The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-05-10

Cause Which Can Only be
 Furthered by Support ing Me-
 Thus Roosevelt in Letter to R.
 A. Caswell, Chairman Min nes0ta Roosevelt Com
 mittee
 New York, May 1O-The Roosevel, committee today gave out a copy of a letter sent to R. A. Caswell, chairman of the Minnesota Roosevelt Commit. tee. in which Roosevelt declares tha, there is just one candidate whom it it possible to nominate against the boss. es and that is himself. The letter fol lows:
 T wish it had been possible for me to go again to Minnesota Unfortu. nately it is physically impossible Nine states have now held presiden. tial primaries, or their equivalent North Dakota, Wisconsin. Illinois Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Oregon New Hampshire. Massachusetts and Maryland. These states, the only one. in which there has been a free chance for the expression of the popular will are to be represented by ,25e dele, gates in the Chicago convention. For. ty of these delegates are instructed for President Taft, and 216 arc against him. He has carried but two of the nine states-New Hampshire anu Massachusetts-wh in Massa- chusetts the Roosevelt delegates al large were elected by over twice the majority which MT. Taft obtained on preferential vote. In Maryland the majority against Nr. Taft was ahout the same. approximately. as the ma- jorities for him in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In the other seven states ma1orittes against him fangl from two to one to twenty to; one,
 .'In all the states together about three out of every four of the. Repub- ltcanS who voted at the prt1nariee could be held In. .aii He 1tates. there rs would undoubtedly be no substantiaj VI ioSion sA1Vu1 tneSe A8ureSs aA0NMr Taft could by no possibility hGv& two hundred votes in the Chicago conven- ton. MT. Taft's chances of re-nom- inAtfon lie solely in securing at Chi. cago delegates who will mfsrepresent the will of the people. He can get these delegates. not in the primary states. but in the convention states where delegates are chosen under the old system. and even in these states he can only get them where the state is ruled by a boss. After a prolonx- ed experience of me as president prac- tically all of the big bosses in the Re- publican party dislike me so heartily tion because favored it. They were afraid that MT. Taft would give them the same kind of trouble that I had given them. After three years and a half experience of MT. Taft since he has been elected, these same men have turned around and heartily favor his re-nomination. They were opposed to posed to me now. They were opposed to Mr. Taft four years ago when they had not tried him as president, and they heartily support him now. These men include, for instance, MT. Gallin- ger in New Hampshire, Mr. Aldrich in Rhode Island, Mr. Penrose in Penn sylvania, MT. Keiling in Indiana, MT. Lorimer in Illinois. Messrs. Gugeeh. helm and Evans in Colorado, Nr. Cal houn and the Southern Pacific rail- way crowd In California and the Amalgamated Copper crowd in Mon- tana and in your own state they in- clude MT. Smith and Mfr. Tawney. The fight Is a nation-widev light of the plain people against the bosses There is just one candidate whom 1t Is pos- sible to nominate against the bosses, and that is myself.
 Every vote for every other candi- date from now on is in reality a vote the bosses in Minnesota, as 1t is ev. anywhere else. A vote for Mr. Taft Is vote for the bosses: it is a vote for Lorimer. for Penrose. for Guggen- helm, for Gallinger. and for all the rest of them. and it is a vote for nesota, or in Massachusetts, or in Ohio, or New Jersey or California. I became a candidate only when I be- came convinced that no other progres. sive candidate could by any possi- bility be nominated against Mr. Taft. The contest has gone so far as to make it now evident that certainly can be nominated against MT. Taft, and that either I shall be nominated or else a reactionary will be nom. mated.
 ''It is also evident that not only every progressive republican, but every man who believes in decency and honesty in politics, who is against boss rule and for the genuine rule of the people, and is for the elimina- tion of special privilege and for effi- cient endeavor to secure social and industrial justice, can achieve his purposes only by supporting my can- didacy.
 My personal interest is of no con- cern one way or the other, but 1t happens that at this time typify and embody the great cause which can only be furthered by supporting me. Almost everywhere I have been able to appear personally in this campaign and fight the boss we have beaten them. and ask that Minnesota stand beside Oregon and Illinois, Pennsyl. vania and Nebraska, Maine, Kansas and Maryland, in this fight.
 (Signed),
 THEODORE ROOSEVELT" SvH