The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1912-08-09

changed his mind and called a meet
| ing OF the committee for April II.
This committee called a congressional
| convention to be held on May IL. But
| there was no publication Of the call,
which had to be thirty days before the
| convention, until April 21. The Taft
convention seems therefore to have
been duly and regularly convened.
while the Roosevelt convention was
not. The Taft delegates were seated.
Tenth District.
In the Tenth district the decision
turned largely upon the bad faith with
which two members Of the district
committee voted In the seating OF dele
gates and upon the bad faith with
which n of them used the proxy In
trusted to him. The Taft delegates in
this case bolted and left the hall ana
Immediately in the same building or
gained another convention which con-
sisted Of delegates from six counties.
Proceedings We're regularly held; a per-
manent organization effected, the re-
pOIl vi lAc COulIllllcC VII
adopted and delegates pledged to Tart
were elected. The undisputed evidence
indicated that a flagrant attempt had
been made to deprive Taft OF this dis
trict, to which he was justly entitled.
The national committee sustained the
title of the Taft delegates and alter
mates by a practically unanimous vote.
Fourteenth District.
In the Fourteenth district there We're
fifteen counties in the district When
the executive committee met at San
Antonio to make up the temporary toll
there were ten members Of the COM
mittee present whose right to act was
undisputed, OF whom six were for Taft
and four for Roosevelt. There were
four other Roosevelt men present
whose right to vote was disputed and
who were clearly not entitled to repre-
sent their county at that meeting. One
of them held the proxy Of the commit
teeman from Kendall county, who was
dead, and the proxies from three other
counties We're held, two by postmas-
ters and one by an assistant poStmas-
ter, while under the election law or
Texas no one who holds an office OF
profit or trust under the United States
shall act as a member of IN executive
committee either for the state OR for
IN district or county. The temporary
roll was made UP by Taft members,
having a clear majority without per-
hitting these men to act Inc their
proxies. There was a contest over the
delegation from Bexar county, which
contains the city Of San Antonio. Full
consideration was given to this contest,
but the testimony was overwhelming
that Taft carried the county by a vote
Of four or five to one. On the proper
basis the total vote in the district ION
vention was s~ilty-seven, Of which the
number instructed or voting for Taft
was thirty-seyen and one-half, the
number voting or instructed for Roose-
welt twenty-eight and one-half, not vot-
ing one. The Taft delegation was
therefore seated at Chicago.
CONCLUSION.
The purpose of this resume Of the
contests In which there was any shad-
ow of substance has been to inform
those who hay not time or inclination
to read the longer and more detailed
account Of them contained in the larger
pamphlet. IL is not essential to make
Mr. Taft's title ~indisputabie that all
men agree on every one of the issues
raised. They were decided by the tri-
bunals which uniform party usage bad
made the proper tribunals to decide
such contests. If those tribunals acted
in good faith mistaken judgment would
not invalidate their decisions. AS a
matter OF fact, an examination of the
facts show that the tribunals were
right In every instance. There is not
the slightest evidence that they were
moved by other than a mere desire to
reach a right conclusion. On the other
hand. the action Of the Roosevelt men
in bringing 100 contests that they
promptly abandoned strongly tended
to show the lack OF good faith In the
prosecution Of all Of them. Those who
support President Taft car well afford
to stand On the record In this case and
to asseverate without fear Of success
full contradiction that the delegates
whose seats were contested were az
fairly seated in this convention a. In
any In the history Of the party.