New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-08-05
ROOSEVELT DICTATES
HIS PARTY'S PLATFORM
insists That 1t Must Conform to
His Views on Social and
Industrial Justice.
MIST FIRST HEAR SPEECH
Third Term Candidate Believes
Ye Has Grappled with Negro
Problem as None Other
Has Ever Dared.

30, n staff Correspondent OF The Tribune.l
,,banv. Aug 4-Theodore Roosevelt.
,, hoard the Twentieth Century Limited.
sornd for the Chicago convention, said
,o.n,eht that he had served notice on his
oonnaign managers at Chicago that he
rust deliver his confession OF faith"
speech Of twenty thousand words, to
,bo National Progressive convention be-
Gore the frst plank of the third party
nlstform Is nailed down.
Colonel Roosevelt said he would de-
liver the speech Tuesday morning, and
,ha. II would be the most important ut
,srance he had ever made. That it would
no accented az radical in some quarters
~ freely admitted. He declared he
would take up every important question
If the day, such as the Panama Canal
Tolls and the vexatious problems Of fed
srsl trust control.
The third term candidate made 1t plain
that ne must be heard on every subject
~ his speech before the platform was
drafted. Furthermore. he insisted that
the platform Of the new party must con-
form 10 his views on the vital issues Of
"socisl and industrial justice" before he
~onld accept the proffered nomination.
Free to Say What He Likes.
AS Colonel Roosevelt has declared, he
rArard, himself for the first time as free
70 express his views on all public ques-
tons before accepting a nomination to
the Presidency He says he does not IN
tend 10 be obliged 10 recant after he has
been elected President For the first time
since he cut loose from the Republican
party, he says. he Is in a position TO de-
mand that the platform on which he runs
shall conform in every respect to his
PERSONAL views on the issues which it
treats.
II is evident the eI-President believes
bis attitude toward the negroes in the
black belt" will be regarded by some
persons as bad politics. He virtually adj
ritted this view Of the matter tonight
He is prepared. however, 10 stick 10 his
guns. In the belief that ne has Grappled
6date has ever dared grapplc with a
problem before.
Some one asked the candidate about the
reinstatement by President Taft OF MinSo
Sanders. the sergeant of the 9th Regi-
ment, Of Brownsville negro troops. who
has been made a doorman in Congress.
Colonel Roosevelt said:
sanders was the oldest and most re-
spected non-commissioned officer In the
companies which on the recommendation
Of Secretary Of War Taft were discharged
in 1906. and Of whom Mr.. Taft. as Secre-
tarv Of War in 1906. spoke as follows:
1T goes without saying that II the
guilty could be ascertained they should
and would be punished, but the guilty
cannot be ascertained. and the very I'm
possibility of determining who are the
guilty ones makes the whole battalion
useless TO the government as an instru-
ment OF maintaining law and order. The
only means OF Kidding the military ser
vices Of a band OF wouldIbe murderers
OF women and children and actual muir
derers Of one man is the discharge OF the
entire battalion
Hold Officers Responsible.
"In this report and recommendation Mr..
Taft explicitly stated that the veteran
non-eommissioned officers IN charge Of the
battalion We're OF course. more RESPONSE
bic for what had occurred than any
others. Nothing has since occurred 10
alter the position Of Sanders, except his
use by Mr.. Tafts managers In Ohio. In
short, he was discharged on Mr. TAFT
recommendation on his military record
He is reinststed only by Mr.. Taft on his
(Sanders's) political record.
"If Nh Taft did not tell the truth
about Mr.. Sanders and his colleagues In
his report as Secretary OF War. from
which ] have quoted, then his conduct
needs no Characterization by me. II he
did tell the truth. then his reinstatement
OF Mingo Sanders in the public service
Is in still less need Of characterization by
me"
Colonel Roosevelt is accompanied to the
convention by Mrs. Roosevelt and Frank
Harper. his private secretary. Ernest Abb
bolt. OF the Outlook" staff is also with
him. The party will occupy rooms at the
Congress Hotel
There was good sized crowd in the
Grand Central terminal this afternoon 10
see the colonel off. but the party slipped
In unobserved through a private entrance.