The Washington bee., 1908-06-20
National Negro Press Bureau.

National Negro Press Bureau.
Chicago, Ill.,, June I7-The great
convention is "on. Bands are play
ing; banners are flying to every
breeze; the crowds have come, bring
ing with them the biggest men of
both races. A brilliant political pow
WOW is in prospect. The boomers
are booming and the kickers are kick
ing, but the program of those who
are said to be manipulating the steam
roller will go through as scheduled.
William Howard Taft will be nom-
mated on the first ballot.
The Vice Presidency is in doubt,
but the trend toward Fairbanks is
growing in strength, and if he will
accept he can have without a strug-
Gle. Otherwise, Sherman of New
York looks like a winner, and Cor
telyou looms large as a dark horse. "
Delivers declarations put him out
of it. The nomination will not be
made before Friday, if there is a
fight of any consequence in the COM
mittee on credentials and anything
like a deadlock in the platform mat
ter. You will know more about 1t
next week. The Bee has been a good
guesser all along, and its letters, ed
itorials and comments have had great
weight with the colored voters ev-
erywhere.
1t is encouraging to the race and
a helpful reflection for the future Of
the Republican party that the Negro
contestants from the South were not
turned down" because they were
colored. As a matter of fact, the
Taft delegations, which were seated
upon absolute proof of their "regu-
larity," in many instances contained
more Negroes than the Foraker del
egations, which were rejected because
of the poor showing made in the
presentation of their claims. Sena-
tor Lodge, a man of the cleanest po-
litical record, and hailing from the
hot-bed of abolition, Massachusetts,
said:
The great bulk of the Southern
cases, which constituted the mass of
the contests, were utterly frivolous
and ought never to have been brought
before the committee. Then, on the
other hand, the Taft cases were ad-
mirably presented from beginning to
end, the arguments were legal, the
records were complete, the evidence
was full. As a rule on the other side,
in the Southern cases, no facts were
furnished. Instead of legal argu-
ments. the committee was compelled
to listen to stump speeches that had
no bearing on the merits of the cases
whatever"
1t must be said, in this connection,
that the national committee evlnced
q high order of generosity and a fine
spirit of fair play in splitting the
vote of Louisiana between the lily
whites" and the black and tans, for
the sake of harmony, and to form d
basis of party reorganization in the
near future. Two Foraker delegates
were seated in Virginia because the
secretary of the convention had per-
mitted a call to go out to white men
only" This was a square throw
down" for the lilly whites and the
colored voters will give the party
full credit for its consistent stand for
the time honored principle of equality
for all elements embodied in the Re
publican household. The liberal at
titude of Mr.. Hitchcock, when urged
by many Republicans to cut loose
from the dissatisfied Negroes, will
not be overlooked. White Repubh-
cans of influence grew disgusted with
the nightly meetings held by certain
factions OF colored politicians, de-
nouncing Taft and "cussing out"
Roosevelt, and described their conduct
as ''insolent" and ungrateful, in view
of the great service the party had
rendered the race in fighting its bat
ties for citizenship, etc. Mr.. Hitch
cock. however in the name of Sec
retary Taft, vetoed all such sugges-