erratic, sensational, spectacular and arbitrary. It has made itself a satire upon the Congress, the courts and upon the settled practices and usages of national and international law.

It summoned the Congress into hasty and futile extra session and virtually adjourned it, leaving behind its flight from Washington uncalled calendars and unaccomplished tasks.

It made war, which is the sole power of Congress, without its authority, thereby usurping one of its fundamental prerogatives. It violated a plain statute of the United States, as well as plain treaty obligations, international usages and constitutional law, and has done so under pretence of executing a great public policy which could have been more easily effected lawfully, constitutionally and with honor.

It forced strained and unnatural constructions upon statutes, usurping judicial interpretation and substituting Congressional

enactment.

It withdrew from Congress their customary duties of investigation which have heretofore made the representatives of the people and the States the terror of evildoers.

It conducted a secretive investigation of its own and boasted of a few sample convictions, while it threw a broad coverlet over the bureaus which had been their chosen field of operative abuses and kept in power the superior officers under whose administration the crimes had been committed.

It ordered assaults upon some monopolies, but, paralyzed by its first victory, it flung out the flag of truce and cried out that it would not "run amuck," leaving its future purposes beclouded by its vacillations.

Conducting the campaign upon this declaration of our principles and purposes, we invoke for our candidates the support, not only of our great and time-honored organization, but also the active assistance of all of our fellow citizens, who, disregarding past differences, desire the perpetuation of our constitutional government as framed and established by the fathers of the Republic.

The nomination of candidates was now in order. The speeches presenting the merits of "favorite sons" and the seconding speeches numbered more than thirty, and the whole night was occupied in the preliminaries of the vote. When the roll was finally called the result was:

Alton B. Parker, of New York
William R. Hearst, of New York
Francis M. Cockrell, of Missouri
Richard Olney, of Massachusetts
Edward C. Wall, of Wisconsin

658

200

42

38

27

George Gray, of Delaware .
John S. Williams, of Mississippi
Robert E. Pattison, of Pennsylvania
George B. McClellan, of New York.
Nelson A. Miles, of Massachusetts
Charles A. Towne, of Minnesota
Arthur P. Gorman, of Maryland.
Bird S. Coler, of New York

2

2

1

The whole number of votes was exactly 1000, and 667 (twothirds) were necessary for a choice. Before the result was declared 19 Hearst votes, and 2 for Senator Gorman were transferred to Parker, giving him 689, and the nomination. The convention then, at 5.50 A.M., on the morning of Saturday, having been in session ten hours, adjourned until the afternoon. Before that time an unprecedented incident had occurred, the particulars of which were known to only a few of the leaders. It was of such a nature that a hurried adjournment until the late afternoon was ordered. Upon reassembling the convention was not at first informed what had taken place, and the presentation of candidates for Vice-President proceeded. When the roll had been called a delegate from Texas suggested that "we ought not to nominate a candidate for Vice-President at this time. . . . We want to know, before a candidate for VicePresident is nominated, who will be the nominee of this convention for President." No further explanation was given, but probably by this time most of the delegates knew the meaning of Mr. Culberson's surprising statement. A recess of an hour and a half was ordered, and the convention reassembled at 8:30 P.M.

What had occurred was that during the early part of the day one of the New York delegates had received from Judge Parker a telegram in the following terms:

I regard the gold standard as firmly and irrevocably established, and shall act accordingly if the action of the convention to-day shall be ratified by the people. As the platform is silent on the subject, my view should be made known to the convention, and if it is proved to be unsatisfactory to the majority, I request you to decline the nomination for me at once, so that another may be nominated before adjournment.

Although there were cries of "Ch, no!" when the first delegate who referred to the incident said that the despatch had "spread consternation throughout this convention," the re

mark was justified. Possibly it derived a part of its truth from the fact that a false version of the telegram was published in an evening paper a version which made Judge Parker declare that he could not accept a nomination unless a plank recognizing the existence by law of the gold standard were inserted in the platform. It was proposed to send to Judge Parker, in the name of the convention, the following reply: —

The platform adopted by this convention is silent on the question of a monetary standard because it is not regarded by us as a possible issue in this campaign, and only campaign issues were mentioned in the platform. Therefore, there is nothing in the views expressed by you in the telegram just received which would preclude a man entertaining them from accepting a nomination on said platform.

