The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-07
G O7P. CONVENTIONS

Tha Republican national conVen- xio-, v,Nich meets in Chicago today IS l 4lae sixteenth gathering Of that party for the purpose. of nominating a can i didate for the presidency of the Onl- led States It was just three-score years ago this month, in theSJune or 7s56. that the partisans of the young T,oIitical organization met for the Ilrst time in Philadelphia to formulate a. pIatforrn and choose standard-Dear- er The new party, launched III the central states in 1354s had spread rap idly through the northern, eastern and middle states, winning to Its al- 1egiance multitudes of former Free soiIers. fWhigs, Know-Nothings ana Democrats, bound together by a strong determination to prevent the spread of slavery to the territories, especlai- ly those north of the ''thirty-s1<- tn1r- tv'' line Great enthusiasm marked +Te first national convention in the City of Brotherly Love, which follow ed bv two weeks the Dem con ventfon in Cincinnati. which had nom mated James Buchanan for the pres1- dency.
 Although many men of many minds were represented in the first Repuo- Iican convention, there was little fr1c- ton The platform on which the var ious factions agreed had for it's prin- cipal blanks a declaration against the 1 repeal of the Missouri compromise, against the extension of slavery into the free territories, and demanded the : admission of Kansas as a free state, and the construction of a railway to the Pacific. The presidential candi- dates were John c. Fremont, of Cali fornia, who represented the Free Soil element, and John Mclean, of Ohio. : On the first formal ballot Fremont received 329 votes to 37 for Mclean. William L.. Dayton, of New Jersey, was nominated for vice-president.
 With the batIe cry of Free soil, free speech, free men, Fremont" the young party waged an earnest cam paign, and, although defeated in the presidential race, elected ninety-twO o congressman.
 The party grew rapidly in the next four years, and when the 1860 con ivention was held in Chicago all the free states and several border states were represented. The candidates were Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois; William H. Seward, of New York; Si- mon Cameron, of Pennsylvania; Sal mon P. Chase, of Ohio, and Edward Bates, of Maryland. Seward led on the first and second ballots, but the tide then turned strongly to Lincoln, and he became the first successful presidential candidate of the party. The 1864 convention, also held in Chi cago, resulted in the renOminatiOn of Lincoln by exclamation. Grant was chosen on the first ballot by the 1872 convention in Chicago. The soldier i president was renominated by ac- cIamation at the 1872 convention in Philadelphia. Cincinnati was the scene of the 1876 convention, when James C.. Blaine was the leading can l didate for the nomination. It was be- fore this gathering that Col. Robert G. Ingerson delivered his famous ''P1umed Knight speech. the most remarkable ever heard in a, political I convention. Blaine's powerful ene- l mics at length brought about his de- feat, and on the seventh ballot Ruth erford B. Hayes was chosen. At the 1880 convention in Chicago Grant and l Blaine led in the early ballots, but the nomination again passed to a "dark horse" James A. Garfield. The Chi cago convention of 1884 at last nom- mated Blaine, but he was defeated in 1.-the election by Cleveland. Nineteen candidates were in the field at the Chicago S'3S convention, Benjamin Harrison being chosen on the eighth ! ballot. The 1896 convention was held in St Louis. the 1900 gathering in Philadelphia, the 1904 convention in Chicago, and the 1908 and 1912 ses- sions in the Windy City. The present Republican convention is the tenth to be held in Chicago. Of the others three were held in Philadelphia, and lone each in Cincinnati, Minneapolis land St. Louis.
 Extra police were needed to control