Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1904-06-29
EXCITING SCENE
At NOMINATION
Dignity Gives Way to
Enthusiasm.
An Eloquent Nominating Speech
Delivered By Ex-Governor
Black of New York,

Black delivered the nominating
speech. As an Introductory to naming
of the candidate Mr.. Black said:
"Mr. President and Gentlemen of
the Convention We are here to in
augurate campaign which seems al
ready to be nearly closed. So wisely
have the people sowed and watched
and tended, there seems little now to
do but to measure up the grain. They
are ranging themselves not for battle
but for harvest. In one column reach
ing from the Maine woods to the
Puget Sound are those people and
those states which have stood So long
together, that when great emergencies
arise the nation turns to them. In
this column, vast and solid, is a
majority so overwhelming that the
scattered squads in opposition can
hardly raise another army. The enc
my has neither guns nor ammunition,
and if they had would use them on
each other. Destitute of the weapons
of effective warfare, the only evidence
of approaching battle is in the tone
and number of their bulletins. There
is discord among the generals; discord
among the soldiers. Each would fight
in his own way, but before assaulting
bis republican adversaries he would
first destroy his own comrades in the
adjoining tents. Each believes the
weapons chosen by the other are not
only wicked but fatal to the holder.
That is true. This is the only war
of modern times where the boomerang
has been substituted for the gun.
Whatever fatalities may occur, how
ever, among the discordant hosts now
moving on st. Louis, no harm will
come this fall to the American people.
There will be no opposition sufficient
to raise a conflict. There will be
hardly enough for competition. There
are no democratic plans for the con-
duct of the fall campaign. Their zeal
is chiefly centered in discussion as to
what Thomas jefferson would do if he
we're living. He is not living, and
but few of his descendants are among
the democratic remnants of today.
Whatever of patriotism or wisdom
emanated from that distinguished man
is now represented in this convention
1t is a sad day for any party when
its only means of solving living issues
is by guessing at the possible attitude
of statesman who is dead. This con.
dition leaves that party always be
ginner ard makes every question new.
The democratic party has seldom tried
a problem on its own account, and
when it has its plumbers have been its
only monuments, its courage is re-
membered only in regret. AS long
as these things are recalled that
party may serve as ballast, but it
will never steer the ship.
When all the people have forgotten
will dawn a golden era for this new
democracy. But the country is not
ready yet to place party in the lead
whose most expressive motto is the
cherries word forget. That motto
may express contrition, but it does
not inspire hope. Neither confidence
nor enthusiasm will be aroused by any
party which enters each campaign
uttering the language of the mourner.
There is one fundamental plank,
however, on which the two great
parties are in full agreement. Both
believe in the equality of men. The
difference is that the democratic |
party would make every man as low |
as the poorest, while the republican |
party would make every man as high |
as the best. But the democratic |
course will provoke no outside inter
ference now, for the republican motto
is that of the great commander, |
''never interrupt the enemy while he
is making mistake"
Mr.. Black followed with an eloquent
recital of the achievements of the re-
publican party, and the individual
part taken in their accomplishments
by the man be was about to nominate,
together with an eloquent tribute to
the latter closing with these words:
"There are times when great fitness
is hardly less than destiny, wheG the
elements come together that they Sc
lect the agent they will use. Events
sometimes select the strongest men,
as lightning goes to the highest rod.
And so it is with those events which
for many months with unerring sight
have led you to a single name which
am chosen to pronounce. Gentle
men, nominate for president of the
United States the highest living type
of the youth, the vigor and the prom
Sc of great country and a great age,
Theodore Roosevelt, of New York"
Then followed one of the most ex-
citing scenes ever witnessed in any
convention. Scarcely had the words
Theodore Roosevelt" left his lips |
when there went up a mighty shout. |
The convention was no its feet. Like |
a crash of thunder that follows the |
lightning, the enthusiasm began. |
Flags we're In the air, hats were !
thrown up, men jumped onto their
chairs, women stood and shouted. !
The air was rent with one continuous
prolonged shout from thousands of /
Threats. So mighty was the volume of |
sound that nothing denfiite in the J
way of articulation was distinguish |
able.
At this point, the band struck 1
up. Its strains, however, we're only |
family observable in the mighty din. |
Then Chairman Cannon took a hand. /
Unfurling a tattered silk flag, he ad- !!
vanced to the extreme edge of the !
platform and began waving it. The
flag is the property of the Lincoln
Mckinley association of Missouri, and
it made its first appearance at the re-
publican national convention in 1860,
when Lincoln was nominated. 1t was
then carried by the Missouri delega-
ton and was waved over the platform