Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1912-10-24
ROOSEVELT NOT A
GOOD V0TE-GETTER
HIS POPULARITY NOT SHOWN EY
THE VOTES HE HAS RECEIVED.
RECORD WILL SURPRISE MANY
In New York When He Ran for c V
ernor He Did Not Get Full party
Support-Presidentlal Vote
When Analysed Is Net to
His Advantage.

Colonel Roosevelt is regarded every
where as re marvellous vote-Gettor.
we are for Teddy because he viii
elect our county ticket" chorused tn
Roosevelt shouters prior to the re
nomination of President Taft And
even now, when. having failed to get
the Republican nomination for a
third term, he is heading a boiling
Third Party organization, there are
many Republicans who seem to think
that he has a strong hold upon the
people. The fact is the record shows
that he is not successful vote get
ter. The belief which prevails in
some parts of the country that Roose-
welt has magic hold upon the people
is not supported by the facts. Mr..
Roosevelt's own activity in. self-ad-
vertising is largely responsible for the
belief.
Take, for instance, his home state
of New York. Here are the figures
three elections of 1896, 1898 and 1900,
the two years before and the two
years after Roosevelt was candidate
for governor:
1896, Black ............7 S7,516
1898, Roosevelt ........ .661, 707
lJUU, Ouell .............. 6U4 ,S09
When Roosevelt ran as candidate
for governor he had behind him his
prestigate of service in the war with
Spain. He made spectacular cam
paign with a number of uniformed
soldiers riding with him upon the
rear platform of his special train
Even with this advantage he polled
125,000 less votes than Black and
nearly $4,000 votes less than Odell
This shows that in his own state he
is not the vote-getter which he claims
to be.
Polled Less Votes Than Taft.
Colonel Roosevelt received an enor
nous plurality when he ran for presi.
dent in 1904, but that was because
1,2S0,000 Democrats declined to vote
for Judge Alton b. Parker. The real
test of Roosevelt's plurality is the
number of Republican votes cast for
him. He polled 7,623,4S6 votes, but
even this number was $4,000 less than
were cast for Taft in 1908 with
Bryan in the field and practical
Democratic harmony restored. Do
these figures show Roosevelt to be
great vote-getter?
The figures as to Illinois are also
interesting and instructive. In 1904
the total Republican vote for Roose.
welt was 632,645, but this was 1884
less than were cast for Charles S.
Deneen for governor. Roosevelt was
supposedly the idol of the Republican
party while Governor Deneens nomi.
nation was secured at the end of a
three weeks convention in which bit
ter fractional fighting developed. Yet
Deneen, as stated, received 1884
more votes for Roosevelt.
An attempt is made to demonstrate
Colonel Roosevelts popularity by cit
ing the fact that his plurality in Hi.
nois in 1904 was 305,00O, while Taft's
was only $4,000 in 1908. The fact is
that in 1904 Roosevelt received 632, 645
votes. In 1908 Taft received 629, 929
votes, so that out of about 630,0
votes the only difference between
Roosevelt's popularity and Taft's
popularity as shown by the total Re-
publican vote was 2,713.
Illinois is cited merely because 1t is
typical of other states.
Some Primary Figures.
AS Republican candidate for presi-
dent last spring, Colonel Roosevelt
polled 81 per cent of the total vote
cast at the Illinois primaries, but only
42.37 per cent of the Taft 1908 vote.
A majority of the Republicans of II.
linois have not expressed a prefer.
ence for Colonel Roosevelt. for presi.
dent. In recent statement Colonel
Roosevelt said: "The primary in ILL
nois last spring definitely decided
that I was the choice of the Illinois
Republican voters for president"
Colonel Roosevelt should be informed
than 42.37 per cent of the Repub-
lican vote in Illinois does not decide
what 57.63 per cent shall do with
bolter who denounced their party be-
cause 1t would not nominate him.
Similar conditions prevail in other
states.
The foregoing record proves that
Colonel Roosevelt, without regard to
his other essential deficiencies, Is not
a powerful vote-getter. The "win
with-Teddy" bumcombe is quite popu-
lar with Colonel Roosevelt and his
supporters with the hope of dragging
into line timid voters and pot-huntine
politicians. The facts show that as
vote-getter Roosevelt never had
been as strong as his party He was
not as strong as Black and Odell in
Nau York uhara he Go beat In0up.