River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-08-21
He senatorial convention +,

IN From the chandeliers.
black and sticky with
dead flies, shreds Of It's
sue paper futtered, relics of some
boistcrcGs fete an Italian society
lad given there long ago. The
foor was damp in arabesque wrought
III a sprinkling- for the janitor
had sprayed water there to lay the
dust he was too Indifferent to remove.
Perhaps a hundred chairs were set In
amphitheatric order, and before
them stood kitchen table, on which
Was white water pitcher, fianked by
q glass, thickened by various sedi-
Uentary deposits within.
In the saloon below, at 9 o'clock,
scores Of delegates we're already shut
fing in the sawdust that covered the
floor, holding huge schooners of beer
In their hairy fists, gOrging grossly at
the free lunch table, with bologna,
rank onions ard rye bread. The foam
Of the beer chung to their mustaches,
which. after each sip, they sucked be
tween their lips Most of them man
aged, at the same time they were eat
ing and drinking, by dexterous
sleiGat-of-hand, 10 smoke cheap do
nestle cigars, and a cloud of white
smoke rolled along the low ceiling.
Each new arrival was greeted with
semo obscene hut endearing epithet,
and tie room rang with laughter and
pro anti kcg Of beer had been
provided by one of Conway's man
cgers. ard tie bartender, wiping his
hands On a dirty towel, was rid, 60
long E be lcg lasted, Of the RESPONSE
Iility O. keeping account Of drinks,
and o. ringing UP the change on the
cash register. At II o'clock the keg
was empty. the free lunch table aban-
dCnod to the flies, and the delegates
ecuffcd ZIP the dlngy stairs to the
kan Half an hour later the chairman
o. the senatorial district committee
pounded the kitchen table with leg
or q broken chair, and shouted:
The convention will be in order"
This declaration made no impress
sion upon the babel of voices, the
laugh ter, the profanity, the noise of
shutting feet and scraping chairs.
Finally the chairman of the commit
tee, growing impatient, split the table
with his club and yelled:
Damn it al, boys, come to order!"
And then, eager to resign such a diff
fcllt command, he FASTENED to an
Eounce
The committee has named Honor
abe John p Muldocn to act as
temp'gy chairman"
lie handed the chair leg to John P
Lu!doen. who, stroking back his curly
hair from his brow, began to beat the
tale mrartially
All tuis while Underwood stood
i.Slinst the wall, looking on. The
cucation that had been agitating him
fer Weeks was about to be decided
but now that the ordeal was actually
uron him, the consciousness beat
numLly against his brain, so that the
whc!e scene lacked reality, almost in
tcrelt He was dazed. He was about
10 take his baptism of political fire,
and he trembled like a white noviti-
ate.
Underwood belonged to one of the
Oldest families of Chicago-the name
had been known there before the fire.
His father, who had lately taken him
into his law firm, continued to cling
in his conservatism to an old stone
house in Michigan avenue long after
his neighbors had abandoned their
mansions to uncertain boarders, and
either retreated farther south or ad-
vanced to the North Side. John I'm
derwood had come out of Harvard
with young lawyers ambition in
politics. an ambition that had the
United States senate merely as be-
ginning Of its home stretch, and when
the year rolled around in which state
senator's were to be elected in the
odd numbered districts he decided
that It was time to begin
The newspapers had scented the
sensation that lur&ed in the candida
ture OF young mar like Underwood
in the district like the First, and be-
c3Use he went into what is called so
eiety, promptly dubbed him a reform
er. and thus weighted he had set out
upon his race for the nomination. He
liked to see his name in the newspa-
pers, liked TO think of himself as a
reformer, though he was embarrassed
in this attitude by the fascinating fig
ure of the political boss he had hoped
to become-a well-dressed, gentleman
ly boss. of course, who, while at home
in those saloons where he permitted
the convivial familiarity of the boys,
nevertheless took his luncheons at his
club He fell into a way of speaking
of the First as my district" spoke
of it. in fact. as If he, instead of
Malachi Nolan and "Cinch" Conway,
owned it, and when certain ward poll
ticians in the first days of the cam
paign called upon him, Underwood
was pleased to lend them money, Just
as he was pleased to comply with the
lied the John w. Underwood First
Ward Campaign club. ard sent a COM
mittee to inform him that they were
assembled in the club rooms ready to
transact business, and beer only four
dollars a keg. He winked conf
dentially at himself in the mirror that
night as he gave a final touch to his
white cravat and surveyed his fine
young form arrayed in evening
clothes for the reform banquet at the
Palmer house. His speech was The
Tendencies of Modern Politics. The
newspapers said it was very brilliant
sneech. breathing lofty political senti-