Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-11

review or last week s progress given ou
by the Taft bureau last night said, ir
part:
| "Twenty-four instructed and sever
| avowed Taft delegates were elected dur
ing the week just ended. bringing the tota
| instructed delegates to ninety-eight, and
| the grand total OF delegates under the
Taft banner to 1O5, and SIGNALLING the
| first break in the so-called insurgent ter
ritory, when the sixth Iowa district, rep
resented in Congress by \. +. Kendall
| obedient to the sentiment of the district
| instructed for President Taft. In New
Mexico, where the opponents to the Presi-
dent We're claiming the solid delegation
| eight uninstructed delegates We're select
ed and seven of the eight are avoWed
Taft supporters. \ solid delegation from
| the state is probable.
'srhe twenty-four instructed delegates
were two each from the following dis
! tricts: Second third, fifth and sixth Ten
nessee: fourth and sixth Alabama, sixth
| Iowa. fifth Virginia and fifth Missouri
and six at large from Alabama In the
! fifth Missouri district so-called preference
| primaries We're held. which We're dlsre-
| garded by the supporters of President
| Taft and Senators La Toilette and Cum
| Minis on the ground that they combined
| city primaries, in order that the city ma
chine. through the selection of national
| delegates. might perpetuate it's power.
| The convention of the district. regularly
called and constituted, was held later and
Taft delegates elected
Gov. Harmon now is being claimed by
his friends as the original trust buster" y
Senator Pomerene of Ohio last night gave
out the following interview:
During the time that Gov. Harmon
was Attorney General Congress appro-
priated. / can't give the exact figures, but
my recollection is 1t was from $1,000 to
$4,000 year, for him to investigate and
prosecute trust violations together with
other business of that department. Mr..
Wickersham has been given from $500 900
to SJ0O,0D.
I'VE cannot Judge of the value of the
service which was rendered to the gov
eminent in the enforcement of the Sher-
man antitrust law by the number of
cases each Attorney General brought, but
it must be judged rather by the success
the department had by having the law
construed favorably to the government at
q time when the decisions of the courts
were all against the government, And as
the law was declared in the cases which
he brought and prosecuted, so it has been
sustained ever since. with only one modifi-
cation, and that was when the United
States Supreme Court in the Standard Oil
and tobacco cases held that the words
in restraint of trade meant undue or I'M
Gov. Harmon was Attorney General
about two years. He went out OF office
March 4. 1897. Up to the time he went
into office the decision of every court
man antitrust law was against the gov
eminent. Attorney General Miller, under
President Harrison, had tried what was
known as the knight case-Knight against
a Philadelphia sugar refining company
The case eventually went to the Supreme
Court, where it remained on the docket,
and nothing was done In the case by the
government until Harmon became At
torney General.
Gov. Harmon, as Attorney General. took
personal charge of this case and wrote
the brief himself. The case was not
reached for argument till December. 1896.
when Harmon argued it, and the supreme
Court in March, after Harmon's term of
office expired, handed down the opinion
reversing the lower courts and sustaining
the position taken by Gov. Harmon in
his brief. Gov. Harmon, as Attorney
General, also began two other very i'm
portant cases, one against the Joint Traf-
tic Association and one against the Addy-
stone Pipe Company. These cases were
not tried until after his term of office,
and his position was afterward sustained
by the United States Supreme Court in
both cases"
James X. Vardaman, senator elect from
Mississippi. last night came out for Tn
Il.
Vardaman favors the initiative. refer
endum and recall, while Mr.. Underwood
does not. makes no difference in Mr..
Vardaman's choice. Mr.. Vardaman said:
II believe that Mr.. Underwood is head
ed right in the matter of tariff revision.
] want the democrats to go further than
he. but his plan of procedure is the one
that will win. He is laying the founda-
ton of tariff reform so firmly that his
purposes will obtain and business will
10
helm at this time would be swept off his
feet. Unlike Mr. Underwood. | am in
tensely in favor Of the initiative. the
referendum and the recall. These will
come later however,
Democratic politicians expect to see an
effort at Baltimore to repeal the conven-
ton rule which makes it necessary for
candidate to receive a vote of twO-thirds
Of the delegates before he can be nomi-
mated. The success of such a movement
depends upon gaining control of the tenn
porary organization of the convention.
Gov Deneen of Illinois last night an
nounced that he would call an extra ses-
sion of the legislature to enact direct
presidential primary law, provided that
prior to the issuance of the call a pledge
Is signed by two-thirds of the members
of the senate and house that they will
pass a bill with the necessary emer-
gency clause.
The republican conventions to be held
this week will be the seventh Tennessee
district. the fourth and tenth Virginia
districts, the seventh Iowa. the Tennessee
and Virginia state conventions, the third
and fourth South Carolina districts, the
third Oklahoma and the ninth Iowa.
the first Oklahoma, the fourth Tennes
see. the first South Carolina, the Okla
homa state convention, the eighth Iowa,
the third Oklahoma, the first Indiana.
the fifth South Carolina, the seventh In
diana. the ninth Alabama and the sec
ond Oklahoma.
The first important presidential prefer
ence primary contest will be March ~,
be held. Both La Toilette and Roose-
welt men claiming North Dakota.
The Taft people also have entered can
didates nthose primaries.
The Georgia state democratic executive
committee will hold a meeting tomorrow
in Atlanta to consolidate the presidential
primary with the county primaries in
those counties which plan to hold pri-
maries early i'm the season.
Nearly one-third of the counties in the
state will hold primaries late in April or
early in MAY. 1t is expected that the
date for the presidential primary will be
set for this period. and that the counties
will fix dates to agree with the commit
tees action.
In New York city Yesterday clerical
force of forty worked all day preparing
the ballots for the coming primaries. The
| ballot in the twenty-t}ird district is four
teen feet long.
| United States Senator Stone in an adj