The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-01-25
CIV L.. w. Lightner.)

(By T.. w. I4ightner.)
All national conventions are drama
tic. with Il piece de resistance of the
of vaudeville. but naturally to all of
those Immediately concerned and to
the country at large, the near national
conventions to come are those most
pregnant with interest. The past is
past, with its contributions to history;
for the coming national conventions
there is always Il world of specula-
ton in regard to their contribution to
history.
The Republican national convention
will meet al Chicago juno IS. There
was no sentiment in the choice. Ma
tlnnal committees are not given to
sentiment. The selection was prompt
cd solely by the financial offer and
the question of convenience of loca-
ton for Il majority of the delegates.
The proceedings of the committee
nothing in Tho political atmosphere,
or tho moral, of Chicago which should
appeal to the purists who will be dele
gates. Chicago has no history that
anybody is proud to quote. 1t has an
"d"r of human and animal blood. of
slaughterins. of lard II glue. hide
and horn and hoof. all flag ends and
entrails utilized, with II gigantic ex-
ploitation of the fag-ends of humans
ltN. If the delegates would thorough
~ dissect Chicago previous to the con
struction of a platform they would
possibly insert a plank never before
nailed into the basic uttcrance OF a
campaign.
The Democratic national convention
VIII meet AT Baltimore June 70, Just
II week subsequent TO the ASSEMBLE
\ ttnFr at $l,A % .-l &c l----
he any d~iSsension in the latter the
n may overlap the other. III his
tory of Baltimore is as different to
that of Chicago as day is from night.
1t is repletc with and tragedy
from the time of the grants to the
lords OF Baltimore. from the time the
building of a town at the mout of
the Patapsco river WAS petitioned for.
the petition being speedily followed by
the huilding-as ideal Il site for a city
as can he found in America.
Delegates and visitors from other
cities, if they try tn see the real Balti-
more will find a system of beautiful
parks and artistic bridges. most UNI
rivalcd in the county: a new city built
upon the ruins OF the old by the de-
structive fire of February Z and s,
1904: new docks costing millions and
much else Instructive. Baltimore will
~ '''iA" A''Sii'i SilplS W llpStl wi
mediation. but those who will attend
upon what doubtless will be the most
interesting of Democratic conventions
of the YEAR. n one of tho most in
tercsting of Democratic conventions
for long wears, may rest assured that
the citizens of that hospitablc city
will find rooms and food for all COM
ers. There is Washington only forty
five minutes distance with it's MANY
fine hotels. Taking the two cities to-
sether they afford opportunities for
entertainment superior to any n city
in the country for a national onNen
ton; and the may beautiful parks dis.
distributed in every part of the crowd
ed city of Baltimore will give a happy
chance for heated partisanS of can
didatcs TO cool off.
Past Gatherings.
Two Democratic national owen
tions have been held in Baltimore
which We're rich il: dramatic and ira
on IL beautiful Jun %. of which the
June 25 of this wear will be within
two days of the tifty-second anniver-
sary, the Democratic national owen
ton met at the Front street thcater
m nominated stephen A. Douglas of
Illinois for the presidency and Ben
jamin Fitzpatrick of Alabama for the
vice presidency. Many of the dele
gates rejected the nomination of
had been refused seats. organized a
rump convention. met at the Mary
land institute and nominated John c.
breckenridge of Kentucky n General
Joseph Lane of oregon for president
and vice president.
The Douglas convention "a the
most dlsorderly ever held in America.
Il,~ H. 1r.~r, No, 400
tina was among the mlldest of the
epithets which made h vcry air
lurid. Many fist fights occurred. Con-
tending delegations fought over on-
flicting credentials and days passed in
wrangling over the admission of rep
resentatives of the n faction or the
other. A physical clash took place
between Delegate Montgomery of
PENNSYLVANIA and the venerable Josiah
Randall. father Of Samuel ]. Randall
later for'many terms a member of the
house of representatives from Phila-
delhia and who was also speaker of
the house. Robert Randall. another
son took a hand in the fight and for
a time there was a lively miXup, the
climax Of which came with a chal-
lenge from young Sam to Mont
gomery to settle the matter by fight
ing a duel, but later the difficulty was
adjusted.
Challenges and fist fights were the
order, OF disorder, of the day, and
Roger A. Pryor of Virginia, after the
war for many years one of the most
prominent lawyers of New York, him.
self a touch-and-go duellist in the old
days, had most of his time occupied i n
%endeavors to keep the peace, though
all the time he had a platform of his
own in his pocket which he was anxi-
Gus to work off on the convention.
The principal work of the rump con-
vention, aside from the nominations,
was denunciation in indcscribable
terms of the Douglas convention. The
nominations We're of men with nation
al regulations only second to the re-
putc of Douglas, the Little Giant
whose debates with Abraham Lincoln
year. did more thar all else to give
Lincoln thai national fame which re-
suited in his nomination and election
to the presidency in 1860. John G.
Breckenridge was of the famous fam
lily Of Kentucky Breckenridges, some
of whom for a time made their home
in Pennsylvania. General Lane was a
born k~entuckian. but as a young mar
removed to Indiana. where he was
elected to the legislature before he
had attained to his majority. Going
into the Mexican war as a private, he
was rapidly promoted to the rank of
b%rigadier general for brilliant and
reckless bravery in the chief battles
of that war. Settling in the territory
of Oregon after the war he was ap-
pointed territorial governor by Presi-
dent Polk. Upon his removal from
that office he was elected delegate to
the national house Of representatives,
and when Oregon was admitted to the
union was the first United States SEN
ator ron the new state.