The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-09

| Do you. mean that there are no qual- | flied electors in Georgia between the 5th of January and the 5th of June?' was asked
 Yes, I think that is true," said MT. | Ryeman.
 | He believed the state of Georgia had | the right through it's registration law to | prevent the election of any delegates to
 a national convention between the dates
 when the registration list is being made | up.
 Honest Confusion, Says McHarg
 Undoubtedly there was honest confu-
 sion in Georgia over the interpretation
 of the law" MT. McHarg said. l He declared that an effort was made | by the Taft factions to keep the electors away"
 Johnson, the Atlanta negro attorney, replied
 The same voters who chose dele gates to this republican convention voted for governor of the state last January and under the same registra- | ton as was used in the election of the Taft delegates. If these delegates were lnot lawfully elected. then the election of the governor was illegal" He added, that the same list of voters was used for the Roosevelt as was used for the Taft conventions"
 "A state convention was properly held February 14 to choose delegates to Chicago" he asserted. Tt was not until two months later" he said, that an effort was made by emmisaries from the north to awaken a sentiment for Roosevelt As a result of considerable expenditure of money a state convention was called and also district conventions which elected men who appear as contesting the seats of the lawfully elected delegates. Not I {..~- ffr.f, was called by any person having any semblance of party authority. Not single member of any regular organi- zation lent his name to the scheme. As | a matter of fact every one of the lead CTS of the Roosevelt movement in lGeorgia. including all the delegates at tlarge and most of the delegates from | In the organization. Some of them had participated in regular conventions but had been defeated" Johnson charged that the enactment | of the state registration was an at tempt to disfranchise negro voters. Then" he added the negro voters were asked to justify law which would rob them of their right to vote.'
 Election Was Held | As further evidence that the Geor- gia law did not prohibit the selection of delegates to Chicago at the time the Taft convention was held Johnson said a justice In Atlanta had been elected | on May G. when the registration lists were said by the Roosevelt people to have been unsettled He showed to the committee registration lists of this election.
 There was confusion in my state as to this law Johnson said, until the advent to Atlanta of a gentleman who was not resident of Georgia and who attempted to tell Georgia lawyers of the law"
 MT. Ryman interrupted at the table at which Roosevelt delegates were sit 1 ting to say that he had taken up the matter before the gentleman you re- | fer to came to Atlanta" The commit 1 tee objected to further controversy over the unnamed visitor to the state | Johnson presented letters to show
 that men had been asked to appoint
 delegates to the convention at which | Roosevelt delegates were selected He
 alleged that if the committee would i examine all the correspondence 1t would l find that certain proposed delegates had | been urged by their friends to bring l proxies instead of other delegates so | that the expense money" would not
 have to be .'whacked up.' | "Everything was harmonious" John | son said. until about the 12th or 18th
 of April when we had a visitor from
 the north. Then everything changed" ;" Johnson received applause when he
 declared there must be an end to these afterthought conventions called only to suit political ends"
 Delegates Are Seated The four Taft delegates at large
 were seated without a roll call
 Committeeman Martin of Virginia moved that they be recognized as reg
 ular and the motion carried with two I or three negative votes.
 Frank D. Kellogg of Minnesota made a motion then to adjourn, because the committee had been in continuous ses- sion for seven hours. This was voted
 down and the First Georgia district contest was called
 | MT. McHarg asked that the first 10
 district contests be consolidated He
 said he was willing to submit them
 on the arguments that had been made
 in the case of the delegates at large.
 Mir Dick agreed a motion was made , to seat all of the Taft delegates and without argument or any request for a roll call the 20 Taft men representing i. all congressional districts from the First to the Tenth were declared ; seated.
 This decision left but two delegates con
 tested pending, the eleventh and twelfth, and work on the eleventh was begun at , once. Johnson in this case also presented } the case of the Taft delegates. He de
 cared all of the Roosevelt contests were pure deliberate after thought, to meet political exigencies.''
 : Referring to the Georgia state con
 vention Johnson said fit was the best : convention we ever had in Georgia No Authority Charged Judson w Lyons of Augusta. negro {, lawyer. declared. for the Roosevelt side 3 that the delegates to the Taft conven- z tion in the Eleventh district were hand ? lricked'' and that the convention did no' 3 represent the voters of the district. H' {, asserted that the committee which called \ the Taft convention had no authority. but had usurped the authority of the distric
 committees
 5 MAssrs I.owden and Littauer asked ! searching questions to determine whether the Taft conventions had been properly l advertised. Johnson declared pubiicit,