Upon a motion to that effect a long and at times acrimonious debate ensued. Some of those who urged the sending of a reply characterized Judge Parker's action as "injudicious" and 66 unnecessary," but they maintained that the motive was a high sense of honor, and an unwillingness that his opinions should be misunderstood. They said that every one knew, in voting for Parker, that he was a "gold man"; but this last statement was warmly disputed. Mr. Bryan strongly opposed the sending of the telegram. He maintained that if the convention was willing, by so doing, to recognize the gold standard, it should do so openly and in a manly way, in the platform. When the debate closed the convention voted, 794 to 191, that the reply above printed should be sent. The majority would have been somewhat smaller, though still overwhelming, if the votes of many delegations had not been given under the unit rule. This fact was made clear by the announcement of the vote by the chairman of seven or eight delegations.

The convention now proceeded to finish its business by nominating a candidate for Vice-President. The result of the first and only vote was as follows:

Whole number of votes

Necessary for a choice (two thirds of the whole con

vention).

Henry G. Davis, of West Virginia

James R. Williams, of Illinois

George Turner, of Washington

William A. Harris, of Kansas.

977

667

654

165

. 100

58

It was then voted to make the nomination unanimous, and after the appointment of the usual committees the Convention came to an end at 1.30 A.M. on Sunday, July 10.

A meeting of colored men, who called themselves the National Liberty party, was held at St. Louis on July 7. No record of its proceedings has been discovered, save that it nominated for President George E. Taylor, of Iowa, and adopted the following platform:

We, the delegates of the National Liberty party of the United States, in convention assembled, declare our unalterable faith in the essential doctrine of human liberty, the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.

Under no other doctrine can the people of this or any other country stand together in good friendship and perfect union. Equal liberty is the first concession that a republican form of government concedes to its people, and universal brotherhood is the cementing tie which binds a people to respect the laws.

It has always been so where caste existed and was recognized by law or by common consent, that the oppression of the weaker by the stronger has attained and a degree of human slavery been realized. Such a condition of affairs must necessarily exist where universal suffrage is not maintained and respected, and where one man considers that by nature he was born and by nature dies better than another.

The application of the fundamental principles of the rights of men is always the paramount issue before a people, and when they are strictly adhered to there is no disturbing element to the peace, prosperity, or to the great industrial body politic of the country.

We believe in the supremacy of the civil as against the military law, when and where the civil is respected. But when the civil law has been outraged and wrested from the hands of authority it should be understood that military law may be temporarily instituted.

Law and order should take the place of lynching and mob violence, and polygamy should not survive, but polygamy is more tolerable than lynching, and we regret that a great national party could overlook lynching, and yet denounce polygamy.

Citizens of a democracy should be non-partisans, always casting their votes for the safety of their country and for their best interests, individually and collectively.

The right of any American citizen to support any measure instead of party should not be questioned, and when men conform themselves to party instead of principles they become party slaves. There were 2,500,000 such slaves among our colored population in

1900, all voting strictly to party lines, regardless of their material welfare. We are satisfied that they did not serve their best interest in that section of the country in which the greater number of them live by doing so.

These being our thoughts and ideas of how the Government's affairs should be conducted, we most respectfully submit them to all liberty-loving and Christian-hearted people, that they may act upon them in a spirit of justice and equity, "with good will to all, malice toward none."

We ask for universal suffrage, or qualification which does not discriminate against any reputable citizen on account of color or condition.

We ask that the Federal Government enforce its guarantee to protect its citizens, and secure for them every right given under the Constitution of the United States, wherever and whenever it is necessary.

We appeal to all forms of Catholic and Protestant religions to assist us to awaken the Christian consciences of all classes of the American people, private citizens and officers, to wipe out the greatest shame known to civilized nations of the world, whose very root seems to have planted in this, one of the most proud of all nations of its civilization — " lynch law," the pregnator of anarchism, the most dangerous system to revolutionize our Republic.

We ask that the national laws be so remedied as to give any citizen, being next of kin, the right to demand an indemnity of the National Government for the taking of life or the injuring of any citizen other than by due process of law. And that where the property of a citizen is wilfully destroyed by a mob, the Federal Government shall be held to make restitution to the injured parties.

We demand an increase of the regular army, making six negro regiments instead of four, and an equal chance to colored soldiers to become line officers.

We favor the adjustment of all grievances between the wage earner and the capitalist by equitable resources without injustice to either or by methods of coercion.

We firmly protest against interference of the Government in the Orient until paramount political issues of the races, capital and labor are settled and settled right at home.

We firmly believe that the ex-slaves, who served the country for 246 years, filling the lap of the nation with wealth by their labor, should be pensioned from the overflowing treasury of the country to which they are and have been loyal, both on land and sea, as provided in the bill introduced in the Senate of the United States by Senator Hanna, of the State of Ohio.

We ask that the general Government own and control all public