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7 HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT. REPUBLICAN CONVENTION Story of the Great Gathering Told i by a Master Pen. Incidents and Sidelights--Picture of the Nomination of Secretary Taft--The Old Politician Talks of Politics of Yesterday and To-Day. By WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE , Chicago.--A national convention is all over but the shouting, when Che presidential nomination is made. -It is for that that the delegates assem­ ble. High-browed men wrangle over party piattorm' planka, and fight it out among themselves as to who shall be forced to accept the vice-presiden­ tial place, but in all of these things the general public has but little inter- Frank H. Hitchcock Brought in the Delegates with Ease. est. The visitors in the galleries are there only to see the hero crowned, 4nd ouoe the ceremony is over, and the shouting has worn itself out. their IntereHt in the convention rapidly dies away--the show is over. Thursday was a hot day, and the perspiration ? hat the thousands shed would have floit*d all four of the pres­ ident h battleships, and the real trou­ ble of the convention--in a day of trouble began after the invocation had been spoken, aft^r Senator Hop­ kins had given a visible demonstra­ tion oi t;;<3 platform, which no one heard and no one seemed to care to hear, and after Congressman Cooper, on behalf of Hie minority of the com­ mittee on resolutions, began scolding the convention. His Speech, of course, did not con­ vince It was a protest, rather thah an argument, and anyway the conven­ tion would not have changed that platform, which It believe t0 be in_ spired'from Washington, if the minor­ ity had offered the Thq Command- But Cooper scolded, and when the authorized representative from the railroad engineers and firemen and trainmen appeared and warned the convention that the railroad employes of th« country were dissatisfied with the anti-iujunction planks, that made no difference, either. Gabriel's »rum pet would have been laid ou the table for the regular order by the convention. Its fac£ was set. iraa under orders, and nothing could It ticated form. The Roosevelt policies, as such, did not interest the conven­ tion, for it was under orders and took only the real milk of the word as it came through the committee, and it believed, and probably with some jus­ tification, in the fact that Roosevelt did not care to have his policies come into the convention by way of Wis­ consin. So it voted for the program and went on to the next order. And the next order was the nomination of a president. And that is a serious busi­ ness. It is curious to know just how forms and conventions and precedents are worshiped without sense or reason by apparently clear-headed men. But there sat 1,000 delegates and 10,000 spectators and listened to five mortal hours of utterly useless, entirely mean­ ingless and absolutely vacuous speeches. These speeches were made putting men in nomination for the presidency who had no more chance to be nominated than they had of pick­ ing out a harp check "and joining the heavenly choir. Boutell of Illinois began it--naming Cannon. The crowd stood for him with some patience, though no one listened to him. Gov. Hanly of Indiana, an unusually able governor, and an otherwise sane man, came a little afterward and got fn a row with the convention because it laughed at him and jeered him dur­ ing the last half of a perfectly un­ necessary speech. He assured the convention that under Fairbanks there would be no "government by impulse," and the crowd knew what he was driving at, and his usefulness as an orator was ended. Congressman Bookwalter followed Hanly and took a side swipe at Taft by Baying that Fairbanks was a can- »ioV« it. So it moved majestically along. It adopted the platform, for­ mally voting down, by overwhelming majorities, planka advocating pub- .. Jloify in campaign contributions ^recommended by the president in his ^messages, valuation of railroads, *remmn»t»uil*d by the president in his ||J,- ^®rai:HKages, and the election of senators the people. * ' A Roosevelt Convention. ?V. For that convention was for Roose- • relt policies only when it had them in the regular order and the authen- WZ mz Senator Burrows Told of the Glory of the Q. O. P. didate whose record was such that no weak points in it had to be covered up by a special plank in the platform, and then "his day's work was done," and he sat down after fighting with the hornets of the convention. New York has a sense of humor, and when the delegation was called for New York the delegates rose laughing and let Gen. Woodford make the shortest and most appropriate speech of the day, nominating Hughes. And when he said that only two men beyond a doubt could carry New York --one being in the White House and the other in the governor's office at Albany--he made the crowd, restive and quit just before his credit gaye out. The Clarion Note. The only real clarion note of the convention was sounded by Knight of California, seconding Taft's nom iaation. For Knight has a voice, and Mr. Burton of Ohio, who put Taft'a name before the convention grace­ fully, was not beard as -well as such a speaker should have been heard. Knok also was tastefully nominated--• with proper eclat and without too much wind-jamming. And if the young football player, Cochem