Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-06-06

sentation was not quite complete, a
majority of the members Of the repub-
lican national committee assembled at
the coliseum today prepared to enter
the first day Of ten-day series of
meetings which will determine what
men shall fill 254 contested seats Of a
total Of 1.07S seats on the floor OF the
convention when 1t is called to order
June Is.
This meeting is expected to develop
skirmish between the Taft and Roose-
welt forces which may become highly
important in foreshadowing the line of
fighting that will be carried into the
convention. The Taft leaders, accord
ing to reports from various sources,
have decided to use their claimed ma
jority of the committee to seat Taft
delegates in nearly all Of the many
contests.
Alabama Heard First.
United States Senator Boies Penrose.
Of Pennsylvania. and several other Taft
leaders expressed eagerness to clean
up the preliminary work Of the COM
mittee as quickly as possible and get
down to the actual work Of hearing
contests late today It is possible that
from Alabama, vii! be called before
night
Nathan B. Scott West virginia's
committeeman sent his proxy to Harry
S. New. chairman Of the sub-con1mit-
tee on arrangements. who will deter
mine who will hold it.
Dixon Refuses Proxy.
Senator Dixon, leader of the Roose-
welt forces. was offered a->pEoxy by
member Of the, national committee
whose name he declined to divulge, but
said that in view Of the position taken
by the Roosevelt men regarding the
nom partisanship Of the committee II
would be impossible for him to take
part in the contest hearings.
The proxy of 8. A. Perkins Of Wash
ington will be held by A. NJ. Steven
son. Of Denver, pending the arrival OF
William Barnes from New York
Merrill Moores, Of indianapolis. a
former classmate of President Taft.
arrived today prepared to represent the
Taft men in the Indiana contests.
Disposed to Hurry Matters.
In an effort to expedite decisions in
the contested delegations to the rerub-
lican national convention members OF
the national committee determined to
urge that the contests be taken up i'm
mediately after the preliminaries of or
ganization are disposed Of today.
This change from the original plan,
which limited today's opening session
to matters Of organization, was the
result Of informal conferences at which
1t became apparent that the work of
organization in the national commit
tee would take but an hour or two.
Dixon Confident.
Nomination Of Theodore Roosevelt
on the first ballot and the defeat OF
Elihu Root as temporary chairman OF
the convention was predicted and the
claims Of the Taft managers denounced
as fluff by Senator Joseph NJ.
Dixon. who arrived in Chicago yester-
day to take personal charge Of the
Roosevelt forces
One OF the first things he did after
opening the headquarters in the Con-
gress Hotel was to announce that
hereafter all news Of Colonel Roose-
welt would be given out from his Of
flee.
ANY other statements Of any kind
he said. "will not be official"
Mr. Dixon said that Taft's nomina-
ton is an impossibility.
Whats the use Of talking about it
at all.'' he said. I'VE have got the
delegates and Roosevelt will win hands
down."
Silent on Plan.
The national Roosevelt manager de-
clined to make any sort Of direct
statement regarding the possibility OF
the coionel's coming to Chicago.
He will come IL he thinks 1t neces-
sary," said Mr.. Dixon, "and he won't
come II he doesn't want to. He's the
kind of a man who would try to get to
the moon If he felt that way. Personal
ly, however. I don't know what he In
tends to do"
Old War Horses in the TAFT Camp.
II was remarked by those who were
following the proceedings In both
camps that all the old political war
horses were in the Taft camp, while
the Roosevelt men, with the exception
Of Ward and Littauer. who saw Sena-
tor Dixon, have had comparatively
little experience in the management OF
a presidential nomination campaign
The fight has now reached Q point
where political strategy and rnantpula :
ton is expected to count. Mckinley.
Crane, Penrose. and New are old hands
at this game. and their familiarity with
former rules and precedents II ex-
pected to be of great service In facil-
40