The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-22
HOW FREED SEATS
 ARE DISTRIBUTED Baltimore Arm0ry Will Seat
 About 15,0OO TICKETS VALUABLE = De-
Congressmen Are Being Besieged By Constituents for Seats, But They May Have Difficulty Get
 ting in Themselves
By c. E. STEWART

ny 1s sAE W All
 Washington, June 2.-(Special. )--Much
 apprehension exists throughout the coun- | try as to the number of seats available
 for the general public at the national
 democratic convention in Baltimore. and
 as to the method of assignment of these
 seats and the issuance of tickets. | Nearly all the democratic congressman
 are receiving daily numerous requests for tickets from constituents or friends who apparently think it is the easiest thing
 in the world for their wishes to be met. and the recipients of these requests are being put to a great deal of trouble to
 explain the facts clearly without giving offense. In the first place, no tickets to
 the convention are issued until the con
 vention actually begins. The tickets are
 not sent out in advance because they are
 valuable and if their design became
 known, they would doubtless be counter
 feited in large numbers and cause an
 endless lot of trouble
 The idea that these tickets are mere affairs like a street car ticket or an or
 dinary card of admission is a mistake.
 They are long certificates and are in- tended to be preserved as souvenirs and | they carry at the end a set of coupons, one for each day of the convention--the
 coupons to be detached by the doorkeep-
 CTS one by one as the days pass.
 Will Seat About 15,0O0
 The great armory of the Fifth Maryland
 regiment at Baltimore. where the demo-
 cratic convention will be held, is being prepared to seat from 14,000 to 15,000 per sons. which is probably few hundred more than the republican convention hall | at Chicago, and offers for seats in advance | at Chicago reached the high water mark of s100 each The fact that the Chicago convention staged the greatest show on
 earth" so far as the republican party
 is concerned, same being the unprecedent- ed personal conflict between an ex-Pres- iden and the President of the United States, under unparalleled conditions in
 politics, put seats there at special premium.
 In the past seats at national conventions of both parties have retailed for $50, and the seats sold at Baltimore will in all probability bring that amount, perhaps more Events that are pulled off only ev- cry four years showing such galaxy of big stars come high
 There will be 1094 delegates to the Bal timore convention, and each of them will
 have one ticket for himself and three tickets to use as he pleases. That will be about 4400 tickets to the delegates alone. Each of the alternates will have one ticket for himself and one for friend, and this adds about 2200 and this will make a total of 66O0 seats that the delegates and alternates will control. The national committee, composed of 50 mem bers, will have about 1000 tickets, includ- ing their own, and this brings the total up to 76OO of the convention seats, or about one-half.
 One Thousand for Press One thousand seats will be assigned to the press of the country. This will not give the newspapers any superfluous tick cts. In fact, there will not be tickets for all the newspapers that apply. This brings the total up to S6l0.
 It has been the custom at democratic
 national conventions to allot the conven- tion city one-third of the tickets to use
 as it sees fit. It is quite probable that this rule will be followed out at Balti- more, as that city has not only supplied
 the convention hall but has contributed | $10OO00 to the treasury of the party to | clinch the convention. The expense of re- | pairs to the armory has cost the state 1 of Maryland $35,0O0, and the city has in addition spent $12000 in special arrange
 ments on the hall in the way of decora- | tions, etc.
 ! signed to the city of Baltimore this would
 bring the total up to 12600 convention
 seats disposed of leaving a very small
 margin indeed for public use. and no men l tion has been made of seats assigned to ! Congressman.
 1 Members of Congress and senators have
 no provision made specially for them and
 they will have to depend upon the com mitteemen from their states for their | seats There are 230 democratic members | of Congress, and 43 senators. and 1t is | presumed that they will be taken care of | out of the allotment in the hands of their respective committeeman.
 l The statement is safe one that fully | 13,OO0 of the seats at the Baltimore con- vention are already disposed of by the rules and traditions of convention man agement, and it is practically impossible 1 for a congressman to secure a seat for | a friend or constituent. He counts him | self lucky to provide one for himself. In national convention the committee man is the loud scream" the repre- sentative in Congress is of no more inn | portanee than a wart on a dill pickle unless he happens to be a delegate. The chance of his being able to furnish tick
 cts to friend is almost nil. so if he turns you down don't let that influence your opinion as to his standing in the councils of tha country