Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-08-13
Rooseves Cry of "Theft" Shown To Be Founded on WIf
Exaqqerat;on and Misrepresentation cooneps Men in
Bad Faith-Each Contest Was Considered

President Taft, by telegram, approved
all the twenty-six delegates as repre-.
senting him is said TO be an estoppel
against his claiming the election OF
two Of these delegates in their Fourth
district. What is there inconsistent
in his approving the candidacy Of all
his delegates and the election of two
of them? Why should he be thus
estopped to claim that part OF the
law was imperative because in con.
flict with the call of the convention
The Result Was Legal
"The contest in Washington turned
on the question whether the Taft del.
egates appointed by the County Com
mittee in King county. in which Sc
attic is situated, were duly elected to
the convention, or whether primary,
which was subsequently held, and at
which Roosevelt delegates were elect
ed, was properly called, so that it's re-
suit was legal. Under the law the
County Committee had the power to
decide whether it would select the del.
egates directly or should call a pri-
mary. In some counties of, the
State one course. was pursued, and in
other counties. the. other. In King
county the convention consisted of
250 men, the majority of whom We're
for Taft, and that majority acting
through its executive committee, Sc.
lected the Taft delegates to the State
convention. Meantime, the City
Council of Seattle had, redistricted
the city. 1t before had $50 precincts.
Now, substantially, the same terri
tory was divided up into 3S1 pre-
cincts. The chairman of the County
Committee was a Roosevelt man. He
lad been given authority by general
resolution to fill vacancies occurring
in the committee. A general meet
ing of the committee had been held
after the City Council had directed
the redistricting of the city, in which
it was resolved, the chairman not dis
senting, that representatives could
not be selected to fill the .3S1 new
precincts until an election was held
in September, 1912. Thereafter, and
in spite of his conclusion, the chair
man assumed the right by his APP
pointment to add to the existing com
and, with these voting in the com
mittee, it is claimed that primary
was ordered. There was so much con-
fusion in the meeting that this is
doubtful. However, the fact is that
the Taft men protested against action
bya committee SO constituted, on the
ground that the chairman had no au-
thority to appoint the 131 new COM
mftteennen. They refused to take
part In the primary, and SO did the
La Toilette men, The newspapers re-
ported the number OF votes in the pri.
mary to be something over 5000. The
Roosevelt committee showed by afr
daYit the number to be 5000 out of
a usual total Republican vote of Is,
600. -,
Beyond His Power.
The action ofuthe chairman of the
committee in attempting to add 49,
precinct men to, the old committee
was, of course, beyond his power. The
resolution authorizing him to fill va
cancies, of course, applied only to
those places which became vacant
after they had been filled, and clearly
did not apply to 131 new precincts.
1t could not, in, the nature of things,
apply TO change from the old sys
tenn to a complete new system of pre-
cincts created by the City Council,
becaue, If they were to be filled, the
entire number of 3S1 new precincts
different from the old must be filled.
One system could not be made into
the other, by mere additional ap-
pointment of 131 committeeman. No
lawyer will say that such action by
the committee. thus constituted
was legal Therefore, the act
ton which the Lawful: committee Of
ESQ took in selecting Taft delegates.
who made a majority in the State
convention, was the only one which
could be recognized as valid"
Delegates Chosen Too Late.
AS an appendix, the statement car
ries in detail the vote in the national
committee on each of the contests and
statement of the dates of the Taft
and Roosevelt conventions in contest
ed States. The object of the latter is
to show that the Roosevelt delegates
were chosen after the regular con-
ventions had named Taft representa-
tlveS.
Another appendix is the report OF
the credentials committee of the con-
vention, in which the statement issued
by the Roosevelt committeeman at
lacking the majority of the committee
was answered. In discussing the
charge, the report said:
The statement as whole in its in
situations of combination of unworthy
motive, in it's recital of alleged facts,
is grossly and maliciously untrue. 1t
was intended to convey the impression
that the time for hearing cases was so
limited as to prevent their being prop
erly presented to the committee. The
untruthfulness of this statement is
clearly shown by the records OF the
committee and the newspaper reports
of it's deliberations. Not only did the
rules make liberal provision for time
in presenting the cases, but in every
instance of which the parties present