The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1912-06-10
Where Democrats Name President
NATIONAL GUARD ARMoRY BALTIMORE, WHERE HISTORY
ING CONVENTION WILL BE HELD, ACCOMMODATE


of the decorators the place has lost it's
military, unitarian look, transformed
by the more than 10000 yards of bunt-
ing that hides the roof beams. drapes
the walls and covers practically every
foot of the interior except the win
dows and floor spaces The back
ground is a soft effect of cream, gold
and white, which makes an effective
setting for the national colors dis
played in countless arrangements, and
the insignia and colors of the various
states.
The seating arrangements here are
the result of long study on the archi-
tects' part, aided by the practical ex-
perience of men versed in the practical
problems of great conventions. This
hall will seat comfortably, more than
$4,000 persons, and those in charge of
its preparation believe they have
worked out their problem so that every
hiSHlDcl vi lulS SledI duulSuCe Gall
command a view of the speakers
stand and understand what is being
said. To bring this about the loca-
ton of the speakers platform was the
matter of first Importance.
In the Baltimore hall the speakers
will stand well out toward the middle
of the auditorium, directly opposite the
main central entrance, midway be-
tween the ends of the hall and about
60 feet, or more than one-third the
distance, from the rear wall of the in
terror. This rostrum, the heart of the
convention hall, is not large enough
to permit much pacing about on the
orators part. 1t measures about Is
feet long by ten feet deep. 1t is ele-
waited six feet above the main floor.
Back of the rostrum, two feet above
it and communicating by steps, is an
other platform of the same size for the
use of the secretaries of the conven-
ton. Back of this are 600 seats,
banked at the rear to a height of IA
feet, which are reserved for the Off
GERS of the national organization.
Grouped about the speakers platform
at both sides and in front, are ABS
seats for the press. These COM
municate through passageways under
the banked-up seats behind with the
company rooms outside the drill hall
which have been fitted up for the use
of the newspapers and press associa-
lions and telegraph and telephone
companies. From these offices, with
in sound of the speakers voice and
of the secretary as he announces the
results of each ballot, run wires that
to the world.
In front of the platform, separated
only by the narrow row of press seats
and an aisle, are the places for the
delegates who come to Baltimore to
register the presidential choice of the
party in the various states and terri
tories of the Union. Although the
number of votes these states and ter
ritories may cast aggregates 1894, the
architects have provided seats for l.
200 delegates, because some of the
states, Maryland among them, send to
Baltimore twice as many delegates as
they have votes, each delegate being
the custodian of half a vote. Back OF
the delegates sit an equal number OF
alternates, and these 2,400 seats occu-
by the center of the floor between the
platform and the entrance. These
four blocks Of seats will hold much OF
the life and motion Of the convention