The morning journal-courier., 1908-07-10
CONVENTION CHEERS.

The Denver delegates with their numerous guests cheered and howlcd and shrieked eighty-seven minutes at the mention of Mir. Bryan's name by | tntied States Senator Gore of Okla homa, which was full thirty minutes | longer than the delegates 10 the Ch- cago convention and their guests cheered and howled and shreked for President Roosevelt The newspaper descriptions of the scene would be im- presslve If such a performance could | by any possibility be reconcilcd with calm and sane condition of mind. If one will hold ones breath a sin- gle minute one will be surprised to | find how long minute Is. To actual ly keep ones lungs In exercise for
 over an hour and half Is such an ex- traordinary performance that 1t must be dismissed as among he freak in-
 cidents of an unusual occasion. A baseball crowd Is the most susceptible crowd in the world and finds itself moved by the most conflicting of emo tons. One moment 1t is cheering as If the welfare of the nation depended
 upon the outburst and at the next 1t is roaring with spontaneous laughter. In either case the cheering Is of short
 duration, though the livellest of im- presslons lie at the bottom of the
 demonstration. Even when the um-
 pire gives decision against the home
 nine, the protests which arc emphat-
 ically formulated live but a short per
 iod of time. At the college games,
 where enthusiastic youth Is to be
 found In all of It's abandon. and where
 the emotions are subjected to a con-
 tnued strain, the cheering ls con-
 trolled by cheer leaders. Even they
 have to be spelled by classmates so
 severe is the burden of uninterrupted
 demonstration.
 At Chicago we find single man
 cheered for practically an hour and at Denver we find another man cheercd an hour and a half How ie 1t to be accounted for? Do Theodore Roose-
 velt and William J. Bryan possess powers of stimulation which are with , held from the baseball enthusiast? Is the enthusiasm which the mention of , their names provokes more the real thing than that which Is called forth by the successful run of favorite
 player? Are men charged with a grave responsibility more human after all than the pleasure seeking sports on the bleachers? These are ques- 7 tions which are legitimate'y suggested by the Chicago and Denver conven- tions In their separate reception of ? favorte names. Mir. Roosevelt has l been before tho public for many years. and Mir. Bryan has addressed more ] audiences than any man living to-day Neither was ever cheered this way be- . fore, though numerous have been the E opportunities given their admirers to ! let themselves go. The conclusion is s therefore irresistible that the four y walls of a political convention ex- E clusiyely contain the human element. y can be made of lt. It Is physio. s logical phenomenon, but 1t would be . perhaps a bit more so if in these two e' instances of prolonged cheering ono 't of the benefciaries had not been pre-. IT pairing to leave public life while tho
 other was undertaking to break Into
 It.
 We are rather Inclined to the opin
 ion after all that these cheers be long to the category of human spel binding. II Is the art of the orato y carried to the Nth power; the skilfu 5 use of human enthusiasm to sway " crowd and force 1t to do the biddin of a masters voice. If Is absurd 0 " course, but If there happens to be any a thing in It. President Roosevelt shoul
 admit that for once the breaking o oi records has been taken out of hi so hands.