The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-05-15
ROOSEVELT LEADS
TAFT TWO TO ONE
IN CALIFORNIA
President May Lose Second
Place to La Toilette
DEMOCRATS ARE FOR CLARK
About Half the State Vote Polled at
Primary-Women Voted
Early

San Francisco, May 15Late returns
from yesterdays presidential primary
emphasize still more the victory won
by Col. Roosevelt. He will have the
entire 26 votes from California.
He carried San Francisco and every
congressional district, and nearly
every county. Owing to the many
outlying precincts, it will be two or
three days before the figures are all
in but the Taft managers gave up
when they found that they had lost
this city, where they expected to roll
up a majority that would overcome
the Roosevelt strength in the country
districts.
The vote of the women was not as
large as expected and appears to
have been principally for Roosevelt
as his lead is largest in precincts
where the vote of the women was
most noticeable.
Figures today indicate that Roose-
welt polled a clear majority, over both
Taft and La Toilette. Taft got more
votes than La Toilette in the city,
but in many country precincts the
president ran third
San Francisco, Cal, May "A
With ten per cent of the
state vote counted at 8 o.
clock tonight midnight New York
time,) il is plain that Roosevelt has
carried California by more than two
to one and that Taft will do well II
he figures second on the list.
The tremendous vote cast for
Roosevelt was unexpected except by
few of his warmest partisans. 1t is
to be explained in several ways. Most
of the women who cast their first
vote today have voted for the spectac-
ular candidate Then most OF the
Federal Office holders here, and es-
pecially Custom House officials, TO
show their resentment against reduc-
tons of salary, voted against Taft.
TO these must be added the Progress
siyes and all who believe that Taft
has not carried out the policies OF
his predecessor.
In the southern part Of the state.
where a straight Republican ticket
usually is voted, the OBJECTIONS from
Taft were heavier than in Northern
California. The early returns from
Los Angeles show that Roosevelt is
polling to over Taft.
In Pasadena. the home Of many
wealthy people. Roosevelt scored
to over Taft.
The same proportion holds good In
Riverside and Santa Barbara.
In San Francisco a large percen-
tage of the 26,57O women who had
registered, voted. Many women act
ed as election officers. and proved ca
pable and efficient. The women as
a rule have no trouble, and knew all
about the methods used at the polls.
Although it was not thought that
Roosevelt would carry San Francisco
II looks now as though he would
have vote larger than that OF Taft
and La Toilette combined.
Seventy complete precincts in San
Francisco give. Roosevelt 1861. Taft
1856, and La Toilette, 1406.
Ninety.nine scattering San Francis
co precincts give Roosevelt 40l7, Taft
3406, and La Toilette, 1907.
Early figures show that La Toilette
instead of cutting down the vote OF
Roosevelt, has really cut into Taft,
and possibly made the president third
in the running throughout the state.
Later returns, however. may change
the relative places of Taft and La
Toilette.
Here are some of the early re
turns:
Twenty-Five complete precincts in
San Jose give Roosevelt 1909; Taft,
AZ and La Toilette, 81.
Los Angeles-First eight precincts
give Roosevelt, 1903; Taft, 1875 and La
Toilette, 1876.
Partial returns from some pre-.
cincts in several cities show Roose-
welt and Taft running almost neck
and neck.
In the Democratic fight Champ
Clark has carried California by n
majority OF 2 to /. His vote both In
San Francisco and throughout the
state is more than twice that of VIII.
son. and in many places he viii poll
a vote of to |. In Southern Cali.
fornia, Clark polled the same surpris'
ing vote that Roosevelt did
In San Francisco seventy complet-
ed precincts give Clark 1850, Wilson,
457
Ninety.nlne scattering precincts
give Clark. 1883; Wilson. 56i,
In Los Angeles the Republican wo'
men of California were the FIRST al
the polls, beating the men by hours
as a rule. when the polls opened
there were a number Of women wait
ing in almost every precinct. The
general reason given for this was
that they had to vote early to get
back to their homework
The first ballot cast In Los Angeles
was by Mrs. Edna Bragg, mother OF
eight children, who lives at Az San
tee street, near the river and she said
she must hurry back to the house
She had three of the children with
her when she arrived at the polling
place.
The only interest manifest was al
the opening hour. After that the
polling became lighter and lighter.
Less than half the womens vote II
Los Angeles county was polled ant
less than that of the mems vote Wo
men were represented on both Tai
and Roosevelt tickets and both fac