The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-06-12
Z CALIFORNIA DELE
GATES TAKEN FROM
COL. AND GIVEN TAFT
Heney of Frisco Graft Fame,
Fights for the Colonel and
the Argument Was Most
Bitter One.
Continued from Page One.)

He was asked to go before the COM
mittee and argue the case. His ans
wer was short Il will not submit to
the trial of stolen property by the
thief" he said. He sent a letter to
Francis J. Heney explaining his posi-
ton. Heney argued the case for the
California Roosevelt delegates. The
claims of the Taft faction in the
fourth California district were along
the following lines:
The call of the Republican national
committee contains the following
clause, provided that delegates and
alternates from the state-at-large and
from each congressional district be
elected in conformity with the laws of
the state in which the election occurs
if the state committee or nay such
congressional committee so direct.
But provided further that in no
state shall an election be so held as
to prevent the electors of any district
from electing their own delegates
The Taft men hold their candidates
received plurality in the fourth dis
trict, but as all the. delegates were
voted on by the voters of the state,
the Taft delegates in the district were
defeated, as Roosevelt carried the
state by a big majority. The Taft
men hold that this election violated
the call of the national committee and
that the Roosevelt men should not be
seated.
Louisiana Cases Up.
The tangle that the Louisiana cases
will present is not new one to the
committee. Perhaps no state in the
union has furnished the members so
much practice in contest hearing.
The Republican party there is divided
into three factions. The lilly whites"
as one faction is known, is headed by
Pearl Wight, national committeeman
and staunch supporter of Roosevelt.
He is a fighting politician and knows
haw to present his cases.
The national committee after the
fight of four years ago over the con-
tests then filed decided to reorganize
the Louisiana Republicans. They sent
special committee down to investi-
gate conditions, got written agree
ment from the party leaders to &C
cept certain plans and the reorganiza-
ton took place. The Taft men are
regulars, according to this reorganiZa-
ton. Pearl Wight was among those
who, it is alleged, did not keep their
pledge to the national committee when
it made it's investigation and peace
offer. He has a contesting set Of
delegates.
The Third Faction.
Still third faction of the party is
in the field with another set of dele
gates. Altogether the matter offers
a tangle that promises to take a lot
of time. A novel complication con-
fronts the national committeeman.
There is no Republican party in Lou
isiana. At the last election, held
months ago, the party failed to poll
ten per cent of the vote. Under the
Louisiana law it thereby is no longer
recognized as regular party organi-
zation and can get it's names on the
ballots only by petition.
The Michigan case offers another
party JdnSle. IL involves as one OF
the delegates appearing in the SQUAD
BILE Charles S. Osborne, another OF
the original Roosevelt governors.
Charges that state troops were called
to keep unwelcome delegates out of
the convention hall form the basis of
the contention.
In Missouri, which is the next to
come up when Michigan is disposed
of, the Taft men are the contesting
parties. The Roosevelt delegates-at-
large were elected at a convention in
ST. Louis in which Governor Herbert
S. Hadley was the principal figure.
After the convention a few Taft sup
porters gathered in room of the
Planters Hotel and elected Otto F.
Stifie and three others as Taft men,
The Roosevelt men say that only a
few Of the Taft men knew the move
was contemplated and that the men
who brought the contest participated
in the regular convention.
The Taft men, however, plan to
make a hard fight in Missouri and the
Roosevelt men have already begun to
charge that the steam roller will be
used.