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Show ' INSIDE STORIES OF FAMOUS COiWEffiOl i By GILSON GARDNER Tho Chicago . Domocratlc convention conven-tion of 1S0G was a "tlarkhorao" convention. con-vention. "William J. Bryan was tho dark horao o that affair, emerging aa a youngster to figure in the contest con-test as "the boy orator of tho Platte," and to aet the .country by the cars with his discussion of unlimited un-limited coinage, of silver at tho ratio of 1G to 1 and his denunciations very eloquent denunciations of corporations cor-porations and trusts. MM. Dni.nii nAmtnnllnn u1. t llf culmination of a movement in tho . party to overthrow the machine control con-trol of the Domocratlc party by the old Cleveland democracy, David. B. Hill of New York, and others boseed the regular organization democrats. All tho early functioning of the convention was under the regular old guard auspices. It was tame and proper and avoided tho subject of free sllvor and hard times. But there were .present among the delegates many from the west whose hearts wore filled with protest and who had workad laboriously and long to' spread tho Idea "that the Democratic candidate must voice the opinions of the discontented rural population. "Wheat was soiling for lees than a dollar a bushel, and other oth-er farm products In proportion. , Silver was much moro plentiful than gold, and, If it wore all coined Into dollars, the farmer folt that thore would bo moro dollars wlth which to pay mortgages and buy wheat and that in some way his condition con-dition would be bettered. And this clamor voiced Itself in a demand for the unlimited coinage of sllvor In the ratio of 10 to 1. Hill, and othors of the older leaders of the Dcmocrat'ic party, stood against J they regardod it. and tried to kcop the wild men from tho west from running away with the convention. Thoy had controlled the convention up to the tlmo when Bryan got the platform There were various people mentioned men-tioned for nomination, but none of them had a Btrong following. In his famous speech In defense of free silver, Bryan drew tho picture of the sufferings of the people he had lived among and donounced tho "crime of '73," which had limited the amount of silver coinage. The concluding paragraph of his speech was.' "Wc shall answer their demand de-mand for the .gold standard by sayiugr" to them, 'You .shall not prcsy down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You . shall not crucify mankind upon , a cross of gold.' " "When the balloting started, Bryan rocolvcd 110 votes, and on the final ballot he received 500 votes. In November, 1896. Bryan polled G,50:',)25 votes to McKlnloy's 7.101.-779, 7.101.-779, but these were so distributed among the states that Bryan secured only 176 votes In the electoral college col-lege to 271 for McKlnley. oo |