The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1912-06-26
REASONS
FOR PRESENT ACTION
Colonel Roosevelt Gives Detailed
Account Of His Position Be-
fore American People

fore American People
| Forecasting the action of the con-
vention in seating the Taft contesting
delegates Colonel Roosevelt issued a
statement in full of his position be-
fore the convention and this state
ment will be made the basis of the
movement which is shortly to be
promulgated for the formation of the
new progressive party.
| Colonel Roosevelt's statement in
full was:
THE time has come when L feel
that l must make certain statements
not merely to honestly elected mem
bers of the Republican National con-
vention hut to the rank and file of
the republican party and to the hon.
est people of the entire nation. I
went into this fight for certain great
principles. At the moment l can only
serve these principles by continuing
| to bear the personal responsibility
which their advocacy has brought to
me.
| ION behalf of these principals,
made my appeal straight to the people
themselves I went before them,
made my argument in full; and every
move 1 made was in the open with
out concealment of any kind. The
opposition to me was extraordinarily
bitter, for was opposed by the prac-
tically solid political bosses, with back
of them the practically solid phalanx
of the big, constituencies beneficiaries
of special privilege in every form and
Of course the many big newspapers
which are controlled by or in the in
terest of the bosses and special priv
ilege.
| Nevertheless in the appeal to the
people, won.
"In many of the republican states
and of the democratic states. where
there is large and real republican
party, primaries of different kinds
were held and substantial expression
of the will of the people was obtained.
In these primary states some 30,000,-
| 600 voters, the rank and file of the
republican party, cast their votes. l
beat Mr.. Taft considerably over Q to
1. In these states l obtained about
six delegates to Mr.. Taft's one.
Nearly three fourths of my dele
gates came from these primary states
where the people had chance to ex-
press themselves.
| Mr.. Taft's strength, as indicated by
[the two roll calls already taken, con !.
sisted chiefly (aside from his 30 lstol-
en- delegatesy of the nearly solid del
legations from the territories and from
the Southern states in which there is
no real republican party-South Caro-
lima, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Ar
kansas, Mississippi. Louisiana--and Of
the Northern states like New York,
where the people had no choice to ex-
press themselves at primaries and
where the delegates were picked by
the bosses.
I'm spite of these odds against me,
I obtained clear majority of all the
delegates elected to the convention.
In my campaign I again and again
stated that IL the people decided
against me would have nothing to
SAY; but that IL they decided for me
and the politicians then robbed me
OF the victory, would not silently and
Itamely acquiesce. 1t was already evil
dent that my opponents, with Mr..
Taft's encouragement, intended to
| beat me by foul means If they could
mot do so. by fair means.
| THE crucial but not the only step
in the concerted and hitherto success
full effort to cheat the people out of
the victory they had fairly won, was
taken up by the now defunct National
Committee, which without one show
of justification and with cynical con-
tempt of the most ordinary rules Of
decency, in making up the temporary
roll call unseated 80 fairly elected
Roosevelt delegates and substituted
for them 80 Taft delegates, who, in
the convention, represent nothing
whatever but successful fraud. l was
clearly entitled to all these 80 dele
gates; all the 80 possessed for in
stance clearer titles than the uncon-
tested Taft delegates from New York
City and as to 70 of them, their titles
were as tlawless as those of any othei
delegates in the convention.
"Mr. Root was elected and Governor
Deneen's motion for partly cleansing
the roll of fraud was defeated by the
vote of these 80 fraudulent delegates,
the last vote being vote on straight
| mural issue, lne result Oh winch IN my
Judgment ought to render it impossi-
BILE for any man longer to take part
in the proceedings of the convention
as now constituted. The majority in
each case was slightly over so. In
each case therefore, if it had not
been for the hitherto successful ras-
cality which placed these fraudulent
delegates on the roll and permitted
them to vote. the sense of decency
would have won; Mr.. McGovern would
have been elected in place of Mr..
Root, Governor Dement'S motion
would have prevailed and the Repub-
lican National Committee would have
been exercising in good faith the high,
honorable and vitality important func-
tions of honestly representing the
wishes, the Judgment and interest of
the plain people, who make up the
mass of the republican party. Instead
it now represents nothing but success
full political fraud, perpetrated in the
interest of political and financial priv
| ilege.