The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-10-21
Especial to The Herald1

Washington, Oct. 2O.-There. is little, in
deed no, likelihood that the Republican
national convention will be held in Seat
tie next summer, although where it will
be held will not be determined until the
Republican national committee meets in
this city in December and selects the
place Seattle was the first city TO make
application for the convention, and 1t
has been working In season and out to
get ii. doing more preliminary work than
any other city that has entered the field,
but Notwithstanding the activity or Seat
tie representatives, there would seem TO
be no possibility of holding the convention
there or, in any other city on the Pacific
coast or in the Rocky mountain region.
There are various things to be cOnsid-
cred in selecting a convention city, aside
from the politics that may be involved.
In the first place, convenient point is
sought, so as to make il unnecessary for
the great majority of the delegates 10
travel long distances. Then the commit
tee takes into consideration the hotel &C
eommodations that are afforded at var
lOus cities. for the conventions always
draw tremendous crowds outside of the
delegates, and unusual hotel accommoda-
lions are necessary to take care of the
people.
Many Wires Needed.
But there is a third consideration, quite
as great. If not greater, than either OF the
cilities.f At no time and no place in the
United States is there as pressing demand
for extraordinary telegraph service as
during national conventions. Every large
paper in the country has a special repre-
sentative at the convention, not to men,
tion the corps Of representatives sent out
by the press associations, and every news
paper man at the convention is there to
hustle and write copy Those are not
times when papers want mere para
graphs; they want full stories. Conse-
quently city TO take proper care of a
national convention must have an enOr-
nous telegraph service; it must have q
wire service such as is found today in
none of the cities west of Kansas CITY
Seattle is handicapped in almost every
respect. Because OF its location on the
Pacific coast. delegates from the east
will not be willing TO make the long
journey across the continent because OF
the time and the expense involved. The
great bulk of delegates will come from
the states east of the Mississippi river
and while the delegates themselves will
not have the selection of the convention
city the national committee will not likely
overlook the interests of majority of the
delegates.
Denver in the Field.
True, about half of the members of the
national committee come from states
west Of the Mississippi. and those com
mltteemen, II a unit, might force the Sc
lection of Seattle. But not all the COM
mitteemen from the west will favor Seat
tie. Denver is in the field and the com
mittee from Colorado and neighbOriug
states VIII work for the Rocky Mountain
metropolis. Those in the Mississippi val
ley Will naturally favor St. Louis, Kan
sas City or Chicago. and Seattle is not
likely to be supported by other than the
Pacific coast committeeman. and perhaps
a few Others from the northwest
Notwithstanding its growth Seattle has
the reputation OF being comparatively
poorly supplied with hotels. While its
reputation is possibly not fully deserved
Yet the opinion prevails in the minds of
eastern men that the city on the sound
has not the facilities at the present time
Tor accommodating such crowds as would
attend a national convention. II might
handle medium-siZed crowd, if the high
railroad fare operated to keep many AWAY
but usually the national committee wants
place where the crowd can get in. and
where 1t can be taken care of
But Seattle's heaviest handicap is its
lack of adequate telegraph facilities. The
great bulk of news reports from a nation
al convention are sent TO papers in the
east Probably So per cent of the tele-
graph dispatches filed will go to cities
In the Mississippi valley and cast Seat
tie has very limited facilities for getting
heaVy press matter as far east as Chit
cago or Kansas City. where 1t could be
distributed. and il is believed by officers
of the national committee that If Seattle
were chosen, there would be an unpreca-
cented congestion of press dispatches
which could not well be relieved. There
have been times when the telegraph COM
pants have run special wires to conven-
tion cities, to augment the regular serv-
fee, but IT would be out OF the question
to expect them 10 run a sufficient num-
Der of wires connecting Seattle with east-
ern distributing points.
Not Likely to Come West.
Prompt handling is necessary in order
to make the convention news service of