of Wisconsin, who gave the convention La Follette's 'name, had cut his speech in two, it would have made the hit of the afternoon. But he slid past the crowd's limit, and the smile which captivated every one wore off and he grew angry, and "the subsequent proceedings Interested him no more." It was Mr. McGee--remember the name--who, seconding the nomination :&t La Follette, started the whoop heard round the world. There seems to be no question that of all the can­ didates besides Taft, La Follette got the best demonstration. But after that complications oc­ curred. Some one walked across the gallery back of the speaker's platform with a flag containing Roosevelt's pic­ ture, and the applause for La Follette merged into the futile, stupid attempt to stampede the crowd to Roosevelt, and for a quarter of an hour the yelling continued. It was quieted as the roll call op president began and continued down to Iowa. There a silence fell, and con­ tinued until Taft was nominated. No* written down here in a thou­ sand words, this seems like the story of a stirring episode. Yet it covers events that lasted from 10 o'clock until 5:30. There was some formal cheering of something like two and six-elevenths"1 seconds for each of the allies, and this is the best part of it & Senator Lodge Wielded the Qavel with Satisfaction to All. all--those who had sought the nom­ ination the hardest, Cannon and Knox and Fairbanks, got no more than Foraker, who took what he could pick up. There were no dif­ ferences between the $75 picture fire­ works and the ten-cent roman candle --they all fizzled and went out in gloom. And the meaning of it all is this: that the Republican party has taken a step forward--but not a stride. A party is curiously like a fleet. It can go only as fast as its slowest vessel; and, in this parade of the Republican fleet, the rapid Wisconsin, a trim and sea­ worthy boat, had to slow up for Ver­ mont and New York. The general average of speed of the Republican fleet is found in the Mis­ sissippi valley states. They nom­ inated Taft. They made the plat­ form. It will be regarded as a long step in New England, but it will be regarded as a crow-jump in Nebraska. Abner Handy Talks. But to go back to some of the earlier days of the convention, some of the days hefore the fireworks were all ex­ ploded, the days when only the fuses were sizzling. It was on Sunday, I think, that I met my friend Handy-- Abner Handy from the Ninth Kansas district. Mr. Handy, who has been out of politics in Kansas since 1902, was unable to get to the convention before Sunday on account of floods in the Kaw bottoms, and until his arrival the pre^convention milling had been rath­ er tame. But the arrival of Mr. Handy in his Prince Albert coat and black slouch hat, with his massive head of hair protruding fiercely, and his little slits of eyes keenly measuring up'the situation--Mr. Handy is an expert on "the situation"--added new life to the crowd In the Annex, and one may say that the convention began with his ar­ rival. "It has been 12 years since I at­ tended a Republican convention." said Mr. Handy, as he lolled in a red plush divan in alimony alley and spat through his teeth at the onyx mop- board, "and I meet a great many new faces. I first saw Fairbanks in the St. Louis convention, and I have just been talking to one of his managers --one of the new men in Indiana poli­ tics--born since I left the state--a Mr. Ade- -George they call him. Clever young man, apparently. He tells me there is a strong undercurrent for Fair­ banks, and wanted me to help him bale it up so that there would he some surface indications. "But the situatioa," said Mr. Handy, as he pulled at his mustache and put his hat over his eyes, "does not seem to be working out that way, though*. Fairbanks is a man than whom no other in all this great galaxy of sister states Is more fitted geographically and logically to lead our great party. "I speak," went on Mr. Handy, after reflecting and chewing viciously at his cigar, "I speak in no uncertain tones in this matter; he Is a leader without fear and without reproach, and with him as our standard bearer in this great contest the eagles of victory would perch upon our triumphant guidons." -- Is Now for Taft, I can say for Mr. Handy to-day that he is an ardent supporter of the sec­ retary of war for president, and pro- poses to take the stump for him in his district. After the nomination Mr. Handy said to me; "You know that I was for Roosevelt, of course. I was for him when he was just a kid in the police commis­ sion in New York. What's more, if we could have put him on the ticket this year he would make Garrison county solid for the whole ticket But then, you know, he*B impulsive and erratic, and we've got to get down to business." Mrs. Handy's boarding house in our town has felt the stress of the times, and Handy, whose business it is to bring home the things from the gro­ cery when they are late for dinner, has had ample opportunity to study national questions, and his return to the vortex of American politics gave the party the benefit of his valuable reflections. He was a notable figure in the Annex, and his pockets were, bulging with 25-cent Henry Clays, which he got from the John Hays Hammond vice-presidential headquar­ ters. At one time he regarded Mr. Hammond as a "commanding figure" In the situation. No Polities, All Reform, It