Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-06-18

| Root would be elected temporary chair
man. tomorrow. Col. Roosevelt and his
! staff however, spent much Of the day in
| centering the fight on Mr.. Root the COLI
| oneI going so far as TO appear before the
| Illinois delegation in person and make
direct appeal to his Sc instructed dele
gates to vote against the Tart candidate
for presiding officer. 1t was reported
later that 20 OF the Illinois delegates, in
structed for Roosevelt, would vote for
Mr. Root,
| Gov Deneen denied this and asserted
| that not more than eight of the delega-
ton would support the New York sena-
| tor.
| Senator Root, the prospective storm
center of the first great fight. was III.
tonight, but hoped To be in condition. to-
morrow, TO make the opening address.
The Taft people, tonight. selected For
mer Representative James E. Watson of
| Indiana, as the floor leader to oppose
| Governor Hadley of Missouri.
/ Incidentally the Roosevelt minority
members of the national committed are
preparing protest to file before the
committee on credentials when it comes
| to pass upon the contested seats. The
most vigorous fights will be made in the
cases OIL the Two GtitSdttS HUN tIif 'At
Alabama, the two from the 4th California
and all of the Roosevelt delegates in the
Texas aud Washington delegations This
protest eventually Will be taken to the
floor of the convention.
Every move in the Taft program will
be stubbornly contested. and it will only
be as last resort that bolt or a sec
| ond convention in the convention hall
will be called
The Taft headquarters issued state
ments, tonight, declaring that nearly all
| of the delegates claimed. last night, by
the Roosevelt people as having gone oyer
to their side, today had signed pledges
of fealty to President Taft
Col. Roosevelt before going to the
Auditorium mass meeting, tonight, ex-
pressed confidence that his followers
would control the convention and that
he would be named as the candidate
for President, Senator Dixon, head of
| the Roosevelt campaign spent hours
talking with Southern delegates, many
| of them Negroes, and tonight reter
ated his claim that many of the Taft
delegates had come over to Roosevelt.
He said:
You can put it down that we viii
toillitl lile VI SdnlSdtipii anu NUM-
nate Roosevelt | think we will name
Senator Borah for temporary chairman
| in place of Mr. Root. We will have
at least 4S majority for Roosevelt for
the nemination.''
Not more than eight and probably
not moro than six of our delegation
will vote against the Roosevelt nomi
| nee for temporary chairman" said Gov.
Danoep Of JlIfuafc
Summarizing the events of the day,
the Taft managers, tonight. issued
statement declaring that here had been
no OBJECTIONS from the Taft column
and that the efforts of the Roosevelt
managers to secure Taft votes was
confession of weakness.
THAT President Taft has an ample
number of votes for his denomination
has been conceded by Col. Roosevelt
throughout the day said the state
ment. This concession takes the
| strongest possible form-fraAtic efforts
to induce Taft delegates to violate
their Instructions. Another evidence
| is the fact that nothing is being done
| by the Taft forces to induce Roosevelt
| delegates to desert and go to Taft.
Since coming to Chicago Col
Roosevelt has completely abandoned
his strenuous insistence that all he
| wanted was the popular expression OF
| the people, He now wants delegates
who are instructed for Taft and wants
them badly.
The campaign of blow and buster
! is about ended. and there is no defee-
| ton in the ranks Of the Taft people
| President Taft is entitled to renomi-
nation and it is proposed to use all
honorable means to obtain 1t for him
This is the third day that the Roose-
welt people have tried to cause
stampeded by misrepresentation of
| facts and claims of detection from the
| Taft ranks, and for the third time it
has signally failed
| The Roosevelt delegation from Cal
| ifornia, today, sent to each delegate
| to the convention and to each Ma
| tional committeeman statement Of
| the contest in the 18th California Dis
| trict Before the National committee
/ which seated the Taft contestants.
| The letter characterized the case as
| An assault on the whole primary
| system"
| IF the principle in this case is to
| stand said the letter no primary
| law is safe. The facts are briefly that
| two delegates elected and certified I'm
| der Che California law We're arbitrari-
| ly excluded. not on any claim that
| they we're not elected but on q de-
| cision by the national committee that
the law OF California under which
| they were elected was invalid because
not in conformity with this years cali
Of the National Republican committee.
In other words, when the call and the
law differ they say the law must
yield
| The letter was signed by Governor
| Hiram Johnson of California and urg-
ed careful consideration of the case
At second caucus tonight. Al mem
| bcrs Of the Illinois delegation voted to
| support any candidate fer temporary
chairman presented by the Roosevelt
| faction. 1t was assumed that the can
didatc would be Senator Borah Six
voted in favor of Senator Root, four
di1 not vote and seven were absent.
An IN