The Washington herald., 1908-07-08
By WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE.


Special % The Washington Herald.
Denver Colo, July THE convention |
to-da yhad two distinct thrills. not jump |
ing spasms OF emotion. but mild homeo- !
pathic doses of joy. such as often come
TO people over forty who discover that the
worst is over One Of those episodes oc-
CURED when former Gov. Francis Of Mis-
souri,. walked on eggs across the conven-
tiOn in his painstaking apology for eulo-
gizing Grover Cleveland. II was a fine
piece Of balancing and did credit to the
living and the dead. even though the gov
ernor's elaborate explanation that he
could praise Cleveland without disgracing
Bryan was an excursion upon I..ore OF
less debatable grounds.
The second throb Of real life in the con-
vention came when the crowd called for
Judge Parker He rose. a short-necked,
sloping-shouldered man. who seems TO
have softly sidled rather than roughly
elbowed his way through the jostling
throng It was the first time a majority
of the delegates had seen him. and he
made an excellent impression and an in
take OF excited breath came when he
brought out his side-tracked resolution
on Cleveland.
Crowd Hoped for Rumpus.
The crowd hoped ne would move to sub
stitute his resolution for the Nebraska
resolution. which obviously had Bryan's
Endorsement The crowd yearned for a
fight 1t would have liked to have seen
Parker throw down the gauntlet For in
the Bryan resolution Cleveland was call
ed able efficient. forceful, and a number
OF other things, but there was nothing
about his honesty, with the dominant
note of Clevelands character. The Par
ker resolution, in its first fifty words
spoke Of Cleveland's integrity. and refer
red 70 him as a custodian OF Democratic
faith, which. Of course. he was not. un-
less the faith is bifurcated. with one sec
tion in the custody OF Bryan and the
other I'm the custody Of Cleveland. But
after the pleasurable gasp at the courage
Of Judge Parker in reading his discarded
resolution, the convention sighed sadly
when 1t found hat there was 10 be no
fight and At = Ege Parker was TO do
nothing more y nnuess than to second
the motion sSebraska. So the Conven-
tiOn proceeded upon It's regular course
and proceeded 10 drive the dray over
Guffey. Of Pennsylvania II was care
fully explained by the Pennsylvania dele
cation that the convention was giving the
boiling delegation Of twenty-three the
preference over the regular delegation of
fOrty-five, but It made no difference.
The "Inner Temple" Prevails.
The programme had come from the in
ner temple, and the delegates took to the
programme. In the committee rooms OF
the various delegations for twenty-fouT
hours the delegates segregated, and In
the several States has been devoting
themselves 10 the gentle art OF burning
reformers at the stake. Folk was de-
feated in Missouri, Tom Johnson was
humbed in Ohio. Harris, who is not in
accord with Bryan. win IN Kansas. In
Indiana the conservatives defeated the
radicals. and in the privacy Of the delega-
tion room Bryan was snubbed by the
Pennsylvania delegation. Yet, when II
came 20 a vote in the open. the fun OF
burning the reformers suddenly ended
and the delegations wiggle-waggled, and
put their thumbs down when Simon said
so.
How the average politician is afraid OF
the people in the daylight, and how he
often defies the min the dark MI
Guffey has the night 10 work IN, and he
may be at Mr.. Bryan before morning
but in the daylight Of the convention, even
on the merits Of this particular case
Bryan Is wrong. Bryan. nevertheless, will
win for in this convention Bryan means
the people IN the minds Of the delegates
just as Roosevelt meant tho people ir
Chicago.
Difference in the Crowds.
But for all the outward analogies be-
tween this Denver convention and the
recent Chicago convention there is q
tomperameutal difference in the heart OF
the crowd This crowd. rather an older
crowd than the Chicago crowd. not SC
cheerful and more irascible, is in its
core a protest. Democracy with tn,
large. rampant -" always IS a protest
and the composite face Of tn ecrowd il
the face Of the man who doesn't pro
pose TO stand IL any longer. The spirit
o fthe Chicago crowd was compIacenc.
The face Of this crowd is ahre with n
dignation. The Denver crowd as a who'll
Is not so well dressed not so well ac
coutred. not so well fed. and not so vel
pleased with the merry old world as tn
Chicago crowd.
There is more Irish and the Dutch II
Il. If a fight starts here a thousand mel
will rise as one man and cheer the loser
In Chicago they would cheer the winner
oS this convention will take all the for
lorn hopes Of the Chicago platform, partl.
from policy. and partly because IL is tn
nature Of the critter TO mourn witt
them that mourn"
In the matter Of the Vice Presidency
there is only one good guess. The maj
who leads will lose. They say now tha
Gaynor will. because in the game Of Al
phone and Castor between Bryan an,
Tammany. Tammany has the last bow
and he has decided upon GaynOr. Blu
unless Bryan ratifes that clearly an
without equivocation, Gaynor viii no
win. For the voice OF this convento
speaks most easily Carlyle's everlastin
no" 1t is the first and often the las
word Of Democracy. and there may be
year when it is a good word TO say.
Woman Killed I'm Auto Mishnp.
Santa Cruz. Cal, July Mrs o. Scrit
ner. wife Of the president Of the Asso