The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-06-06
DIXON REFUSES TO USE PROXY TEDDY GOT HIM Admits Ex-President Has no Show Before National Com mittee and Will Not
 Sit on it STEAM ROLLER METHODS LaFollette and Cummins May Have. Balance of Power,
 When Contests Are
 Decided
STEAM ROLLER METHODS

Chicago, June 6.-When the. first meeting of the Republican National Committee was held, today, several proxies were presented from commit teemen who explained that they did not personally desire to take issue in the contests against either President Taft or Colonel Roosevelt. Among those was eX-Senator Scott, of West Virginia. q v
 The fight grew more bitter. today. between the Taft and Roosevelt forces. Ormsby McHarg. contest manager for Roosevelt, denounced a published story regarding a plan of the national committee to dispose of the contests for delegate seats by seating two thirds of the Taft delegates and one third of the Roosevelt delegates in the 250 cases where the question of the right to a seat in the convention is the issue,
 The Taft managers laughed at the story and denied that it had come from any of them. They were em- phatic in asserting that practically ev. cry contest would be settled by the Taft delegates being seated.
 Both the Taft and Roosevelt head quarters, today, issued statements re- beating assertions made several times during the, campaign.
 Senator Dixon, head of the Roose- welt forces, privately admitted, today, that. there was no chance for Roose- welt before the national committee. He said he., personally, had received 8 ;telegraphed proxy from q national committeeman but that he would not use it.
 "I would rather be licked" he said. ''than to be forced to enter the com mittee and make a spsctacle of my seIf''
 It was understood among. the poH- ticians here that Roosevelt had de- manded thatx Dixon go into the com miffea and had aT4anEed fur the pfoxy but that after 1t was planned, Dixon refused to sit with the commit tee.
 7 The Taft forces were in control of the committee. The resultjof the ma jority of the contests was believed cer- tain. to be the seating of the Taft men. Publicly, the Taft leaders were declaring that 1t was Tall over but the shouting" The same contention came from the Roosevelt entrenchment. But neither Senator Dixon, leader of the Roosevelt forces. nor Congress man Mckinley, in command of the Taft warriors, would take pencil and check the delegates that he claimed would stand behind his. candidate when the actual fighting began.
 The committee did not plan to take up any of the contests today. In- stead, the meeting was devoted to or- ganiZation, the selection of a chair man and to defining rules of proceed ure during the coming 10 days.
 And while the committee cleared the decks for action, the paid attor- neys of the contesting forces, formef Senator Dick of Ohio for Taft and Qrmsby McHarg for Roosevelt, wrest- led with voluminous briefs prepara- tory to the real fight for representa- tion on the floor. The first contests to come up were those of Arkansas, Alabama and Arizona It was not be- lieved that they would be disposed of until late on Saturday and it was cer- tain that the ruling in all three would be in favor of the Taft men.
 Believing that the followers of the President had gotten out and thoroughly oiled up the steamroller, popularized by Colonel Roosevelt's lieutenants four years ago when the claims of the "allies" were ruthlessly shattered, the Roosevelt leaders, to- day, were suggesting that the com mittee should seat all of the contest ing delegates and split the vote be- tween the socalled regulars and the contesting representatives,. But the Taft people declined to consider any such suggestion.
 There will be no split delegations this year." declared Victor Rosewater, of the committee. ''The issues are too plainly involved. This committee cannot dodge. It will de- eide each case on its merits znd will issue the certificates to men that are entitled to them.'
 Incidentally the committee at the outset made it very plain that it had no intention of 'rattling the political: skeleton. It will not go back of the face of the returns. Where a con- testing delegation can seriously assail the legality Of the election of a regu- lar delegation it will have a chance to win, but where the claim is of fraud, intimidation or juggling of roll calls, the committee will take the po- sition that 1t has not the power to review the acts of the convention. The Taft men will benefit greatly by this ruling as it will throw out most of the contests from the South.
 The Roosevelt conventions were held weeks after the Taft conventions had regularly elected a set of delegates. Most of these contests were not sug- gested until after the visit to the Southern States of the Roosevelt con- test manager, Ormsby McHarg, and the committee will take the position that it cannot seat the claimants be- cause they failed to try to control the earlier conventions which were properly called by the district or State organizations :.
 While the committee met to wrestIe with the temporary roll of the con vention, the big party leaders were in almost constant conference in the big hotels. Not in years has the outcome of convention been so doubtful, The corridors of the Congress Hotel, where headquarters have been estab- lished, are thronged with men who have gained renown in the councils of the party and while the majority insist that President Taft will be re- and will control the com nittee on resolutions thus writing his