The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-06-18
u Have Made My Fight Fair
and Square in the Open
AND HAVE WON" HE DECLARES
~ Don't Intend That My Opponents
Shall Cheat Me Out of It"-Says
Convention Not Binding if Seat
ed Delegates Vote.

nous crowd at the Roosevelt mass meet
ing in the auditorium theatre last night
Many people waited for hours before th'
doors were opened.
In his speech, Col. Roosevelt laid
down two principles. He declared the
delegates whose selection he contests
must not vote in the organization of the
convention or upon the settlement Of
contest and that no action of the
convention based upon votes of those
"fraudulently seated delegates" would
be binding on the Republican party.
This last remark was greeted with
wild outburst of applause.
"If they ask for the sword" said
he they shall have it. | have made
my fight fair and square in the open
and have won. l don't intend that my
opponents shall cheat me out of it.
Col. Roosevelt spoke in part as fol-
lows:
As far MS Mr. Taft and l are per-
sonally concerned, it little matters what
the fate of either may be. But with
Mr.. Taft's aequiesence or bv his direc-
ton, and in his interest. his followers
have raised an issue which ia all inn
portant to this country. 1t is not a
partisan issue; it is more than a po-
litical issue; it is a great moral issue.
II we condone political theft, if we do
not resent the kinds Of wrong and in.
iustice that injuriously affect the whole
nation, not merely our democratic form
Of government but our civilization itself
canuot endure.
II the methods adopted by the ma
tional committee are approved by the
convention which is about to assemble,
a great crime will have been commit
ted, The triumph of such proceedings
at the moment would mean the wreck
of the Republican party; and if such
proceedings become habitual it would
mean the wreck of popular govern.
ment
Our opponents here in Chicago to-
day have waged such a bitter and un-
scrupulous fight for the very reason
that this is no ordinary fractional CON
test. The big bosses VINO control the
national committee represent not mere
ly the led captains of mereenary pol
itics but the great crooked financiers
who stand behind these led captains.
These political bosses are obnoxious in
themselves but thew are even more OBJ
noXious because they represent privilege
IN its most sordid and dangerous form.
The majority OF the national com
mittee, in deciding the cases before Thorn
have practiced political theft in every
form, from highway robbery to petty
larceny and political theft is as dis
honest as, and more damaging than ordi-
nary theft. There is no law to reach
the offenses they have committed, but
morally these offenses are far more Sc
rious from the standpoint OF the ma
tional interest than any of the ordinary
commercial or political offenses which
expose the perpetrators to be brought
before the courts of Justice.
my victories have been won before
the people and by the people, Mr..
Taft's have been won nv the bosses
and by the representative of special
privilege; by the national committee and
by boss-controlled conventions of ma
chine politicians. ! carry Washington !
at the polls; he carried il before the
national committee. He never has had. |
and has not now, chance with the |
people; and | have Just as little chance |
the crooked type of politician |
has power. If | am nominated it will |
be because whenever they have had |
a chance, the verdict OF the people ex-
pressed in millions of votes, has been |
over 2 to | in my favor. If Mr. Taft |
we're nominated it would mean the ruin |
of the Republican party.
When | undertook this contest | was |
well aware of the intense bitterness |
which my re-entry into politics would |
cause. | knew that the powers that |
prey would oppose me with ten fold |
The bitterness they would show in OPP
posing any other progressive candidate,
simply because they do not fear any /
other progressive candidate, we read 4
hey very greatly fear me.
Nowhere else in all the world is there l
such chance for the triumph on
gigantic scale of the great cause of /
democratic and popular government. If Il
We fail, the failure viii be lamented, |,
md our heads will be bowed with |,
,hame, for not only shall we fail our
elves, but our failure will wreck the
ond desires of all throughout the world |,
Wiz lbph tbNaiu US Will LHt AptN uOHt
hat here in this great republic it shall
Ne proved that from ocean to ocean
he people can rule themselves, and thus
uling can gain liberty for and do justice
10Th to themselves and to others. We
Who stand for the cause of the uplift
Il humanity and the betterment of
mankind are pledged to eternal war
gainst wrong whether by the few or
" the many, by plutocracy or by a
mob. We believe that this country
viii not be permanently good place
or any of us to live unless we make
/ reasonable good place for all of
S to live in. The sons of all of as
1iIl pay in the future if we of the pres
mt do not do justice to all of the peo-
lie. Our cause is the cause of justice