The Washington times., 1912-06-16
Taft and Roosevelt Forces
in Battle to
Finish.
NEITHER SIDE WILL
MAKE CONCESSIONS
Outlook for Third Candidate Inn
proves as the Convention
Days Nears.

CHICAGO, June 16.-Experts in
both the Taft and Roosevelt camps
say that the compromise stage in the
present battle has been passed and
that it is now a square stand-up and
knock-down fight between the Taft
and Roosevelt people, with the result
depending upon the supremacy Of the
one or the other. =.
There is no question that the Taft
people would try to swing their. votes
to La Toilette or anyone else to. ac-
complish the defeat of Roosevelt, but
they realize that the minute that they
release any of their delegates, the
disposition Of them will be beyond
their control.
Purely Speculative.
The same station exists in the Roose-
welt camp and the improbabflity Of such
a move Is the result of this conviction
on the part of the Roosevelt managers;
So until the lines Of battle are formed
in the convention, any speculation as to
the developments following the first
ballot-if there Is one-would be sheer
| waste of time.
So, too, would be any conclusive
statement regarding the actual organi7
! cation of the convention. The Taft
| managers claim and with apparent
| Justification, that they have votes
enough pledged to insure the election
| Of Elihu Root for temporary chair
man by a safe margin" The Roose-
welt people do not dispute this claim,
but they do say that the fght over
the temporary chairmanship will take
an entirely new turn between this and
| Tuesday. -,. ..t.' ."
| The Roosevelt plan. which today
seems certain of adoption Is to oeat
| the Taft people to the trouble by raising
the issue that the convention Is not
properly organized because OF the pres
| ence in the seats allotted to the State
of Texas Of the Taft men seated BY
| the national committee yesterday. Ana
| II the entertainment which follows does
not come up to expectations everybody
will be grievously disappointed. The
| indications, however, that nobody viii
| be.
To make any predictions now as TO
| the final outcome. of the struggle ror
| the control of the convention woulo
| be obviously absurd. The Taft chief-
tains are not In any better position 10
present claims worthy of consideration
than are the Roosevelt captains. Inc
| Taft people have the advantage In that
| will
of more delegates now favorable to the
President.
Fear Loss of Delegates.
That they are disturbed over their
! ability to hold their forces intact, SONS
| of the Taft leaders frankly admit: They
are equally candid in their admissions
that the coming of Colonel Roosevelt to
| take command of his own hght may
cost them some votes. Hence their des-
perate resolve to overwork the steam
roller to fill UP gaps caused by the ac-
tivities of the colonsl and his agents.
With a loyalty quite as militant as
fthat of the coloners supporters, the
Taft managers persist with stubborn
| yehemence that the President will be
renominated in spite of anything that
Colonel Roosevelt and his turbulent sup
porters may undertake.: The promise
was made by. one of the Taft captains
tonight that IF Roosevelt starts a riot,
| Wen make 1t a good one for him, and
then, even II he wins, his prize won't
bring anything in a pawnshop. We
haven't been making as much noise AZ
Roosevelt and the gang back of him.
but we are in the right and propose
to fight for law and order just as Bit
terly as he and his crowd are deter
mined to fight for lawlessness and dis
order
Roosevelt Brings Optimism.
The Roosevelt view of the situation
is characteristically optimistic. 1t
could not very we'll be otherwise with
J the aggressive colonel clear-eyed and
just running over with a nervous en-
ergy that has kept all the captains on
their toes since the fag-waving excited
mob of men and women voiced its
vociferous welcome in the afternoon.
Il Echoing the spirit of the California
Roosevelt delegates, who held a meet
Ing this afternoon and Resolved to go
the limit" to compel the nomination Of
the colonel Dixon. Stubs. Borah, Bill
Finn, Kellogg, Ward, Beveridge, and
Prendergast are chock full of fight to-
night. and very, very sanguine. 1t is.
of course. the natural consequence of
the arrival Of their great, white chief
that the Roosevelt leaders are throwing
OF mimeographed predictions with in
dustrious profiigacy, also that most of
these predictions are utterly absurd.