted the victorious party.
 The old and true motto, United we stand divided we fall," is much in evil dence here tonight and Is frequently quot ed In the hotel corridors.
 'When we stand together we always carry the state of Indiana" say the Hoos- Ter democrats and this is true The demo- crats were together in 76 '84, and 92, and they carried the state. They were divided In 80, 'S8 '96 and 1900 and lost. The divis- ion in 80 was the condonement of tine rape of the Presidency. Party harmony did not prevail there in 'S8 on account of the disagreement between Cleveland and Hendricks as to the recognition of worthy democrats, and 'e6 and 1900 the free silver question split the party wide open Now all of this Is changed or will ; be changed, when the democrats assemble the coming summer.
 Gold democrats and silver democrats are locked arm and arm here for the good of the party and the common welfare. There Is no discussion and no disagree ment among them As one man. they are in favor of electing President who will respect and obey the constitution of the United States and turn the grafters and rascals out"
 What the Leaders Say.
 And this is what the democratic lead CTS here tonight say they are going to do, and that they are not going to be di- verted from their objective point by the Panama canal swindle or any other dis honorable device of the party in power. They believe. as many others do, that Roosevelt matched up the entire Panama conspiracy for the sole purpose of elect ing himself President.
 Senators Morgan and German under stand that this Is the programme of the Roosevelt campaign for the presidency. The rotten corruption in his administra- tion has alarmed the great war President. He knew that he would be beaten if he did not swing something big to the front that would overshadow the criminalities of his administration and hence the Pan- anna scheme, with all the national dis honor attended for carrying it out.
 It is refreshing to know that the demo- crats who have come here within the past few days are on to the game the President is playing. As one of them expressed it tonight "Of course, the peo- pie in my section, democrats and repub- licans, favor an isthmian canal but they do not want 1t at the sacrifice of the na- tional honor by Jumping on to a poor and crippled country. Nor do I want 1t badly enough to give the republicans four years more of power when all the interest they have in the canal is to hold their places and steal from the government"
 Will Be Something Doing.
 When one sees that aggressive "gold democrat, ex-Mayor John F. Hopkins of Chicago and that enthusiastic Dollar of the Dads free silver champion, Tom Gahan, national committeeman from H. iinois, billing and cooing together, each out full of fight to defeat the republicans this year. there Is surely something doing in the democratic party.
 Then the bulls and the bears from Wall street are here and have brought with them the lions and the lambs and Tam many is also in evidence with its tiger. They are all pulling together not only for the convention but for the products of the convention whatever they may be. There Is nothing but good cheer from New York The democrats who put up the money and do the work over there have no doubt that the empire state will go against Roosevelt. As former Mayor Van Wyck said tonight:
 "The very best indications of demo- cratic victory in New York in Novem- Der is that the great mercantile houses over there are afraid of Roosevelt. In fact the business sentiment is almost en- tirely against him, and hundreds of lead Ing and wealthy republicans will not only vote against him. but will all their influence against him.
 "All this class of men ask of the dem ocrats is to put up a good strong man on wise ana cOnSerVdtlNe pldtIOrHl, anu II we do this, as I believe we shall. the democratic majority in New York state will surprise the nation"
 This Is the kind of talk you hear from all the New Workers They are not boom ing Parker Mcclellan or any other New York candidate They are booming for a good strong, level-headed man and plat form constructed on conservative lines, out of good. old constitutional timber.
 Chances Favor Chicago.
 The night before the committee meets finds the place and time for holding the convention indefinite, with the chances favoring Chicago, the convention to follow that of the republicans as has heretofore been the custom.
 st. Louis is making a determined fight for the convention, though at a rather late bour. Vice Chairman Stone of the na- tional committee was a prominent figure in the lobby of the Shoreham tonight, and ,s urging his personal friends to vote for