Arizona republican., 1912-05-16
The Committee Meeting


 IL is an old saying that the repub- ieans do their internal fighting before their conventions and the democrats do theirs after The first part of this saving. which has attained to the dig uity of a provcrb, was well Illustrated yesterday. For it was quite fight that de- voloped between the Taft and the Roosevelt factions at the committee meeting held in this city. There was ;: great deal of language and d good many roeriminations. As a matter of fact, affairs developed into a rather muddled condition; but it has been possible to sift out the salient facts The Republican has favored and still favurs the renomination Of Prcsi- ,+ent Taft; and for that reason it is naturally something of a partisan Yet it believes it is perfectly fair when it says the meeting of the re- publican committee, which was con- trolled by the Roosevelt forces, can hardly, by any stretch of the imagin- ation, he called regular meeting.
 For instance, there was the elimin- ation Of proxies. The recognition ot proxies has always been the practice It has been recognized by all parties in all parts of the country. And that the list should be made up and the rights of the committeeman determined before there was in fact call of the roll is hardly a proceeding that any legally constituted convention will recognize
 This is a plain statement of the case. The Republican is not dealing with sentiment in this matter It is dealing wth the things that happened and their possible effect on the party in Arizona And viewed in that light it is most unfortunate the affair of yesterday should have taken place.
 The truth is the good or the party here in Arizona is of vastly greater importance than the success of any faction or interest. And it is the good of the whole party for which The Re will continue 10 striv- It has it's own views regarding the desirability of nominations; but it plainly recognizes the fact that republican success is more desirable than anything else The Republican desires the nomination of it's candidate-certainly- more than that 1t desires the triumph of rcpublicanism
 This newspaper is also convinced and it's conviction in this matter is based on what transpired yesterday that the meeting held by the Taft supporters was regular in every par ticular The fact is that meeting was attended by d majority of the commit tee: that is. it was attended by a quorum. Also, it met in response to q call by the state executive commit tee. It is therefore difficult to under stand how it's regularity can be ques- toned. It certainly cannot be ques- toned because of the proceedings of the first meeting, so-called, which cannot be called q legal meeting at all
 This is then the status of the case as viewed by The Republican. The contest was, in some particulars. an unfortunate one; but the time is here for a demonstration of the spirit of harmony that has won so many vic tories in the past and which is des- tined to win many more in the future
 It is true the Roosevelt faction ir eliminating the proxies, proceeded un- der the claim that they were acting strictly within their rights. But il may well be asked if the disfranchise- ment of such men as Elmer Warren C. w Johnstone, Claude Cisney, Johr Witherby. J. J. Fraser, J. w. Johnson and C. F. Ainsworth is compatibl, with their ideas of fairness and jus tice