The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-06-02
Signs TIL at Roosevelt
Men Are Weakening
in Their Program.
COLONEL ASKED
TO ABANDON IT
In Formal Statement He Says
He will CofIder It," as Tenn
porary Craftsmanship of Con-
vention Is Not Important
Anyway-Admits That
He May Go to Chicago.
lspeciai to The Times Dispatch,

! fSpeciai to The Times -Dispatch)
/ oyster Bay, NJ ", June l.--That the
pressure which has been brought to
bear from many sources to call off
the Roosevelt opposition TO tho selec-
/ ton of Senator Elihu Root of New
! York. as temporary chairman of the
, Republican National Convention. may
/ result in the selection OF the national
committee being unopposed by a
/ Roosevelt man, was indicated here
thia afternoon After spending two
! hours with Colonel Roosevelt at
Sycamore Hill. the members of tho
Illinois delegation. who came here to
confer on matters of party policy"
went back to New York and i'm
mediately afterward Roosevelt issued
a formal statement which indicated
there was weakening on the part of
! the Roosevelt men on the prospect of
Il fight on Root Roosevelt stated that
! him TO call of the fight, and that
he would carefully consider" their
suggestion. and also confer with other
! Roosevelt men on the subject
Admits He Mny Go.
| Roosevelt admitted the possibility
that he will go to Chicago to lead tho
/ night In person in connection with his
denial that he intended attending the
convention. He said that the Illinois
ard Maine delegations had requested
him to go, but that he stuck by his
| or ginal refusal and would not do so
unless emergencies in the shape of
unfair play" should arise.
Roosevelt in his statement, also
indicated that the nrst real battle for
the control of the convention will
| come when the national committee
assemblies in Chicago to make up the
! temporary roll call. He and his fol-
| W nd hal
tee take the lid off and permit the
| newspapers to be present at the hear
| ings They will Sight a refusal and
en- 'ho decision Of the committee on
this matter will he indicated just how
| 1t will stand on the question of con-
troll as between Taft and Roosevelt
| Roosevelt. in prefacing his statement.
| admitted that he had written to Cover
nor Hadley, of Missouri asking him to
accept the temporary craftsmanship
should the Roosevelt forces control
But you must remember that moth
ing definite has been done in this mat
| ter" he declared.
| The formal Roosevelt statement was
| as follows:
so far as the visit OF the Illinois
delegates TO me this afternoon is con-
cerned. wish TO state that they re-
| gard the question Of the temporary
craftsmanship as unimportant. What
ever the chairman would
! say would only be his opinion and also
that of the national committee. and 1t
| would In no way be tho opinion OF
convention. Their belief was that no
| issue should be made on the temporary
craftsmanship. I answered that I
would carefully consider all that they
said. and would be glad to hear from
| other delegations on this subject.
Protest About Tickets.
Both the Illinois and the Maine
| delegations protested about the matter
vention, saying their delegations have
been allowed a very small proportion
of the tickets allotted. and they said
that It indicated deliberate purpos e
on the part OF the national committee
to use 10000 or 1900 tickets to pack
the galleries with yelpers. who will
try by clamor to overawe the conven-
ton.
They also made the point. to which
agreed. that the hearings on the
contests should he open to the press
All that We are striving for is an alb
solutely honest decision in the con-
tested cases. and there can be no OBJ
tections to the hearings being public
If there Is a determination to decide
these contests on their merits
The delegates earnestly asked me
/ to go to Chicago. ard answered that
my present intention was now not to
go. certainly not unless grave emer-
gencies In the shape OF unfair play
should arise"