The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-09
Prepare to Batter the Steam Roller to Atoms
 With It
NEW REPLIES TO
 DIXON'S CHARGES
Both Sides Are Desperate and Spec tacle Is Enjoyed Only by Those on the Sidelines-Many ln-
 ducements Are Offered
Nv LANES MoNTAGuE

IS more eontesting Roosevelt delegates from Arkansas. Florida and Georgia had been carelessly tossed Into Wabash lavenue by the national committee to- Iday, the Roosevelt leaders got out the lbig stick, dusted 1t off and prepared to batter the steam roller to atoms with t.
 A vigilance committee headed by "Bill" Finn, the Pennsylvania bass, was appointed to go after the delegate footing Taft men. The committees in tention is brutally direct.
 It visits every delegate and addresses him thus: "lf Roosevelt is beaten, we are going to hold a convention of our Iown, probably right on the scene of carnage. That will beat Taft. The lonly way you can hope to win in No- Iyember Is by voting for T. R. Think 1t over"
 Finn. who Is of burly build, iron gray as to hair, and close cropped moustache, steely blue eyes and the owner of a chin like the ram Of battle ship. thought out this plan 1S minutes after his arrival here today.
 Dixon Welcomed
 ! Dixon welcomed 1t joyously A meet ling of 15 delegates, chiefly from pri- mary states. was got together before most Of the politicians had breakfast. Among them was Governor Stubbs or Kansas one of the inventors or the Roosevelt boom and a very Leonidas In a fight.
 There was little discussion. Film stated hia proposal We can knock leverything out of their steam roller, he said. "as soon as the delegates ge' ihere The only thing to do is to gral Itbem nnsi hang on 70 them
 ond meeting, which was told by Bain- bridge Colby how to keep within the flaw. the l5 members went out after such delegates as are already here. They will meet daily till convention time and will not be disturbed even 1T the remaining 1s0 Roosevelt contes- ants go the way of their hapless pre- | decessors
 The vigilance committee is composed as follows: William Film, chairman. Pennsylvanla: k. A. Knox, secretary, Michigan: T. K. Neidrnghaus, Mis- souri; w k. stubbs, Kansas; G. C PriestlM Oklahoma Dwight Hurd' Ari- zona; Irwin M. Lee Indiana; Nathan Marlam Nebraska; F. L. Purdy. Min nesota: John |. Hamilton. Illinois; & & McNineh, North Carolina. Robert Burton, North Dakota; lI. A. Dickson. California; II. N. Coe. oregon, and Galen l.. Tait Maryland. Notice that most of them are westerners. All of them are savage lighters.
 There Is no longer any doubt that if the Taft men try the tactics on the convention floor that they have pursued in the national committee yeritable knockdown and drag out will result.
 Very Peaceful--Not
 Already there is about as much peace around here as there Is at dog fight Even the colonel and the President in their happiest hour were never so pie turesauely descriptive of each other as are the men who are now representing them in Chicago
 Harry New replied to Dixon's charge that the reactionaries are murderins the republican party with the remark We murdered it. Why, they are not only planning to murder it, but to mu- tilate the corpse afterward
 Huh" commented Boies Penrose, who stood puffing a black cigar as he lowered over the other committeeman. Not even assault has been committed Then he added, reflectively. Not yet.
 George W. Perkins. growing suddenly sensitive about questions as to when he was going to open the pay win dow for Roosevelt departed in the aft ernoon for Cleveland. He sat In some of the councils in the morning and left, predicting an overwhelming victory for the colonel.
 Perkins place as a strategist was taken by Walter Brown. who started all of Taft's present troubles when the na- tionaI committee met in Washington in December Brown was made an honorary member of the vigilance com mittee, as was also Senator Borah, who quit bucking the steam roller a the coliseum long enough to sit with the vigilantes at both their meetings
 The fear that the colonel, despite as- | surances to the contrary, is likely to drop into town and start something at any mos nent, still hangs as a menace over the Taft tribe. Mckinley said this afternoon that the colonel will be here before the committee gets down 10 the contests in Indiana and Kentucky. which will be about Wednesday.
 Why Mckinley Is in Congress
 "NcKinley does not know what he is | talking about" was Flinn's rejoinder to this. "I asked man from Illinois why they elected Mckinley to Congress. He said it was because he was the biggest liar l fin Champaign and that was an easy way to get rid of him.
 These observations merely give an ink ling of the general tone of the conversa- : ton that Is flying about the coliseum and the congress.
 Just after dinner time one of the wig ilsntes proposed a plan for use in the l event of defeat. ..We'li have a majority Of the members of the national commit tee after the convention said he. All we need to do Is to organize our conven- ton on the floor. nominate our President and vice president and have the new na- tionai committee recognize them as the regular party candidates"
 '.fine." said another member Well tell the delegates we are going 10 do that
 1t will help scare them into line.
 A Taft scheme that the Roosevelt peo- pIs cannot talk about coherently is that of leaving out all the California delegates unanimously on the ground that the pri- niaries were Illegally called The TaIi : (Continued on Page Eleycn)