Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1912-08-14
THE FRAUD ISSUE.
the New York Times independent

Theodore Roosevelt is go accustomed
to getting the worst of it in disputes
directly involving the issue Of
veracity that nobody will be surpris
ed by his fippant disregard CT Chair
man Hilles review of the contested
delegates cases in the Chicago conven-
tion, showing that the colonel's cry
of fraud. and his assertions that the
nomination was stolen from him and
given to Mr.. Taft by the thieves. are
absolutely without any basis of fact
But among Dir, Roosevelt's close
friends and supporters there ara men
of good minds and good morals.
There are men who, we believe,
would not knowingly lend their
support to a dishonest cause. What
are these men gong to do with Mr..
HilIes' review of the evidence
Will they read it? Will they con-
slider with open minds the array of
facts he presents There were 238
contests against Taft delegates, Of
which 1874 were abandoned by the
Roosevelt party. leaving only seventy
four to be examined. These were
found to be either based upon absolute
dishonesty or they we're in every case
so devoid of merit that the decision
of the national committee and of
the credentials committee were
adverse to the contestants. Chair
man HilIes states the circumstances
in each case. 1t is a convincing
statement. It carries the conviction
that Mr.. Taft's nomination was given
to Tim by the deliberate judgment Of
, majority Of the lawfully elected
delegates.
It is demonstrated that Mr.. Roose-
| veit's cry Of theft is a false and
fraudulent pEetense. Even if the
seventy -four contests had been de-
cided in his favor, he would not
have had majority of tbs convention
How can he have the audacity, there
fore, to insist that the nomination
was stolen from him? He went into
the convention with too few delegates,
he was beaten. He had no more rea-
son for contesting the result, for
setting up his cry of fraud, and for
putting himself into the field as
candidate, than Mr. Arthur had in
1884, Mr.. Hill after Mr. Cleveland S
nomination in 1892, or than Mr..
Clark or Mr. Underwood had after the
Baltimore convention. Yet he came
away from Chicago crying fraud to
the four quarters of the heavens. He
contributed to the Outlook a long
article with the title Thou Shalt
Not Steal, - in which he brought the
charge of deliberate fraud and theft
against the party managers in con-
troll of the Chicago convention.
The point of interest now is what
the honest men among his followers
are going to say. The responsible
conductors Of the Outlook, for in
stance What opinion will they ex-
press of Mr.. Hilles' report? They
have permitted their contributing
editor to Witty and abuse the better
part Of their communities They
have furnished to Mr. Roosevelt the
medium through which ne makes his
charges of theft and fraud. The
charges are disproved Will the con-
ductors of the Outlook pay any atten-
tion to the matter, or will they con-
tinue to give their collusive support
to his false accusations?
Association with Mr.. Roosevelt
ought not to blunt the moral sensi-
bilities of honest men Yet it is inn
possible to see how honest men can
continue to give faith and credit to
his completely exposed fabrications
about the theft at Chicago We are
aware that it the theft issue is taken
from him, nothing remains of his
campaign but himself The only pos
sibIe pretexs for his candidacy is the
charge that the nomination was stolen
from him. That is not true The
third term campaign now represents
nothing on earth but the personal
ambition Of Theodore Roosevelt.