The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-06-18
For the First Time in the His
tory of Conventions
No Picture of the President Is
Being Displayed.
To BE NO WAVING OF CHAIRS
Seats Are Fastened Together in
Groups of Five.
Standards of the States Are
Spiked to the Floor.

| Chicago, June 1S.-For the first time
| in the history of Republican national
conventions no picture of the president
| hangs in the Coliseum where today. LOIS
| delegates from the states and territories
| of the United States met to name a
| candidate for president and vice presi-
| dent and to formulate a party platform.
| Rough iron work, arching over head,
| is hidden beneath red, white and blu
bunting, and the galleries are marked
by lines of mountain laurel draped
! about tri-colored shields and more flags
| except over the main entrance where
! rug of royal purple velvet marks the
box of Chairman Frederick Upham OF
| the local committee on arrangements
! and his Chicago aides.
| The chairman'S table, bearing brass
plate, inscribed to inform all that the
| table was occupied by the chairman
| four years ago whom William Howard
| Taft was nominated, stands about
| third of the way from the south end
of the rectangular hall on a dais. Back
of it are the seats of the Republican
national committee and the space for
the workers and those who helped
to finance the gathering.
The Press Section.
| At its side are grouped 500 seats for
| newspaper men where every word may
| be heard distinctly and licked away tic
| 80, 600, 900 Americans and many times
| more persons of other lands who will De
awaiting the messages of the men al
the keys. In a basement in addition.
the press men have great, spacious
rooms, where a hundred telegraph OPP
orators or reporters may work for press
| association or papers, and adjoining,
| 200 operators of the telegraph compail-
| les, attended by 800 messenger boys.
will be ready to add to the news re-
ports or convey other information
abroad.
High up on the wall back of. the
speakers stand which fronts the chair
mans table hangs a third blue shield
on which are embroidered in gold the
arms of the United States. Copies OF
the first 13-starred flag of the nation
| flank it and above, below and around
are hundreds of large silken emblems
of America. In front of the chairman's
table, and facing south are 1,07S hard
plain, wooden kitchen chairs uncush
toned, and fastened together in groups
of five. There will be no chairs waved
about. In the various sections will he
metal stands indicating the state rep
resented and these will be spiked to the
floor. f1| 49, 5=t42
The Alternates'. Seats.
Farther back, and facing in the
same direction, are yet another LOIS
seats, likewise hard and uncushioned,
where the second choice of alternate
delegates will await their opportunity
in the absence of the regular delegate |
TO represent their district.
Along the sides of the buildings
around the far north end in banked
up arc, and in another layer, dupli- |
eating this in the balcony, row after
row of seats, close packed as possible, |
stretch around the rest of the hall. |
Above them, around them, and before
them are more flags and bunting.
Occasionally, out of the bright uni |
formity of red, white and blue, CLEANS
a red cross on a white background
the insignia of the Red Cross society. !
Beside it stands a doctor. a trained
nurse, and A messenger and at their
hand is an annunciator bell to sum- |
mon aid from the complete temporary |
hospital, if medical service is called |
for Eleven such groups will watch for
the safety and comfort of the mass
of humanity present.
High up under the very ridge pole |
of the hall, a steady patrol will walk /
along a narrow girder walk, watch |
ing for untoward incidents which re-
quire the attentions of Colonel Villa m
F. Stone sergeant-at-arms, or his
throng of aides.
Signs marking the seat sections
swing from the ceiling, each row of
seats is numbered in paint and every
chair has its corresponding paste
board slip. Telephones and telegraph |
instruments cluster about the narrow,
velvet chained path leading up in
front of the chairman's table. At the
end of this path will stand the speak
ers addressing the convention.