Bisbee daily review., 1908-04-07
A RED HOT FIGHT.

the Kansas City Journal the political situation has warmed up to such al degree that Secretary Taft is not leaving all his campaign work to his managers. He is looking after i'm portant features of 1t himself Just now it appears that the present re- publican national committee will have much to do in shaping the complex ion of the convention. At the present ratio there will be in the neighbor- hood of 100 contests for delegates to the convention. perhaps more. That number might decide the presidency.
 The committee passes on all con tests in making up the temporary roll of the convention. It decides which of the delegates, contested. shall vote on all motions on the preliminary org anization So it is apparent what tremendous power the committee has. MT. Taft fully realizes it and is en- gagged now, personally, in rounding up the committee and finding out just where it stands with reference to his candidacy. He Is either calling on the members of the committee them selves, or is counselling with the pol iticians who are supposed to domi- nate them. He has received reports on all the committeeman from the central west during the past week and is now rounding up the eastern and southern members.
 Both sides still claim the commit tee. The Taft managers. after a count of noses, declare they have the committee by four majority. They claim twenty-nine out of the fifty-four. The anti-Taft people claim the com mittee by six majority. Their figures are thirty against Taft and twenty four for Taft. That the claims of the Taft managers are more nearly accu- fate than the claims of their oppon- ents is regarded as certain by some of the leading republican leaders who are on the fence in the presidential contest
 The report of the national commit tee, the majority report, has always been adopted by the national conyen- tions of the past, but there is a bare possibility that the precedent may be upset at the Chicago convention. For instance, if Taft has the national com mittee and gets report seating his contested delegations and the anti Taft candidates have a majority of the uncontested delegates to the con yention they will be able to adopt the minority report of the committee and seat their own contested dele gates, or vice versa. Each side is not only claiming the national committee, but is claiming that it will have a majority of the uncontested delegates to the convention. For this reason the question as to who will control the temporary organization of the convention furnishes much food for speculation.
 The member of the national com nittee from Arizona is Colonel StuT, ges Of Pima county. Colonel Sturges has been non-committal as to who he was in favor of for presidential nomi. nee at Chicago, though it is known that he has very warm feeling for Senator Foraker, because of the ser vice rendered by the senator to Ari- zona during the struggle of the ter ritory against joint statehood Col onel Sturges is opposed to the propo- sition to instruct the Arizona dele. gates for Taft, but whether he would stand with the Taft men on the na- tional committee or take position with the anti-Taft crowd could not be stated now.