Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1912-06-14

IMPRESSIONS OF i sTRANaE CON.
vENTIoNrs 6
Duluth, June 8.-When F. B. Lynch.
with that genialty of manner which 81
one Of his chief attributes and princi-
pal assets, in acknowledging II. n,
Hudson 3 congratulations on being en-,
dorsed for national committeeman ~
the democratic state convention, said In
reply that he thought Hudson had.
secured more in defeat than his;
opponent in victory, he struck the key
note Of strange convention. THOSE
who could not see below the surface Of.
things thought Lynch had achieved L..
great victory, and he did, so far as haf-
ing his personal ambition gratifed, but;
at what q cost! TWAS a Pyhrric vic;
tory. To secure it, it was necessary FOR
the national Committeeman to sacrifice
every friend but one, : and, in tile
language of Dooley, that one was him
self. Congressman Hammond, the only
democratic representative this state
has in congress, is not: b delegate: it
large to Baltimore: ;, The Duluth stu
alton had to be handled gingefly. 10:
press Hammond would have been to in
vite serious trouble. The Hennepin
delegation favored Knox, who is not o.,
Lynch favorite, and if Lynch had in,
sisted on Hammond, the slender hold
Of the committeeman on the Mime,
apolis crowd would have been lost, As
with Hammond, so with several others,
and one by one they were dropped; till
on the delegation finally chosen there
are sixteen out and out Bryan men who;
though instructed for Wilson, would
welcome the opportunity to vote for
Bryan. This is Of course pleasing to
the group of original Bryan men, who
through fair weather and foul, have
worked together for sixteen years.
The fate of the national committee
man rested on Hennepin county. "A
!. vigorous minority was opposed to any
endorsement, claiming that Lynch was
not Bryan man, that he did not be-.
lieve in the Iniative, Referendum
and Recall, ETC., that he had said he
was pleased that he had nothing to do
with the Bryan meeting IN st: Paul in
March. All this was vigorously denied,
and some old letters Of 1908 produced
to show the contrary. No 1912 letters
were enough men on the Hennepin
delegation who did not wish to vote
for Lynch, to have swung the delega-
ton away from him, still they felt un-
der some obligations to him for having
given financial aid, rumored at from
$500 to $4,000, to the Minneapolis
campaign, and so stayed oy him. One
of the Ramsey delegates, commenting
on this, said: "Those university high
brows criticise o 'Connor for using con-
tributions from wealthy men: Where
does the moral distinction come in on
this Lynch case9 Is it any less mer-
cenary?' The fact is, however, that
the Hennepin delegation was composed
Of an unusually high grade Of men,
and it is more charitable and proper
to assume that the heart may have run
away with the judgment Of some Of
them. They thought they had a. big
fight on in Minneapolis, r. and Lynch
came to their aid financially, so they
felt grateful, even to the extent of 60
ing against the most unselfish and one
Of the ,truest democrats the state has
ever known T. T. Hudson Of Duluth.
That was as far as they would 60. On
everything else they were as q rock.
With the compromise proposition,
rather one-sidedy however, which put
several Of the strongest Bryan men in
the state on the delegation at large, the
convention apparently ran smoothly. 1t
was sitting, however, on the edge. Of a
volcano. There were plenty Of matters
which would have caused an eruption,
and plenty folks ready to erupt, and
no telling what would have been the
result. What was left of the organiza-
ton must have breathed more freely
when the convention adjourned.
It isn't necessary to endorse R. T.
O'Connor and Dan LAWYERS style of
politics when one admires their physi-
cal presentment. When saw the two
sturdy well set up men with their
snowy crown of hair, come in at the
head Of the Ramsey delegation, I
couldn't help saying to myself, as
suppose many others did, "What
pity!' There was considerable feeling
in the convention against Lawler, on
account of his activity two years ago
against Gray. While the returns show
ed that many thousand democrats in
the state felt like Lawler, they didn't
advertise it the way he did. Add to
this the. distrust with which the
Ramsey county democratic organization
is regarded, and it made an unpleasant
situation for Dan. The convention
didn't throw any bricks at him; how
ever, and when the six delegates at
large had been nominated, Lawler got
up in mighty clever, graceful way
moved their selection as the choice Of
the convention. It was well and neatly
done, received in a friendly spirit, and
received genuine applause. To see the
Ramsey delegation yelling for Bryan
was one Of the sights which: was
peculiar, to say the least, in the light
Of past history. Yet this was not more
strange than the spectacle Of many
who abused the Nebraskan bitterly
four years ago, now proclaiming him
to be the greatest of Americans. He
is coming into his own with ven.
geance. -