Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-06-10
IN REALITY FOR TAFT.
District Delegates Ready to
sit on the Band Wagon.
ALL PLEDGED TO FORAKER
May Give Ohio Senator Compliment
tary Vote on First Ballot.
BUT SUPPOSE THERE'S BUT ONE
Facts Connected With the Success OF
the observation-disclosures Com
bination Recalled.
ALL PLEDGED TO FORAKER
BUT SUPPOSE THERE'S BUT ONE

Some local people who do not make
practice of keeping informed on the
topics of the day seem to be under the
impression that the delegates from the
District of Columbia to the national re-
publican convention, which convenes IN
Chicago next Tuesday, will work and vote
for the nomination of Senator Joseph
Benson Foraker of Ohio for President.
OF course, it is true that the delegates,
II. II. Father and r. r. Horner. ana
their alternates. DR.. William Tindall and
Samuel Murray, are pledged to FORAKER,
but that doesn't alter the fact at all.
What's a pledge in politics, anyhow! 10
a certainty, tits no more obstructive than
the Constitution between friends. So. al
though pledged to Foraker, the District
delegates are for Taft, forward and back
and all the time.
Ready to Jump in Band Wagon.
1t may or may not be that. In the proc
ess of saving their faces. the. District
delegates will give Senator Foraker a
complimentary vote on the first ballot.
and on the second fall into line and de-
liver the goods to Taft: But Foraker will
not get even this complimentary vote, 1t Is
pretty safe to wager, If. after the local
delegatorial lights have looked over the
situation at Chicago. 1t would appear that
Taft had it ION the first" In this event
Messrs. Father and Horner will prob
ably be among the first to scramble 70
their already reserved seats on the Taft
band wagon.
Gen. Burt's Withdrawal.
1t will be remembered that up to few
days before the local primaries were held,
early in April, there were two tickets IN
the field, the Burt-Patterson and the Fla
Their Horner combinations. Messrs. Burt
and Patterson came out early for Fora
ker and kept whooping 1t up for the
Ohioan with increasing warmth with each
passing day. AS the colored population
Of the District takes vastly more interest
in the local primary contests than does
the white population-colored votes al
ways outnumbering the white votes by
more than the fatal ratio of sixteen 10
one-the Flather-Horner combination was
somewhat up against 1t, inasmuch as Sid
ney Bieber. fond parent and manager or
the F1ather-Horner campaign, pretty wei
tied up with the aspirational interests OF
his friend and patron. Uncle Joe cannon.
At any rate the Flather-Horner ticket
kept quiet for quite while, the principals
and alternates confining themselves to
glittering generalities and lodging any
declaration Finally, however. the TAFT
ardent Foraker partisan, Gen. Andy Burt
head of the Burt-Patterson ticket-ln
the campaign following the nomination OF
the Secretary of War at Chicago, Gen.
Burt withdrew from the delegatorial race
and his ticket fell to pieces. Before this,
however, the Neutrality-suspicious. COM
bination had been pushed to making a
formal declaration of allegiance TO Fora
ker. said allegiance, however having a
string tied to 1t as big as a clothes line.
and the allegiance itself having pasted on
it the significant words, April fool
Father and Horner Win.
So when the day set for the primaries
came around there was nothing to 1t but
Father and Horner and the other MEM
bers of the Foraker over-the-left' ticket.
Only one of the asphyxiated Burt-Pat-
terson ticket-one Gaskins. a colored man
and an Archaeological to being ex-
tinguished and ran alone. 1t was a fore
gone conclusion that he would be beaten.
but under the existing primary arrange
ments in the District, where the number
of times an aggressive partisan may vote
is regulated solely by the geographical
the speed of his conveyance. he never
had a chance. So the Flather-Horner
ticket-elected as Foraker partisans-is
going to Chicago to do it's best and con-
tribute its mite for the nomination of
Secretary Taft.
Sidney Bieber for Committeeman.
Messrs. Father and Horner will fulfill
one ante-election pledge. however. They
will select Sidney Bieber to be the mem
be. of the republican. national committee
from the District of Columbia. The Taft
people. who arranged to dynamite the
Burt-Patterson ticket and the other de-
tails of this local intrigue. made con-
siderable of q fuss about swallowing Mr..
Bieber as a member of the national COM
mittee, in view of his connection with
the Cannon interests and other things.
but. finally, after due pledges OF allegi-
ancc to Taft had been given, agreed to
the frame-up.
Mr. Bieber, as will be remembered. was
chairman of the board of elections of the
loca! primary, as well as guide. philoso-
pher and friend of the -Horner
ticket. Pledges made under these cir
cumstances are most always generally
sometimes fulfilled.