The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-29
TAFT DEFENDS TITLE
 ID THE NOMINATION
Statement Given Out Re-
 views Every Contest
IS DETAILED DENIAL
Questions MT. Roosevelt's Sincerity in Making Contests = Explains Speed of Credentials
 Committee

Washington. July 2s.-A statement, ap- proved by President Taft defending his nomination by the Chicago convention, was made public at the White House to- day. It reviews every contest before the republican national committee and the credentials committee of the eonven- tion and asserts that each contest was settled logically, upon it's merits. The statement was submitted to the cabinet at a recent meeting and received appro- val of the Presidents official family.
 The statement. which is lengthy doeu- ment of H printed pages, is a detailed denial of the charge that the renomina- ton of President Taft was accomplished by the seating of fraudulently elected delegates to the convention It takes up individually the 2sS contests instituted by the Roosevelt forces against Taft dele gates who were seated, and presents evil dence in each of these cases to show tha. the Taft delegates were regularly elected
 Resume of Contests
 A resume of the statement prpared by Charles D. Hilles. formerly President Tafts secretary, and now chairman of the republican national committee, takes up each contest briefly
 This resume opens with the declaration that the Roosevelt contests, originally filed before the national committed were not instituted In good faith,
 "The total number of delegates sum- mored to the convention, says the re- sume, "was 107S, with 540 necessary to a choice. MT Taft had 56l votes on the first and only ballot and was declared the nominee. There were instituted against 23S of the delegates regularly elected for Taft. contests on behalf of Roosevelt. These contests were avowed- ly instlgated not for the purpose of really securing seats in the convention, not for the purpose of adducing evidence which would lead any respectable court to en- tertain the contests, but for the purpose of deceivlng the public into the belief that MT Roosevelt had more votes than he really had. as the conventions and primaries were In progress for the selec- tion of delegates. The 23S contests were reduced by abandonment, formal or in substance to "A. The very fact of these 164 frivolous contests itself reflects upon the genuinness and validity of the re- mainder"
 Reviews Arguments
 The resume then enumerates the con- tests and reviews the arguments In each
 
 contests ersb4afed in tiA White House statement is certified to by Victor Rose water chairman of the national commit tee and Thomas H. Devine, chairman of the credentials committee. As an ap- pendix. the statement carries in detail the vote in the national committee on each of the contests, and statement of the dates of the Taft and Roosevelt con ventions in contested states. The object of the latter is to show that the Roose- welt delegates were chosen after the reg ular conventions had named Taft repre- sentatives.
 Another appendix is the report of the credentials committee to the convention. in which the statement issued by the Roosevelt committeeman attacking the majority of the committee was answered. Tn discussing the charge the report said:
 "The statement as whole in its in- situations of combination of unworthy motive in It's recital of alleged facts. is grossly and maliciously untrue. If was intended to convey the impression that the time for hearing cases was so limited as to prevent their being prop erly presented to the committee. The untruthfulness of thls statement Is clearly shown by the records of the of it's deliberations. Not only did the rules make liberal provision for time in presenting the cases, but In every instance where the parties presenting the cages, or any member of the com n1ittee, asked for an extension of time, 1t was granted"
 Committee Speed Explained
 The statement of the Roosevelt members of the committee asserted that the speed with which the creden- tials committee brought in reports made 1t evident that the reports had been prepared beforehand" In reply to this statement the appendix to the White House statement said:
 "Tn regard to the assertion that re- ports were prepared in advance of the action of the committee on credentials no one of the gentlemen who makes this statement will state of his own personal Knowledge that any reports were thus made"
 In concluding. the majority of the credentials committee, defending its de- cisons. said:
 "As to the merits of these contested cases upon which the committee passed 1t should be remembered that the na- tional committee sat for 15 days hearing evidence and argument upon them. Out of a total membership of 53 only IS members of that committee objected to the findings and decisions and they only with regard to part of the cases, the action of the committee having been unanimous with regard to q ma jority of them. The convention de- clined, by substantial majority to re- verse the action of the national com mitfee on credentials. When our com mittee met, rules were adopted by unanimous vote. No one desiring to make complaint as to the seating of any delegate was prevented from pre- senting his case The committee even considered cases which had been de- cided by a unanimous vote of the na tional committee, notably the Indiana case.
 Sustained National Committee
 "The committee on credentials of the republican national convention consists of 53 members The committee in every case sustained the decision of the na- tional committee, and in no case by majorities of less than two-thirds. This statement of facts. indorsed by 40 mem bers of the committee, who listened patiently through all day and all night sessions to evidence and argument in order to be able to judge cases intelli- gently and pass upon them honestly, should be a sufficient answer to the reckless, unwarranted, and untruthful assertions contained in the statement signed by II members of the commit tee. two of whom did not attend ses- sions of the committee, did not hear any of the evidence presented, and nearly all of whom indicated their bias bv voting in every case for the dele ' gates known to be favorable to Mir. 1 Roosevelt. including numerous cases in which the action of the national com mittee had been unanimous for the [ rT4-A