No man who was so fortunate as to be present at the Kansas City convention can live long enough to forget it. It was epoch-marking not only for its outward appearance, but for its inward significance. To the onlooker, stirred by its emotional enthusiasm, by the wildness and frenzy of its patriotic manifestations, these were its memorable and significant features. But to him who looked beneath the surface, who knew and saw the strange combat being waged between one man and many hundreds of men,—a combat one of the strangest in nature and most remarkable in its outcome ever waged in a parliamentary body,—it was this that held him entranced to the end, and sent him home marveling at that one man’s strength and greatness. It came about in this wise: Of the hundreds of thousands of Gold Democrats who left the Democratic party in 1896 because of the silver question, ninety per cent. or more were anxious to come back and aid in Mr. Bryan’s nomination and election, now that they believed they saw the Republic itself in danger at the hand of President McKinley and his advisers. They saw, as did the Silver Democrats, as did Mr. Bryan himself, that imperialism was to be the dominating, all-important issue of the campaign. In the shadow of the great danger of the conversion of the Republic into an empire they were willing to subordinate all minor differences and join to defeat the President they had themselves helped to elect four years before. It is true that to these men “free silver” was still a bugaboo. At the same time they were convinced that, because of the complexion of the Senate, with its heavy Republican majority, even should Mr. Bryan and a Democratic House of Representatives be elected on a free silver platform, it would be impossible for them, in four years, to enact any legislation along that line. But nevertheless, after the manner of many a returning prodigal, they demanded a concession. It was a very modest and moderate concession they wanted. They asked the party only to reaffirm instead of reiterating the free silver plank of the Chicago platform.