New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-07-05
I. R. GIVES TAFT SEVENTY
All Others of 56l Nominating
Votes Fraudulent, He Says.
SAYS HE HAD $50 VOTES
Colonel Writes in The Outlook
He Had President Beaten
Seven to One in Primaries.

The current issue OF The Outlook" has
an editorial b" Theodore Roosevelt, on
ttled "1fr Taft's Majority: An Analysis,
In which the contributing editor says the
Chicago convention makeup was frnudu-
lent and It's action fraudulent and binding
on no Republican. IT should be repudiated
by every man who sincerely believes IN
honesty" writes Mr. Roosevelt. who takes
his pen in hand and does some figuring.
When through with his mathematics he
announces that Mr.. Taft was morally on
titled TO only seventy Of the 6jl votes that
nominated him.
After quoting from Western papers who
follow his own idcas. the colonel says.
When I went into the contest for the
nomination l was, Of course, gifted against
very heavy odds. To start with, Mr. TAFT
ad more than go delegates from Jhe ter
rltories and from states controlled 10y fed
eral of1ceholders In which there was no
real Republican party, and he thus began
tbs contest with nearly half tht necessary
number Of delegates TO nominate him.
In addition he had with him the votes
Of certain purely boss-coutrOlled states,
Ike New York. Connecticut, Rhode Island
Utah, Wyoming and Colorado, where me
voters had no chance 10 express their pref
erence and where the leading papers were
controlled by the special interests. 80 that
the sources OF general information were
choked and the truth was sedulouslN mo
den from the people. AGING these votes
TO the others. Mr.. Taft had nearly four
hundred delegates in whose selection the
people had no say whatever.
Nevertheless we started m. making our
fight especially in the primary states. III
these states the rank and file OF the ne.
publican voters had their say instead ol
the politicians. and In these states VIC beat
Mr.. Taft on the popular vote, NOR" than
two 10 one IN total vote OF tnTce nllion
OF thereabouts and in delegates beat him
very nearly in the proportion OF seven 10
one.
so overwhelming was our victory in the
states where the people had even partial
chance to express themselves In primaries
that we oVercamc Mr.. Tdfts nearly soma
yote from the rotten borough states ana
among the boss-picked delegates, and OBJ
faired a clear majority of al the delegates
elected to the convention-that IL, about 500
delegates. .
and under the personal supervision OF MS
private secretary and one member OF ms
Cabinet, Messrs Barnes, PenTose, GuSgtn-
helm Crane. Franklin, Murphy and Mr.;
Iafts other lieutcnants proceeded 10 stedi
from the people enough DELEGATES lraudu-
lently 10 convert my majority into MINOR
ity.
The contributing editor dissects the nom
mating vote for Mr. Taft. remarkng that
at SCI II was twenty more than the
majority neces AIRY to nominate. From
these he subtrs rs two votes, which lie says
the chairman Mr.. Root. I'm his capacity
Of modern Autoycus the 'snnpper-uP or
unconsidered tribes took from Massachu-
sets" The title OF seventy-eight Roose-
Welt delegates. he says, was absolutely
plain. and thus he estimates that Mr..
Taft's vote sinks al once 10 is1. or sixty
less than were required FOR his nomina-
ton.
These 81 represent the maximum OF
legally obtained votes which Mr.. Taft could
claim In the convention" the colonel
writes.
BY a process Of Roosevcltian deduction
the colonel next strikes out the twelve
votes from the territories, which cast no
electoral votes, subtracts Florida Georgia.
Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina and
Virginia where. he saws. there Is no real
Republican party" and even shears away
the boss picked delegates from the states
where the people had no choice"
There remain about seventy delegates
and 10 these the colonel comedies and adj
mits that Mr. Taft is morally entitled.