The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-07-02
TWO DAYS BEFORE THE BIG
REPUBLICAN CONVENTION
Correspondent Walker, Who Was There, Tells
of the Scenes and incidents That
Preceded Tafl's Victory

itvnt Roosevelt and they feel thar the
masses. the laborers and the factory
hands. the unemployed and the boys
in the trenches generally. as the late
Senator Quay used 10 call them, will
not regard Secretary Taft as the real
Simon pure article. Men will not cheer
for mans representative as they VIII
for the man himself.
THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE.
were given much notice during the
early days Of the convention. That
body was absolutely dominated by
President Roosevelt. who had his per-
sonal friend. senator Henry Cabot
Lodge, Of Massachusetts on the ground
to see that everything went to his lik-
ing. Senator Lodge was provided with
a proxy from the Philippines National
Committeeman. Mr. Mccoy. and was
the whole cheese in the language OF
the street, The motions that Senator
Lodge made in committee were the
motions that carried Men went to him
to ascertain what the President want
ed and very often they found out what
they wanted TO know. Mr.. Mccoy came
TO town while the committee was in
session over the contests, bat he stayed
at his hotel and did not claim the
seat in the committee that would have
been his had he claimed it. Had he
wanted To sit. there would have been
another proxy for senator Lodge. The
administration had looked ont for that.
II was not intended that Senator Lodge
should need to watch proceedings from
the outside a S ex-Assistant Postmaster
General Frank II. Hitchcock had to do
for considerable portion of the week.
Mr.. Hitchcock,s case deserves d lit
tie mention. At the start off he APP
peared with a proxy from the Territory
of New Mexico, as the former con-
gressional delegate and cattle king.
solomon Luna, was not thinking OF
coming up to Chicago. This aroused a
storm Of protests. as it was claimed
to be unfair that Secretary Taft's polit-
ieal manager should have a seat in the
committee and vote in the court
that was to pass upon the contests.
The situation was thought to be all
the more open to criticism as two other
proxies We're held by salaried young
men from the Taft headquarters in
Washington, men who have been help
ing Mr.. Hitchcock manage the Taft
boom. They were Arthur Statter. who
has been assistant secretary of the
Treasury and later private secretary
to Senator Levi Ankenny of Washing
ton state. and Charlie Phelps of Con-
necticut. who also used to be Sem
ator's private secretary.
The protests were most determined
and the allies, just 10 make it uneom-
Portable for Mr. Hitchcock, teiegraphed
for Mr., Luna who came to town and
sat in the committee. That deprived
Mr. Hitchcock of his seat and after
that he had TO direct proceedings from
outside the committee. But his two
lieutenants remained inside and had a
vote on every one of the 224 contests.
1t was a steam roller process from
start to finish. The politicians did
nothing but joke about the steam roll-
,er. with Senator Lodge in the drivers
seat. With a few exceptions, where
it was deemed inexpedient from
political standpoint to kick the anti
Taft delegates out. the Taft delegates
We're given the best of 1t. The ar
guments and the presentation of evil
dence We're followed by a majority
vote for the Taft delegates and their
rivals were brushed out into the COR
ridors to nurse their grievances and
kick TO their hearts content.
National committees are not much
in the habit of doing full and exact
justice in contested cases. and too
severe criticism Of the course followed
here may not be warranted. As a rule
there is not time enough 10 give such
cases anything like adequate consider
alton, and the faction or the candidate
which has control of the committee is
disposed 10 vote for their own men.
The number of contests before the
committee was unusually large. over
POE, most Of them from the South. The
Taft managers had had the foresight
TO prepare their contests with a thor
oughnsss and brevity never before
known, with the result that they were
able to put the evidence and the argu-
ments up in the most attractive form.
This. Of course, was attractive To the
committeeman. wearied with the long
arguments and the succession Of con-
tests, the details OF which were far
from interesting even 10 the average
politician.
THE MANY CONTESTS.
However. II Is 8dFdlN tNtceffdblE
that ~ contests would have been
made in which justice and regularity
were all on the side Of the Secretary
Of War The few exceptions made in
deciding the contests were where ques-
tions Of party expedieney arose. This
held in the Louisiana contests. where
the Lily Whites and the Black and
Tans came fighting for representation
in the convention. The Lily Whites. 1t
happens. We're Taft mea. and the COM
mittee's interest, as Taft body.
would have been 10 seat the Lily
Whites. However. that would have
committed the TAFT campaign To rec
ignition Of the principle Of excluding
negroes from The suffrage in the
South, which would have been exceed
Ingly bad politics for Secretary Taft,