Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-06-25
HANSON WRITES OF THE PRE-
LlMINARY ACTIVITY BEFORE
DEMOCRATIC SESSION..
WILSON HAS SUPPORT
Banners of the Eastern Professor are
In Evidence, But the Undercur-
rent is for Champ Clark and
the Hound.
rBy. Elisha Hanson.]


The minute one hits town he il
taken in tow by some citizen, show
to whatever hotel he is bound for, OF
fered the service of the citizens auto
mobile, carriage, or if perchance h
owns neither, then his services. large
or small as they may be. II one wants
to see real true southern hospitality
all he has to do is to step within the
confines of Baltimore now. He'll never
doubt that hospitality once again.
The hotels are crowded. The houses
of everyone have been thrown open
to the conventionites, as the visitors
are called The public buildings are
equipped with cots, beds, specially ar
ranged baths. All of the houses nave
been painted, all of the iron WORK
about the city is still placarded fresh
paint" or "wet paint" and there isn't
q single negro shanty that isn't dec
Grated in honor of the great demo
cratic meeting.
Thursday, when the news of the do
ings at Chicago reached town. 1t
caused but little flutter. TO Baltimore
and practically the whole east, Ralt1-
more is the center of civilization right
now. The riot in Chicago excited little
more interest than an ordinary Kan
sas cyclone excites in Paris, most Par
isians never having heard OF Kansas,
despite William Allen Whites great
editorial back in '06.
went over to Baltimore Thursday
morning One of the committee OF ar
rangements, the local committee, took
a seat beside me in the street car aft
err | left the Washington Electric and
accompanied me to the Belvedere,
where the national committees sub
committee on arrangements was to
hold it's meeting. There he surrender
ed me to my brother newspaper men
and in five minutes ! had met every
body whom l had not met before,
about two or three hundred
J. Ham Lewis Present
Col. J. Ham Lewis, the pink-whisk-
cred statesman from Chicago who ex-
poets to land in the senate next
March, was prominent about the lob
by. There was another Lewis, an al
ternate delegate from Porto Rico,
there also, and he was almost as mucn
as J. Ham. Their hair Is
of the same color above the eyebrows
but the Porto Rican's cannot begin to
rival the Chicagoan's under and on
the chin. When the Illinoisan Is not
around, however, his prototype Is
quite frequently taken for him.
81 suppose we will have you IN
Washington if things go right this
fall. won't we colonel" friend asked
while was speaking to him.
"That is a very difficult matter to
determine right now" replied he OF
the pink whiskers, "for you know, my
friend. there is a great difference be-
tween June fever and November phil
osophy when our republican brothers
are the afflicted ones.
Just then there was stir rlgnt OUT
by the front door and Tom Taggart
Of Indiana, encircled by a crowd OF
pen pushers (everyone possesses
fountain pen now was declaring that
Parker would be named temporary
chairman. Parker was named.
From the Belvedere a number or US
went over to the convention hall, only
a few blocks away, and there found
everything in readiness for the con-
yention. The hall is decorated IN red,
white and blue, with great picture
Of Jefferson to the left, another OF
Jackson to the right, and a second OF
Jefferson right over the platform
The newspaper men will be taken
care of as they have never been cared
for before, the press benches being
arranged right under the platform so
that the writer's can see every move
ment in the great square arena, near
every speech and catch every name
on the roll calls. In fact, the Balti-
more convention hall is the most
Ideally arranged one in the country
today, in the history Of the country.
The galleries are large and comfort
able and one can hear perfectly IN
any place, the acoustics being excel
lent
Wilson Has Boosters.
From the convention hall we jour-
neyed back down to town to the EN-
erson. There the Wilson, Clark and
Harmon headquarters are located. A
group of Wilson men, headed by a
number of Princeton graduates,
grabbed us and escorted us
to the national and New Jersey
headquarters, loaded us down
with badges, hat bands, ribbons and
everything imaginable reading, win
With Wilson, Wilson, the Man of
the Hour" "The Next President Of
the United States" etc. There wasn't
much doing in the Clark headquarters
for the Clark cohorts were holding
their ways and means conference in
Up in the Harmon head
quarters there were signs of activity
of previous and wet nature. The
were the first on the
ground and they were pretty nearly all
played out by Thursday.
What impressed me most though,
was the Wilson spirit. Ask any man
on the street, from track walker Of
the Baltimore electric railways to
banker, who will be NOM
mated and without minutes hesita-
ton he will answer: Wilson" Will
son and Wilson's friends have swept
Baltimore right off it's feet. One rea-
son for this is that all of the Wilson
decorations include the famous