was on Monday that I met my friend from the Ninth district again. He was in the Pompeian room of the Annex when I found him. "The only true thing," he said, as he waved proudly for the boy and ordered a split of water--"the only true thing about this convention is that nothing Is true." As he sipped the fuzzy water and recalled his promise to Mrs. Handy before he left home, Abner added re­ flectively: "The trouble with this con­ vention is there is no politics in it. There are no politicians here. I've looked at this man Hitchcock--noth­ ing but a card index, that's all there is to him. And I've looked over Vorys --he won't do; he's perfectly frank. Haven't heard him called a liar since I've been' here. No man gets far in politics until his enemies call him a liar. "Say," added the colonel, as he leaned across the mosaic on the table top, "say--now honest--why did your paper cut the 'Hon.' off in front of my name? I like it. Tell them to put it on. I was around when the New York delegation held a meeting to-day, and say! They don't know any more poll tics than a rabbit. They decided to do nothing. Imagine a convention where the New York delegation is such a four spot that they have to debate three days to decide whether they will take the vice-president! And, what's more, imagine a convention where the most seilous item of interest is the nominee for vice-president! And now the New York delegation Is going to have its palm read to find out whether it will take Hughes for vice-president or rally around Jim Sherman, the peo pie's choice, or commit hara-kiri with Tim Woodruff." > Mr. Handy reflected for a time and sighed. "It's h 1!--it's certainly h 1!--but what else could you ex pect of a convention where people all paid their railroad fare. You re­ formers will get this country sewed up in a sack so that there won't be any politics any more. They'll nomi­ nate the delegates by direct primaries, instruct them on the chief planks of the platform--and where will tlje pal­ ladium of our liberties be then?" There is something In Abner Handy's view of it. The alternate from the Ninth Kansas district has been drifting around to-day looking for the old familiar faces, and he finds they are not here. There aren't a dozen bronze buttons in all the throng. Young men with stiff straw hats and boyish faces are dominating the crowd. "What can you expect," asked the colonel, earnestly, as he drifted out of the Taft headquarters, "of a gang like that? No whispering--no one coming out of the consyltation room like a man from a dentist's ofllce--with his teeth in his hands--a sadder and wiser man; nothing but idle speculation about the vice-presidency." Sighs for the Old Days. The colonel waved for the waiter and sighed and shook his head and m JAME8 8. SHERMAN. One of ihe Congressman Burton Painted a Glow­ ing Picture of the War Secretary. said: "A promise Is a promise--when your wife issues the door keys--yes, another bottle of those liquid hair­ pins." Then he resumed his lamentations: "I saw some forlorn fellows solemn­ ly hayfooting It down Michigan ave­ nue this morning. They had a band and were in a procession. Was It a funeral? It was not Was it the doomed man walking to the gallows with a firm step after eating a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs? Not at all! Was it a delegation of flood suf­ ferers or a chain gang? No, but it looked like the melancholia ward of an asylum out for a morning's airing-- and it was the Knox Marching Club! "They are here. The band Is here. They have to do something--so they flit through the hotels like lost spirits and recall the dear dead days when there was politics in this man's town, and a railroad attorney with a book of transportation was a bigger man than oM Grant. Andc that's what your re­ form has done. Put a lot of Willies in serge suits--'nine ninety-eight, marked down from fourteen fifty'-- into control of the destinies of oar great republic. "What has become of our common heritage?" exclaimed Mr. Hafidy, wav­ ing his glass wildly. "Where is our manifest destiny? Who's gone and stolen the pride pointer and the alarm- viewer? Is it in the platform? No, you reformers are making terms with Gompers; and Taft's 'liberal views,' as they call them, are going to pre­ vail over the fine conservative views of our peerless leader, our grand old man, freedom's champion, the defend­ er of the faith of the fathers, the man who--the man who--the man who"-- M I T The Smile of Secretary Brothers. Taft's reiterated Mr. Handy--"the man who •I refer to Hon. J. G. Cannon of Dan­ ville, 111. "Where's your keynote speech in this convention? I'll tell you; it's fastened in Burrows' time lock. Whc? is going to sound a clarion note here to-day? There will be no clarion note: The name of the gallant Blaine will not be heard in the hall. The party that saved the country, that broke the shackles on 4,000,000 slaves, the party that preserved the Union, is represent­ ed here by the allies, and they are tossed around like a lot of last year's alfalfa. They came here asking for the presidency; they were willing to compromise on the vice-presidency and sprung the name of Jim Sherman. "It reminds me of the time Col. Ana- doneran J. Balderson of our town started out to be minister to England under Cleveland's first administration. He found that job gone, and compro­ mised by applying for assistant secre­ tary of state. Failing in that, he asked for United States marshal. Failing In that, he asked for the postofflce at home, and then, failing in that, straightened himself up and said: Thank heaven, we have a Democratic governor in Kansas, and he will not turn me down.' , 'He came home three months later with a pair of Gov. Glick's old trous­ ers, and to that end has your reform brought those who for 40 years have been fighting the party's battles." Mr. Handy rose proudly and said: "Reform--reform--what crimes are committed in thy name!" The Big Crowd's Tribute. What a curious thing is a big crowd of civilized men and women gathered for some formal occasion. Yesterday afternoon the sibilant lisp of the great crowd in the Coliseum fell like a great wave on the shores of the place, in idle conversation as the proceedings of the convention drafted on. The committee on credentials made its re­ port, and the great crowd lapped it up as the sea laps up the* sand--im­ personally, uninterested, utterly idle. There was no figkt, and evidently the crowd knew there would be no fight The regular order proceeded, and Senator Lodge was Installed as per­ manent chairman, and the great crowd --the great buff sea, rocked idly to look at him. He began to speak with some fervor, and little ripples of» ap­ plause played across the tide. His earnestness deepened the billows slightly. The voice of Senator Lodge is strong and clear, and the words he spoke were simple words, made into simple sentences, strong and convinc­ ing because they were earnest. Once, when he had spoken seven or eight minutes, he referred incidentally to the president, and a wave of applause suddenly rumpled the face of the buff sea, and then the speaker pushed through it and went on with his argu­ ment. For he was obviously not look­ ing for aoplause. He was speaking from his heart and not from his lips, and what he said fell upon his hear­ ers' hearts and not upon their ears. The great crowd knew that it was find­ ing its voice. It was an American citizen speaking to Americans of the problems in the American heart It was deep speaking with deep. And the waves lulled and were quiet. And then, not while he was at a cli­ max, but as the man before them was reaching deeper and deeper into the soul of the place and the occasion, the sibilant lisp of the crowd hushed, and in the great silence the man spoke, simply and strongly and without ora­ torical flourish or emphasis. "He has enforced the laws as he found them, and so he is the best abused and most popular man in America." It was not much of a tribute. But a wave of sincere feeling swept over the quiet tide of humanity. It was not a strong wave--not much stronger than the first wave that came rolling •in. But another wave f6llowed it, and another higher and stronger came af­ ter it. The speaker, who did not rea­ lize what was about to come, put out his Wand to beg silence, but a huge wpve of applause came over him, and he ducked and backed off good-na­ turedly and let the wind of emotion play as it would across the restless sea before him. At Flood Tide. In another minute, perhaps .two, Sen­ ator Lodge rose again to face the ri» ing tide, but It rolled in on him with a great roar, and men knew that the storm of applause had come which Theodore Roosevelt's work as an American citizen had conjured. So they let it rage, and for nearly an hour the waves of that storm broke and roared in that place. Then the crowd, in that hour of Joy, gathered individuals in and they ceased to be individuals and becanle the crowd. At times the delegates were swept off their feet. State after state rose, like black billows on the face of the waters, and cheered and waved pennants and sank to equilibri­ um only to ruffle up again and cheer with the crowd. No state was able to Keep its mooring. And in the tumult and the shouting there were no re­ actionaries. New York was as bois­ terous as Wisconsin, and Kansas joined Pennsylvania. "Roosevelt, Roosevelt, four years more," they roared, and the cry skimmed over the waves of applause like a gull, and like a gull it was evan- scent. It signified nothing. And then slowly, when the deep answered deep, the calm came and the speaker went on with his speaking. It was all so simply and so natur­ ally done, all so evidently sincere, without claque or prearrangement, that there was in its undercurrent an element of sadness. For it seemed a good-by rather than a bait to Theo­ dore Roosevelt, and those who have feared him feared him no more, and those who have trusted him were hap­ py, but rather sad than joyful. Once the big show--the presidential nomination--was over, the remainder of the work of the convention, the se­ lection of a running mate for Secre­ tary Taft, was completed in short order on Friday morning when Hon. James S. Sherman of New York was named for second place on the ticket WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE. (Copyright 1908, by Geo. Matthew Adams.) of the happjr homes of to-day is a vast .fond of information as to the best methods of promoting health and happiness right living and knowledge of the world*# best products. Products of actual excellence reasonable claims truthfully ' presented and which have attained to World-wide .acceptance through the approval of thft Well-informed of the World; not of in<& viduals only. 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