The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-05-27
THE COERCION
CHARGES ARE
REITERATED
Colonel Roosevelt has Warm
Article in Next Number
of the Outlook.
FIGHT IS ONE OF THE RANK
AND FILE AGAINST THE BOSSES

April Had the Masses OF the Rcpub.
lican Party Been Allowed to Make
Their Choice in all States.
New York. May 27.-1n an editorial
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt. which
will be published in the Outlook
magazine Of June 1. the colonel re-
iterates his charges that President
Taft has been using the federal pat
ronage to coerce southern delegates
and insists that the issue of the cam
patgn Is bossism. The editorial reads
In part:
This campaign has been a fight by
the rank and file against the bosses.
1t Is We progressives who are the real
republicans. because it is We who are
standing along with the rank and file.
The popular primaries have shown
that the republican voters want to
govern themselves.
Every party has to have it's lead
ers. The true party leader is the man
who tries to lead and not drive the
voters, and to put into effect their de-
liberate Judgment. He has the right
and the duty to go before the voters
and try to persuade them. but he has
no right. by trickery or violence. to
try to impose his own will upon them
against theirs.
I'm this campaign we have shown
that wherever the people have a
chance to express themselves they
nave no use for: bosses. Eleven states
including Ohio. have allowed the vot-
ers of the party to express their
wishes. Out of three hundred and
twenty-four delegates elected at these
primaries, the most that Mr.. Taft
could secure with the help of party
and patronage. and with
the bosses on his side, amounts only
to forty-eight. The only states where
Mr.. Taft has secured his real VIC
tories are the states where the narty
Is in control. not of the people. but
The only question that remains
now Is. who is to be master-the boss
or the people?
When he was speaking in Ohio.
President Taft said, 'bossism is q
false issue and Il sham. Is it? The
republican voters in Ohio. where Mr.
Taft made that statement. did not
think so. They joined with the re-
publican voters of Illinois and Penn
sylvania and Oregon and California
anu IIai lduu anu GNeUTdSkd, dnO
Wisconsin and North Dakota in de-
Gliding that they did not want what
the bosses had been telling them they
must have. The only reason that this
fight has taken SO long. the only rea
son that it was not finished two
months ago is that there have been
only eleven states in which the vot-
ers have had a chance to show plain
ly what they want If they had had
this chance in all the states instead of
eleven, the result would have been
settled in April.
Is Bossism a False Issue?
''Is bossism, then, "a false issue and
sham.' as Mr.. Taft says? Let us
see. This is what the republicans of
North Carolina think about 1t. After
instructing delegates for me. the re-
publican state convention at Raleigh
by unanimous vote adopted this res
olution:
Whereas. President Taft did on
the seveneeth day of March by single
order withdraw from the senate the
nominations of ten citizens Of North
Carolina without assigning any rea-
son therefor. and without any charg-
es against the character or qualifica-
tions of said nominees; it being un-
derstood that the fate of the nominees
Is to await the actions of this con-
vention-the appointments to be
awarded to the factional leaders who
shall deliver the largest number of
delegates to Mr.. Taft.
This action of the president is
indefensible and in flagrant violation
of the statutes governing the civil
service.
"'We unhestitatingly repudiate, re-
sent and rebuke the whole proceed
1ngs and all parties thereto
1.-THE republican voters of North
Carolina have had a good example
of bossism land they have decided
that 1t is not a sham or a false is
sue. but real and true.
That Is one way in which bossisrn
becomes real issue and live is
sue. Another way is that which has
been used in the state of Washington.
Although there was no sta wide pri-
ty committees were authorized by the
law to order the election of dele
gates to the state convention at prl-
maries. This was done in two coun-
ties. one of them including Seattle
and in both the primaries were car
ried by the Roosevelt delegates. In
all. the Roosevelt forces carried
eighteen counties; the Taft forces
only six counties. the remaining coun-
lIcb UcluS OltlOcu COuIOSl0O. 1H0
state committee, which was in the
control of Taft men chosen two years
ago. assumed authority that was un-
precedented. and arbitrarily decided
the contests. The Post Intelligencer,
which is a pro-Taft paper. published
the story that the state committee.
in an effort to appear fair. seated one
Roosevelt delegation. and then. hav-
ing found that 1t had miscounted.
without further evidence reversed it.
self in order to secure a Taft majority.
cluding hundred and twenty-one
delegates legally elected at the pri-
maries. and by substituting delegates
chosen by the bosses. undertook to
steal the state. This is the way the
Taft men held their convention. The
locked doors Of the convention hall
were guarded by platoon Of police
men to prevent the entrance of the
rightful delegates. A clear majority
Of the delegates, however. met in con-
fOrmity with the regular call for the
and elected Roosevelt DEL
egates' to the national convention in
accordance with the will Of the vot-
ers. In the state Of Washington the
issue Is a real issue and a live is
sue-the issue between the rank and
file on the one side. and the bosses
on the other.
similar efforts to substitute the
will of the bosses for the will Of the
people were made In Kentucky, in
Indiana. in Michigan. in New York,
and notoriously In the south. Now
the nght that once seemed almost
hopelessly one-sided 10 ending in a