The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-07-19
DRY CONVENTION
STARTS SINGING
Most Interesting Thing About
Meeting is the Appear
ance of the Dele
gates.
DEEPLY IN EARNEST
Men and women F. Part. of
tho Country ecx TO Sc
Ieet 2 .t'a'
rD,, r YY~Ixa5 ro-n.. ~
DEEPLY IN EARNEST

espondent.l
ST. Pc Mimi, July 19.-Hun.
dreds of the same kind of home
town folks" who make up the church
boards, the chautauqua crowds and
run the district schools IN thousands
of towns and villages, swarmed into
st. Paul today for the opening SEES
sion of the prohibition national con
| vention.
Motherly old women, Of the type
that attend the home and foreign
missionary society meetings back
home and bake cake and make jel
| lies for the pastors aid society pic.
mics were in the crowd. So were
| bearded, gray haired old men in their
black Sunday go to meeting" clothes.
some of them with collars and some
of them who never wore one.
| These delegates who came to St
Paul imbued with the thought OF
downing the demon rum are as diff
ferent from the crowds who attended
! conventions of other political parties
as the .frock-coated city merchant is
from the gnarly hsted, aproned store
keeper at Hicks Corners or any othe,
j cross road.
Il The prohfbitonists seem more ear
I nest, and caring less for show.
/ The women besought their tatting
their knitting and their patch work
! 1t was hot day and coatless, CO.!
larless, suspender showing shirts
some Of them blue and some of them
"boiled" the crowd at the
Auditorium.
For instance there was Colonel
j; mes M. Ingersoll of Pocats:lo
Idaho, grizzled, gray mustached
ranchman, who sat on the platform.
His boiled shirt was coIlarless, he
wore no coat, but his diamond stud
Illuminated his shirt as no necktie
| could. His gray socks came down
over the tops of his square toed
black shoes and he twirled the mus,
tache, appearing like gruff, good
scout, dressed up in his Sunday
clothes-and dreading it. Colonel In
gersoll, the only progressive leader
attending the convention was in the
| limelight continually.
| Mrs. Kate M. Hamilton Of Los
| Angeles, Calf, who is "a years old
and has been prohibitionist for
sixty-three years, was grandmother
to many women delegates who greet
ed her. She sat near the platform,
dressed in prim white, with a bit of
vanity cApl SSSCu Ill edT 'IuSS LldL
bobbed as she nodded her gray head.
This convention sings for amuse-
ment where other parties shouted,
marched and yelled. The prohibition
| lists Joined in the chorus IS when A.
M. Thatcher, who positively has the
deepest voice in captivity, rumbled
hymns and songs with the accom-
paniment Of piano played by the
same type of girl who played the
organ back at the Hicks Corners
church.
The delegates seemed religious and
comfortable. There was no dressing
for style-but lot Of 'amens' were
devoutely pronounced when the min
lister prayed or hymns were sung.
Gets Down to Business.
by H. l.. Rennick, United Press
Staff Correspondent
AUDITORIUM ST. PAUL, y W.,
July 19.-The prohibition nationai
convention got down to real politics
at opening session today The fight
between J. Frank Hanly, of Indian,
and VIM Sulzer of New York, for the
party's presidential nomination, de-
veloped some old style wire pulling
and rough and tumble negotiations.
Sulzer was speeding to St. Paul, it
was stated, hoping to arrive here in
time to prevent Hanly adherents
from nominating their candidate one
day ahead Of the scheduled time for
nomination. Sulzer men caucused
prior to opening the convention to-
day and after counting noses, said
there were enough supporters of the
New Yorker to give Hanly hot fight.
If Hanly is nominated, Virgil Hin
shaw will remain chairman of the
national committee. Religious busi-
ness was mixed into the convention
again today. The American fedora
ton Of patriotic societies an anti
Catholic organization, which is sup
porting Sulzer. had many representa-
tives on the ground. Prohibition,
woman suffrage and government
ownership Of munitions plants were
advocated today in Daniel E. Poling's
opening keynote speech.
'sGreenbackers. populists and bull