The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-06-18
Fate of President and Himself Is
of No Consequence, but Nation
Must Be Saved From Iniquities
of Powers That Prey" and
Threaten Very Existence of
Republican Government.

ne mas any clalm In right or morals,
representing but one-eighth of his
| strength. the other seven eighths re-
| presenting the unscrupulous use of
patronage in the South. the unscrupu-
lous tactics of unprincipled machine
] politicians in the North. and the
I naked thefts OF the national commit
tee.
Tnftr Theory In Practice.
Let me give you TWO striking tllus-
| tratlons OF how Mr. Tafes theory OF
government OF the people by repre-
sentative part" OF the people actually
TURNS out to be in practice In Ohio
| a primary held for the district
| delegates; but the Taft mana gers who
had control OF the State Central Com
| ntttce refused our request that there
should be primary vct. for the dele
| gates at-larse. At the primary beat
| Mr.. Taft by 1900 In n voto which 1yas
about so per cent Of that pooled at tho
last election for Governor. 1t was an
overwhelming reputation OF Mr.. Taft
| by the plain people, By the rank and
| fla OF the Republican part" in Ohio
| But this did not affect the State con-
! vcnt!on. Mr.. Taft was not above send
ing an appeal TO his leaders in tn,
| State convention begging them to give
him the vote anyhow. in spite Of tho
| way In which he had been rcpudiatcd
! at the polls. In that convention tho
County in which the city of Cleveland
| stands had some hfty delegates Tint
nad gone against NJ. Taft about three
TO orc; he had even run behind Mr. La
| Follette. His reputation by Tho neo
| Pie OF the county had been so complete
that II is TO me literally inconrprchen.i-
ole row any man with ny ,,reterG-4nr 10
| honorable feeling could FAIL 10 accent
the verdict. But Mr.. Tafrs l!,,utenan;s.
| headed by Senator Burton. undnrtoolr
| 10 steal from
| deliver whatever verdict they chos.
| Ihc!r task Mas no more reD:tahla ina,
any form Of burglary and was f,,
! more damaging 20 the community than
! burglary. They we're successful. Thny
suHceedec IN getting from tho CITY az
nIeEelhnd which he'd repudiated NJ.
iatt three to oro> at the polls, n delega-
ton OF politicians which was ten 10 on
in his favor. This Delegation turned
the scale at the State convention, and
| earned Mt Tafts ELUSIVE gratitude nv
stealing FOR him from the peopL. OF
ONO the six delegates "a large. He
| was not entitled 20 these del..-a.,z
The people Of Ohio. who wer. det-,,,-
ed IN his interest. were entitled 10
them. The people were cheated on. a.
| their rights. because they were mis-
represented BY the convention. Mr.
Iat asked the Ohio State Convention
10 in!srsprcaent the people. and II dId
- lht DtDpl-- MI TAT
never agar: explain what he means Nv
governments O: the people by a .r,.nra-
sentative part" o. the people ue has
SHOWN In actual practice that he u,na,.
government OF the people b. politicians
Who sha!l nis-eprescnt rhem in rho
se!hsh Interest OF some one else
My second example is the national
committee itself. The recent action OF
the national committee ulustra,.s
wen what has happened in our coun-
Try In the twisting OF nominal rem
'esehtat!Ee government away from It's
Original purpose until IL becomes thor
oushIy unrepresentative and misrepre-
sentati tive. Al! this party machinery wan
originally designed simply in order
to make the Will OF the party unn
nine!y effective. II had no o,hor
purpose then. II can have no other
legitimate purpose now until withlna
very few years no man would nav.
been bTazcn enough openly to announce
that this was not its purpose. 1t has
been reserved for Mr.. Taft and mis-
7 friends IN this crisis openly to act
on such an assumption. The other
day th!rty-seven Of Mr.. Tafts ad-
hcTcnts on the national committee
stole from the people of California
their right to give the votes OF CAL
iforn!a To tho men OF their choice
These ,hirtyseven politicians, none
OF whom lived in California. assumed
10 oNeFll"e Inc VIII OF the quarter
/ OF a million of California voters VINO
had recorded their will at the pri-
mary. The thirty-seven men who do
not live in California have given
seats TO two Taft men whom the
quarter of million California voters
had refused to seat. These two Tart
delegates have no more right to SIT
in the Republican CONVENTION than
they have to sit in the Democratic
convention. They We're defeated In
California by about 1900 majority.
majority greater than Mr.. Tafts en-
tire vote. Under the act OF the Leg
islaturc. the delegates ran one ticket.
the Taft and Roosevelt delegates
alike binding themselves TO abide by
the result. No delegates were elect
ed by districts. Mfr. Taft sent an
urgent appeal to California just be-
which showed his complete acquics-
cencc in what was done, and unless
he was prepared then TO protest j..
was dishonorabie to protest after
wards. Yet on the plea OF a bench
man of Mr. Patrick Calhoun's. thirty
national committee robbed the people
of California of their rights ana
seated the two Taft-Calhoun dole
gates. OF these thirty-scven men.
four Represented tie Territories of
Alaska. Hawaii the Philippines and
Porto Rico. Twelve represented States
that went Democratic four years ago.
Fourteen came from Republican
! States. every one OF which had repu.ii-
ated Mr.. Taft and his committeeman
at the primaries held this spring. In
other words. OF the thirty-seven Taft
men who in Mr.. Taft's interest robbed
tho overwhelming majority of the Re-
publican voters OF the great Republican
State of California of their rights. six-
teen represented no Republican clecto.
raj vote whatever. and fourteen repre-
scented Republican states whose voters
by overwhelming majoritics had rcpu-
| dated the men themselves and Mr.. Taft
also at the primaries held this spring
/ There a thn thlr