Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-07-31

@.. .DARIao1DT Va
Standing among the republicans of the
House of Representatives today, Richard
Bartholdt of Missouri challenged the bull
moose TO battle. and claimed that Theo-
dore Roosevelt had tried to kill the re-
publican party when he bolted the con-
vention.
He came with treachery in his heart
and fully determined to bolt if things
were against him. declared Mr.. Bar
tholdt THE cry of fraud was premedi-
tated, and the shameless ejaculation
thieves was the battle cry of the new
party. If he himself had been noI mated
he would have made the race on any old
platform with hts frantic followers shout
ing .Hosanna'.''
The speech was made to prove the
falsity of the Roosevelt claim tE 1t the
national committee had stolen enough
delegates to insure the Taft nomination.
Representative Bartholdt was a member
of the Chicago credentials committee,
heard all the testimony in the confess,
and, in the course of his speech, made
brief reviews of the situations which
have been characterized by the ROOse-
welt side as smacking of burglary and
speech contained replies to the cries Of
theft" in the states furnishing the sew
enty-two delegates in dispute These
We're Alabama. Arizona, Arkansas, Cali
Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and WASH
ington.
Bases Claim on the Record.
Air.. Bartholdt based his Claims upon
the stenographic records of the national
committee and the credentials committee,
which he advocated for use. as text
book for all doubling republicans. Pc
rusal of the evidence. he promised. would
prove TO any one that the Taft delegates
were fairly seated.
Not only will this study confirm ones
faith in the Taft side of the argument.
claimed Mr.. Bartholdt, but a picture of
unparalleled political trickeTy Will be re-
vealed on the other side. He said:
.As result Of his investigation it will
soon dawn upon the student of the evi-
dence that a crime. unprecedented in its
brutality. has been committed against the
republican party by those who have rash
ly denounced the action of the committee
and yillffied its members without know
ing the facts, and whose criticism,
strange to say, was the more bitter the
less familiar they We're with the evil
dence.
Pressure on National Committee.
Representative Bartholdt sketched the
busy days of the convention, reminding
his hearers of the great strain under
which the national committeeman Ia
bored. and of the feeling in the air that
something was going TO happen" lie
spoke of the fact that the hearings over
the contests We're open to the representa-
tives OF the great news associations: that
there were no secrets. no star-chamber
proceedings.
He continued:
I'm the committee room. too the main
question was never the subject Of even
private conversation. There was. however,
tremendous pressure from the outside.
ema mating mainly from the impetuous
followers of the Oyster Bay candidate.
One day We were told the committee
had no right to sit in judgment the
contests and should make room for the
newly elected members. the next day it
was argued that the delegates from the
south should not be permitted to vote in
the convention. as these states never
contributed any electoral vote to a re-
publican candidate. These efforts to force
change of the rules while the game was
In progress We're the more ludicrous be-
cause these rules We're handed down to
us by conventions over which the Oyster
Bay candidate himself has held undisputed
control. Why had he not challenged them
then? All the southern delegates seem to
have been regarded as very valuable acqui-
sitions by that same candidate, judging
from the way in which Mr.. McHarg went
after them and from the indsputabIe
evidence touching attempts to buy them
When all these arguments proved un-
availing with the committee, then came
the attempt at intimidation by physical
force. News reached the hall that the
party's chieftains were to he mobbed
and really there must have been some
foundation to that rumor, for the police
department took extra precautions for the
protection of the committee.
Purpose of Bogus" Contests.
Mr.. Bartholdt made the plain charge
that the Roosevelt people brought con-
tests wherever they could, whether they
believed in them or not for the plain
purpose Of fooling the people into think
ing a preponderance of contests and a
voluminous and all powerful cry Of
fraud would have its effect. On this
point he said:
Altogether there Were 252 seats con-
tested. us by the Roosevelt people and IA
by the Taft people. While the surprising
ly large number of contests filed against
mittee was ignorant OF their real nature
when IL began its work, but after the
first Alabama cases had been heard il
dawned upon the members that they were
bogus contests, started. as an after
thought months after the regular party
conventions had elected Taft delegates
They were the work of Ormsby McHarg.
who had gone south for that purpose
And what is true of Alabama proved to
be also true OF Virginia. Florida and
Georgia In all these states the Roosevelt
| contests were devised for the sole purpose
Of deceivng the public G.. Of making
| a showing for Roosevelt and cutting
| down Taft's uncontested totals
Il do no; ask you to take my word for
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