Ex-Governor Hill, who had returned from Lincoln, alone among the leaders who had fought for a specific silver plank, boldly and openly continued his fight. He is a hard and stubborn fighter, and he centered his efforts on the organization of the committee on resolutions. He sent for heads of delegations known to be favorable to his plan, and urged upon them the necessity of selecting “careful, conservative, long-headed men,” as members of that important committee. He argued vehemently for the necessity of such action as would “reorganize the party” and make victory assured. “Good God, gentlemen,” the famous New Yorker exclaimed to one delegation with which he was closeted, “we must not lose this election. It means fifty years of republican rule. And if we are wise,” he said, wagging his head solemnly, “we will not lose it. The people want to be with us. Shall we be so generous”—with an oratorical flourish and Frenchified shrug of his expressive shoulders—“as to refuse to allow them to fight our battles?”
Here a Kansan spoke up. “I am not a delegate, senator,” he said, “but I want a conservative platform. If we don’t get it I’ll go home and quit, and I’ve voted the Democratic ticket for fifty years.”
“Wait, wait, my friend,” came the quick response; “don’t, don’t, I pray you, say that. Whether the platform pleases us or not, we must fight, fight to win, fight to the death.” The eyes of the shrewd and wily politician flashed. In quick, nervous staccato he continued: “Mark my words, mark my words. If McKinley and a Republican Congress are elected inside the year a force bill will be fastened upon us. Why? Kentucky; that will be the excuse. And the next move—do you know what it will be? On the pretext that the negro vote is not cast nor counted, the representation of the southern states in Congress will be reduced. Their vote in the electoral college will be diminished, and they’ll have the Democratic party by the throat, bound hand and foot. We must not permit it. We must not.”
The second day before the convention met, the writer of this chapter, in a dispatch to the Omaha World-Herald, said:
“There are many Democrats in Kansas City to-night who profess to deplore what they term William J. Bryan’s lack of skill as a “practical politician,” who murmur their complaints that the leader of their party does not understand the gentle art of constructing a platform that will “catch ‘em acomin’ and catch ‘em a gwine,” who complain that Mr. Bryan does not understand that the end and aim of a political party is to get into power—to hold offices and control the patronage of the administration. These men, crafty, cunning diplomats, though not always successful withal, are, it may frankly be admitted, grieved and disappointed at Mr. Bryan’s insistence that the Democratic platform should clearly and explicitly set forth the conviction and the purpose of Democracy’s heart and brain.
“But in all Kansas City, among all the sweltering and noisy crowds that throng the lobbies and march up and down the streets, there can not be found a single man—Democrat, Populist, or Republican—but will confess his admiration of Mr. Bryan’s honesty and courage.
“To the leaders and manipulators of parties, to the men taught and accustomed to play to the pit, Mr. Bryan is a source of ever-increasing wonder and surprise. It is hard for the politician to understand the statesman.
“It it not to be doubted that Mr. Bryan’s wishes are to prevail in the great convention of American patriotism which is to convene to-morrow on the anniversary of the Republic’s birth, to proclaim anew the unchanged and never-changing truths to perpetuate which the blood of heroes and of martyrs was shed on a hundred battlefields.
“The platform will be an honest platform, it will be an easily understood platform, it will conceal nothing, and it will evade nothing. It will there declare, in explicit terms, for independent bimetallism by this country alone, at the present legal ratio of sixteen to one. This prediction may be safely hazarded.
“All day long the leaven has been working, all day long the gospel of candor and righteousness has been preached, and to-night there is not a delegate but knows that Mr. Bryan demands that the Democratic party deal in unequivocal good faith with the people of this country.”