The Washington herald., 1912-06-18
CoLoRED DELEGATES LIKELY
TO BE CAUSE OF TROUBLE
Holding Balance Of Power, Blacks
Have Movement Afoot to Stick
Together and Keep Strength.
By JOHN TEMPLE GRAVES.

II
stationed within easy distance Of the con
i yention hall
One hundred and fifty Pinkerton mer
distributed at equal distances over the
Coliseum.
And these-God save the mark-are tho
incidents and conditions under which the
once historic Grand Old Party Of Law
and order fronts its twenty-ninth and
last convention in this year Of grace,
1872.
This morning as came down the ele-
vator Of my hotel into the lobby a stall
wart Westerner snatched a Taft button
from the lapel Of a stalwart Southern
er's coat with the remark, ITO HI with
that" and in answer the Taft stalwart
shot his fist straight into the face Of the
first man with the remark: ITO HI with
your
Taft men and Roosevelt men plunged
into the melee, and were only sepa-
rated by official force.
Fails to See Roosevelt.
To-day at o'clock I called at Col.
Roosevelt's headquarters, packed and
swarming to its last limit with men from
| every section. Twenty citizens as illus
trious as myself presented their cards
| at the door.
The only one of us that was admitted
to the strenuous ones presence was Bat
| Masterson.
The whole air is charged with feeling
and the apprehension Of a stormy and
riotous tomorrow.
There is scarcely a man Of either side
/ or Of any status or class who does not
/ confidently anticipate an opening OF the
| convention in storm and protest, which
may culminate in riot and bloodshed.
The Roosevelt men will start It in an
| endeavor to capture the convention in
I heEfnnfnn =
| termined, sprinkled thick with gun fight
ers' and strong-arm men, with stern
! Westerners, and fiery, Southerners, and
| they are keyed to a high tension by
sense Of committee injustice and out
rage, and fired to desperate deternina-
| ton by the spirit and record Of the
rough-riding leader for whom they fight.
Scribes in a Bad Place.
To these men will be opposed the cooler
but equally resolute battalions Of the
President, REINFORCED by police and de-
tectives. Incidentally the press seats
lie in that dangerous angle, between
the fire Of the platform and the fury |
Of factions, and accident insurance is |
selling at a premium among the thou
sand scribes who must demonstrate. in !
this rapt and ravenous emergency, that
the pen, which is reputed 10 be nightier |
than the sword, must also be as !
puissant as the mailed fist or the steel |
plated revolver
Yesterday was Roosevelt's day. To the
last hour Of midnight it was Teddy. To- |
day is Taft's. Yesterday the air around /
the Congress Hotel exuded Roosevelt
Roosevelt breathed in the halls. Roose-
Welt radiated in the halls. Roosevelt |
rang in the dining-rooms. Roosevelt |
roared from the balconies And upon
the rumor Of seeding Georgians and /
hopping" Mississippians, and changing
delegates from Tennessee. the refrain
that rang from every throat was 1T is
all over but the shouting"
At midnight the enthusiasm waned
BY morning il was spent. BY high noon
the avenue of political excitement began
to breathe Of Taft, and from noon until
sunset the Taft sentiment and the Taft
optimism was as ringing and as pregnant
as Roosevelt's had been on the night be-
fore.
Hopes Rise and Ebb.
And so from day to day the Roosevelt
hope and prospect will rise and fall.
One day low and receding in its ebb. and
the next day rising high and triumphant
as the tides Of Fundy
Meanwhile, the normal situation rests {
Ior the day and for the night exactly as
l sealed 1t on the yesterday The fate
or the convention and Of the rarty is
held In the balance either Of sixty-eiRht
colored delegates or Of any twenty dis
and unjailed politicians who I
may be bought or buIlied on TO either
side. $
What wrote yesterday about the hal t
ance Of power in the hands Of the sixty (
eight blacks has created a sensation. I
and started a comparative revolution 7
among the colored delegates and the en- I
.husiastic blacks in Chicago. DELEGATIONS {
II them have waited upon me to-day, q
ma have informed me that these para s
sraphs have quickened them 10 a COM
orehension OF a magnificent duty of re-
possibility which rests upon them as a
ace. They feel that they are fronting. O.,
n THIS convention an epochal incident in
history. They have been nominating
Presidents for the Republican party for a
luarter of century, but they have been
loing so without credit and without re-
ward :
Now for the first time, they hold the
'alance Of power clearly in their hands I
lnder the eye and expectation of the {
ountry, and by united and coherent ac- z
ion they can name the Republican nomi-
zee, and be credited with the naming .,
I him. : |
Blacks to Hold Meeting. 7
Therefore the best of them-the leaders {,
rho have ideals-have been inspired by h
hese words, and will hold great meet {
lg at the Institutional Church Of Chi {
ago tonight at which they hope to
luster all the sixty-eight colored dele =,
ates, and tc issue a manifesto denounc- !
lg every black man who sells HIS vote, ~
Lodging themselves to expose the black =
no shames his race with a bribe and I
ppealing to every colored delegate of !.
le sixty-eight 10 count this opportunity .
nd responsibility above all material con-
derations, and above all party instruc- y
ons, as supreme opportunity to vim
cate the integrity OF the race and TO "
lstify their citizenship by voting without y
rejudice and without money, for the L
est interests OF the country as they see to
in the issues and characters Of the
70 great candidates before the con- fo
sntion. az
Upon the issues Of this stormy ana Ia
rentful day in the National Convention,
angs also the important question as TO M
1w long we are to stay here.
All Depends on First Day.
II the first revolutionary effort of the
men fails in the opening hour n,
the convention to reverse the verdict :
the National Committee and TO s,b- dr.
itute the Roosevelt roll for the TAFT tn
II Of delegates, then the second EFFORT 10,