without any real opposition. He had served as a member of the Joint High
Commission to adjust international questions of moment between the
United States and Great Britain. Grover Cleveland and William Jennings
Bryan had declared they would not be candidates for the presidency and
the Democratic party was in a dilemma. Both the conservative and the
radical elements of the party declared they would write the platform and
name the candidates. Alton Brooks Parker, Chief Judge of the Court of
Appeals of New York, who was supported by Grover Cleveland, came
gradually into prominence as the candidate of the conservatives and
William Randolph Hearst of the radicals.