The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-21
YESTERDAY WAS ONE .OF EXCITEMENT AND GREAT CONF US|ON Report That Col. Roosevelt Released Delegates
 Proves Incorrect HE MAKES HIS
 POSITION CLEAR Reiterates Determination Not to Recognize Action of Convention,
 But Delegates May Suit
 Themselves

exciting and confusing or the conFeHeioii' The sensation caused by Colonel Roose- velt's advice to his delegates to organize another convention in the Coliseum had scarcely gotten under way when 1t was increased by the announcement of ex- Governor Post of Porto Rico that Col onel Roosevelt released his delegates from all obligations to him.
 Governor Posts announcement was given out at 1O:90. At 11:15 o. K. Davis of the Roosevelt headquarters announced that Colonel Roosevelt had denied making any such statement Shortly after it was denied by Senator Dixon and later by other Roosevelt leaders, and the col onel himself. There were reports of frlc- ton between Governor Hadley and Col onel Roosevelt, but these were also de- nied.
 Makes Position Plain
 Colonel Roosevelt, before his political advisors and a personally selected num- Der of delegates instructed for him, lat' this afternoon read statement Of ms position in the republican nomination fight and left 1t to them to decide what po- sition they would take in the struggle
 MT Roosevelt called before him two delegates from each of the states which has supported him, and the leaders In ms campaign. Alter outlining his position, declaring he would continue his fight on principles he had outlined from tlN be- ginning, the colonel left the room and the delegates and leaders sat down to de- liberate what should be done.=
 Colonel Roosevelt returned to the con- at n m walking AnC arm with Governor Hadley of Missouri, to the meeting room
 ROosevelt's Statement
 Following is the full text of the state ment issued by MT. Roosevelt this after noon:
 "The time has come when I feel that must make certain statements not mere ly to the honestly elected members of the republican national convention, but the rank and file of the republican party and to the honest people of the entire nation
 .'I went into this fight for certain great principles. At the moment l can only serve those principles by continuing to bear the personal responsibility which the advocates have brought me. On behalf of these principles, l made my appeal straight to the people themselves. l went before them, I made my argument in the full, and every move 1 made was In the open without concealment of any kind The opposition to me was extraordinarilS bitter, for I was opposed by practically the phalanx of the big beneficiaries oi special privileges, of the big politica bosses, with back of them, of course, the many big newspapers which are con trolled by or in the interest of the bosses and special privileges.
 Nevertheless in the appeal to the peo- pie 1 won. In many of the republican states and of democratic states where there is allarge and real republican party primaries of different kinds were held and a substantial expression of the will of the people was obtained. In these state primaries some three million voters the rank and file of the republican party cast their votes. I beat MT Taft con- siderably over two to one. In these states l obtained about six delegates tc MT. Tafts one. Nearly three-fourths oi my delegates came from these primary states, where the people had chance to express themselves.
 Had No Real Majority
 MT Tafts strength as indicated by the two roll calls taken consisted chiefly (aside from his 90 stolen delegates) of the nearly solid delegations from the terri tories and from the southern states, ir which there is no real republican party
  bama, Arkansas Mississippi. Louisiana and of northern states like New York where the delegates were picked by the bosses
 Tn spite of these odds against me, I ob- tained a clear majority of all the dele, gates elected to the convention.
 ''In my campaign again and again stated that if the people decided against me, I would have nothing to say; but if daci1aI mo the nOlifiriar then robbed me of the victory I would moi sit and tamely acquiesce It was already evident that my opponents, with MT Taft's encoura cement intended to beat me by foul means. if they could not do so by fair. The crucial but not the only ster 1 in the concerted and hitherto successful effort to cheat the people out of the vic l tory they had fairly won was taken IT I by the now defunct national committed | which without one show of justification 1 and with cynical contempt of the most ordinary rules of decency in making the temporary roll call, unseated 90 fairly elected Roosevelt delegates and substi tuted for them 90 Taft delegates, who ir the convention represented nothing what. ever but successful fraud.
 Entitled to 90 More Votes ''I was clearly entitled to all these 9t delegates; all the 90 possessed clearer ti- ties than the uncontested Taft delegates from New York, and as to 70 of them with their titles as flimsy as those oi any other delegates in the convention. MT. Root was elected and Governor De neen's resolution for partly cleansing the roll of fraud was defeated by the vote Of these 90 fraudulent delegates, the last being Q vote on a straight moral issue the result of which, in my judgment ought to render it impossible for any man longer to take part in proceedings of the convention as now constituted. The ma jority in each case was slightly over 30 In each case therefore if it had not beer for the hitherto successful rascality oi some white men which placed the fraud ulent names on the roll and permitted the men to vote, the case of decency would have won; MT. McGovern would have been elected in place of Mir Root, Governor Deneen's motion would have prevailed and the republican national convention would now have been exercising in good faith the high. honorable and vitally inn portant function of honestly representing the wishes. the judgment and the interest of the plain people who make up the mass of the republican party. Instead, it now represents nothing but successful political fraud perpetrated in the interest of po- litical and fnancial privilege.
 T understand that Mir Root has an nounced that none of the stolen dele gates will be allowed to vote on his own case but that all will be allowed to vote on one another's cases. Such a ruling is sheer denial of justice and fair play This case bears no analogy to ordinary cases, where contesting delegates have no connection with one another and where there Is no general conspiracy. which must be considered ps a ---hair ''
 "All these GO fraudulent delegates were seated by the same votes of tne same na-