The Washington times., 1912-06-10
COMMITTEE BEGINS
CONSIDERATION OF
INDIANA CONTEST
First Real Problem of Ma
tional Republican Conven-
ton Taken Up.
Continued from First Page.)

apolis was selected as the crux of the
cases Its representation In the State
convention that elected Harry S. New,
Charles w. Fairbanks, James e. Wat
son, and Joseph Doliver. delegates-at-
large numbered 1884, OF these the ma
jority were Taft men.
The Roosevelt contestants insisted
that repeating was rife. They claimed
| that they were denied representations
at the ward primaries; that ballots were
not counted at all in many instances,
but that false figures were arrived at
by the election boards; that bands of
negro repeaters were hurried from poll
ing place to polling place to vote for
methods were in force in many in
stances.
Because Of this the contestants, Albert
]. Beverldge, Edwin M. Lee, Fred Lam
dis, and Charles H. Campbell, demanded
that they be seated.
Based on Indianapolis.
In the brief filed on behalf of the
Taft delegates-st-large the following
contentious were made:
The contestants claim Is based almost
wholly on the fact that the Indianapo-
lis primaries were fraudulent. Indlanap-
oils is in Marion county which consti-
tutes the Seventh Congressional district.
The delegates from Marion county,
elected at the primaries to the State
convention consisted of 12s who were
fer Taft and six who were for Roose-
yelt. Originally 100 of these were con-
tested. The delegates were elected by
from townships outside. The largest
ward had fourteen delegates and the av-
erage was eight to a ward. Under the
call of the State committee delegates
to the State convention met by dis
trtcts the night before the convention
and each district was required to elect
one member of a committee on ere
dentials, which committee was to sit as
spon as Its members were elected.
Ten members of this committee of
thirteen were elected without contest.
a chairman and secretary. From each
of the Third, Sixth. and Eleventh dis
tricts, two delegates appeared. claiming
to have been elected members of the
committee on credentials. The commit
tee on credentials as organized heard
the evidence, and in the Eases of the
Third and Sixth districts. seated the
Taft delegates and from the Eleventh
seated the Roosevelt delegates.
Decisions Were Split.
THE committee then proceeded to
hear evidence on the contests. 1t re-
ported to the convention that the i0S
delegates from Marion county who had
proper credentials, but whose seats were
contested, were entitled to st In the
convention. AS to the other contests.
some were decided for the Taft and
some for the Roosevelt delegates. These
other contests, however, were so few
and the number of delegates involved
so small, as not to affect the resolution.
Eight Of the committee reported n
favor of recognizing the Taft delegates
from Marion county whose seats were
contested and five presented H minority
report in favor of the Roosevelt cor
testants.
The majority representative of the
committee was laid on the table and the
majority rule adopted by a committee
Of 1o5 Complaint was msde that the
sitting delegates from Marion county
were permitted to vote on adopting the
majority report, but no appeal was
taken from the ruling OF the chair that
peal was taken to the State committee
as required by the rule of the party
organization in the State.
The boiling convention was held in A
corner of the hall and was attended by
not more than 100 of the delegates. Of
whom not more than 20 participated in
the proceeding. These 80 delegates at
tempted 10 elect the contestants who
are now claiming to he the regular del
egates-at-larse from Indiana.
Protest on Postponement.
Then Arizona, which has been passed.
was called. and motion made that II
he mt over again until Wednesday.
said Il want these cases sent to tn.
bottom OF the calendar he said. ''The%
sn rurd be put at the bottom of the
lst SO that States which We're ready
nay gn ahead"
This brought former Governor Knight
to his feet with a bang. He was plain
ly angered Though and through.
II read in the moInirg papers," he
eajd that California's contest from
;hc Fourth district, was going TO the
bottom of the calendar. BY what rieht? ?
here" Let NE tell YOU, gentlemen, that
the rights of a sovereign state ar"
involved here. California MAS post
6omea uni Gx t4fa{ 3h At re y ycoca TG9TeS6d today
If you put this over YOU viii leave a
had tas.e in the mouths of the people
Of this country"
believed knight right on his side.
Murray Crane, of Massachusetts,
threw oil on the troubled waters by
insisting that he did not believe that
any member of the committee woulI
have any part in a trick, and he said
that he favored hearing California at
once.
dozen other committeeman were on
their feet ready to participate in the
debate. MulVane withdrew his objec.
ton and California was ordered called
next, and the lndldHa contests were
Temporarily sidetracked.
Francis ]. Heney and Former Cover
nor Pardee, of California, came in tc
argue tho case for the Roosevelt men
Former Senator Dick, representing the
TAFT contestants, asked for delay. Be
fore this, Senator Borah moved tha
Ali of the Roosevelt delegates from
California be recognized, and placed oI
the temporary roll. Committeeman
New said this was unnecessary.
"Where there are no contests, sale
New the delegates uncontested go oil
the roll as a matter of course. ] haven
any objection to this motion, but
think that it should not be forced a
this time.
Asked Dick to Explain.
Then Committeeman knight demand
ed that Dick explain why he wanted
delay This the contest manager did
saying:
I'VE believe that some OF the dele
gates where seats are not vet in con
troversy were elected without tn au
thority of tn national committee. Th
primary election of California is in con
fict with the call of the committee
The primary law of California provide