Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1912-04-04
SP0|LS SYSTEM
USED FOR TAFT
Machine Hard at Work to Over
ride Will of Republican
Voters.
DEBAucHERY is THE RULE
Dissraceful Tactics Observed In In
diana, Kansas and Other States
to Prevent Real Popular
Expression.

rant than any that ever dtsgraced Re-
publican politics have characterized
the fight in behalf of the renomina-
ton Of William Howard Taft to date.
The brutal force of organization,
backed by the tremendous influence of
the spoils system and the debauching
and intimidating effects of corporation
activities in politics, have produced,
In number of recent instances, re-
suits which cannot fail to arouse the
general indignation of the voters ev-
erywhere
BY the sheer force of organization
methods, the Taft men are seeking to
override the will of the people, OBJ
Wously believing that the people will
submit supinely and fail to resent an
open denial of their rights in their
own system of government Some of
these instances make plain why the
Taft supporters have so persistently
and SO stubbornly resisted the election
Of delegates by direct vote Of the
people.
Kansas as Example.
This Is what happened recently in
Kansas. Twenty-seven members Of
the state committee which is COM
posed of one hundred and five mem
bers in ALL met and refused to permit
a presidential preference primary in
that notwithstanding almost I'M
animous Republican sentiment for the
primary-and declared in favor of the
denomination of Taft This action
was effected in this way: Fifty-one
members of the state committee, less
than a quorum, met and without any
right to transact business of any kind,
held this meeting. The state commit
tee is made up of the chairmen of the
different counties who are regularly
elected In primaries. Under the law,
no member can give his proxy to an.
other member. He must represent his
county in person. In the meeting of
the committee held, twenty-four of
the members present were Roosevelt
men. They raised the point Of no
quorum, and to meet this the Taft
men presented several federal office
holders, not members Of the commit
tee, who presented what they claimed
were proxies from absent committee
members
Playing the Game"
These proxies were without value.
Notwithstanding this, the proxy hold
ers were seated by the Taft organiza-
ton men, until bare numerical quor-
UNI but not legal quorum was estab-
oh
the action set forth. There was not
a semblance of legality in the proceed
ings, yet under the circumstances the
public was powerless to prevent the
outrage It's effect is to deprive the
voters of Kansas of the right to
!. choose their national delegates, and
leaves the selection to the discredited
bosses of a machine which was sup
posed to have been wrecked long ago.
Debauching Oklahoma.
Another illustration is furnished by
the third district Of Oklahoma. In
this district when the convention as
sembled the Roosevelt delegates num-
bered 646 and the Taft delegates ITO.
The Taft men controlled the chairman
and other officers of the district COM
mittee. When the latter found they
were outnumbered they withdrew with
the other ITO Taft delegates and held
convention of their own. The Roose-
welt men, outnumbering the Taft sup
I porters nearly four to one, proceeded
to elect delegates pledged to support
Theodore Roosevelt. The boiling min
crity elected two delegates pledged to
Taft. Under no principle of right or
Justice could the Taft delegates estab-
fish the slightest claim to seats in
the convention. But under the organi.
cation system, merely because the dis
trict committee was controlled through
federal office holders by the Taft ad-
Iministration, the Taft delegates are
heralded to the country as the regu-
larly elected delegates and the men
chosen by the overwhelming majority
OF regularly chosen district delegates
and directed to support Theodore
Roosevelt must appear before the ma
tional committee at Chicago as con.
testants.
If the national committee pursues
organization methods they will be re-
fused admittance to the convention.
Tactics In Indiana.
In the first Indiana district, where
former Senator Hemenway directed
the Taft forces, the Roosevelt men
had iifty-two out of ninety-seven mem.
bers of the convention. But here
again the organization controlled the
district chairman and the district
committee proceeded to organize the
convention in behalf of Taft, seating
arbitrarily and without permitting a
vote by the convention, a number of
contesting Taft delegates. The Roose-
welt men could not obtain recognition
and could not make themselves eff
fective except by resorting to physical
force. Under these conditions they
withdrew from the convention and or
ganized one of their own and elected
their delegates. Although holding a
Nnt A.