Imperial Valley press., 1912-06-21
ty report was then adopted viva voce.
ROOSEvELTS STATEMENT
IS GIVEN IN FULL

CHICAGO, June 2O-Following is
the full text of the statement issued
by Mr.. Roosevelt yesterday afternoon:
The time has come when l feel that
| must make certain statments not
merely to honestly elected members
of the Republican national convention,
but to the rank and file fthe Repub-
lican party and to the honest people
of the entire nation. | went into this
fight for certain great principles. AT
the moment | can only serve these
principles by continuing to bear the
personal responsibility which their ad-
vocacy has brought to me.
"On behalf of these principles
made my appeal straight to the people
themselves. | went before them.
made my argument in full; and every
move | made was i'll the open without
concealment of any kind The opposi-
ton to me was extraordinarily bitter,
for | was opposed by the practically
solid phalanX of big constituencies
politicals bosses, with back of them
practically solid phalanx of the big
constituencies beneticiaries of special
privilege in every FORM and, of course,
the many big newspapers which are
controlled by or in the interest of the
bosses and special privilege.
Nevertheless, in the appeal to the
people, l won.
In many of the Republican states
and of the Democratic states where
there is large and real Republican
party primaries of different expression
of the will of the people was obtained
In these primary states some three
million voters, the rank and file of
the Republican party, cast their votes;
beat Mr.. Taft considerably over two
to one. In these states | obtained
about six delegates to Mr.. Taft's one
Nearly three-fourths of my dele
gates came from these primary states
where the people had a chance to ex-
press themselves.
Mr.. Taft's strength, as indicated by
the two roll calls already taken. con-
sisted chiefly (aside from his 90 stolen
delegateS) of the nearly solid delega-
tons from the territories and from
the southern states, in which there is
no real Republican party-Couth Caro-
lima. Georgia, GlOrida Alabama, Ar
kansas, Mississippi, Louisiana-and of
northern states like New York, where
the people had no chance to express
themselves at primaries, and where
the delegates wer. picked by the
bosses.
In spite of these odds against me,
| obtained a clear majority of all the
delegates elected TO the convention.
In my campaign | again and again
stated that if the people decided
against me | would have nothing to
say; but that if they decided for me
and The politicians then robbed me OF
the victory, l would not silently and
tamely acquiesce. 1t was already evi-
dent that my opponents, with Mr..
Tafts encouragement, intended to
beat me by foul means if they could
not do SO by fair means.
The crucial but not the only step
in the concerted and hitherto success
full effort to cheat the people out of
the victory they had fairly won was
taken up by the new defunct national
committee, which, without one show
of justification and with cynical con-
tempt of the most ordinary rules of
decency, in making up the temporary
roll call, unseated 80 fairly elected
Roosevelt delegates and substituted
for them 80 T; it delegates, who, in
the convention, represent nothing
hatever but successful fraud.
Il was clearly entitled to all these
80 delegates; all the 80 possessed, for
instance, clearer titles than the uncon-
tested Taft delegates from New York
city, and as to 20 of them, their titles
were as f1awless as those of any other
delegates in the convention
Mr.. Root was elected and Governor
Deneens motion for partly cleansing
l1 oe
vote Of these 80 fraudulent delegates;
the last vote being a vote on straight
moral issue, the result of which, in
my judgment, ought to render it impos-
sible for any man longer to take part
in the proceedings OF the convention
as now constituted.
The majority in each case was
CONTINUED ON PAGE FOIYR1