Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1912-08-08

Texas to the national convention must
be elected In the state convention. that
Colonel Lyon. his superior. had thus
directed him. The district committee
was called Seven members attended
the meeting The district convention
was called on May Is. Eleven counties
out Of the fifteen responded to the call
and took part In the convention. Three
counties were not represented. and in
one Of these there was no election.
After this convention had been called
the chairman of the district committee
changed his mind and called q meet
ing Of the committee for April II.
This committee called a congressional
convention to be held on May Is. But
there was no publication Of the call,
which had to be thirty days before the
convention, until April 81. The Taft
convention seems therefore to have
been duly and regularly convened.
while the Roosevelt convention was
not The Taft delegates were seated.
Tenth DISTRICT.
In the Tenth district the decision
turned largely upon the bad faith with
which two members Of the district
committee voted In the seating Of dele
gates and upon the bad faith with
which one Of them used the prSxy In
trusted to him. The Taft delegates in
this case bolted and left the hall and
Immediately In the same building or
ganized another convention. which n
sisted Of delegates from six counties.
Proceedings were regularly held; a per-
manent organization effected, the re-
port Of the committee on resolutions
adopted and delegates pledged to Taft
were elected. The u~ndisputed evidence
indicated that a fragrant attempt had
been made to deprive Taft of this dis
trict, to which he was justly entitled.
The national committee sustained the
title Of the Taft delegates and alter
mates by a practically unanimous vote.
Fourteenth District.
In the Fourteenth district there were
fifteen counties in the district. When
the executive committee met at San
Antonio to make up the temporary roll
there were ten members Of the COM
mittee present whose right to act was
u~ndisputed, of whom six were for Taft
and four for Roosevelt. There were
four other Roosevelt men present
whose right to vote was disputed and
who were clearly not entitled to repre-
vent their county at that meeting. One
of them held the proxy Of the commit.
teeman from Kendall county, who was
dead, and the proxies from three other
counties were held, two by postmas-
tiers and n by an assistant postmas-
ter, while under the election law OF
Texas no one who holds an office OF
profit or trust under the United States
| shall act as a member Of an executive
| committee either for the state or for
any district or county. The temporary
| roll was made up by Taft members,
having a clear majority without per
hitting these men to act under theii
proxies. There was a contest over the
delegation from Bexar county, which
contains the city of San Antonio. Full
consideration was given to this contest
but the testimony was overwhelming
that Taft carried the county by a vote
Of four or FIVE to one. On the proper
basis the total vote in the district con
vention vas sixty-seven, Of which tn,
number instructed or voting for Taf'
was thirty-seven and one-half, thu
number voting or instructed for Roose
welt twenty eight and one-half, not vot
ing one. The Taft delegation wai
therefore seated at Chicago.
CONCLUSION.
The purpose Of this resume of tn,
contests In which there was any shad
ow Of substance has been to inform
those who have not time or inclination
to read the longer and more detailed
account Of them contained In the large
pamphlet 1t is not essential to maxi
Mr.. Taft's title indisputable that al
men agree on every n Of the issues
raised. They were decided by the tri
bunals which uniform party usage hat
made the proper tribunals to decid'
such contests. II those tribunals actet
In good faith mistaken Judgment woult
not %invalidate their decisions. AS
matter Of fact, al examination of tn,
facts show that the tribunals wer,
right In every instance. There Is no
the slightest evidence that they wer,
moved by other than a mere desire t
reach a right conclusion. On the othel
hand, the action Of the Roosevelt mel
In bringing 160 contests that they
promptly abandoned strongly tended
to show the lack Of good faith In tn,
prosecution Of all Of them. Those wht
support President Taft can well AFFORD
to stand on the record In this Ease and
TO asseverate without fear Of success
ful contradiction that the delegate.
whose seats were contested were a,
fairly seated In this convention as ir
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