Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-05-22
Vermont and The Basis Of Representation In Party Conventions

Representation in republican conventions in Vermont
has been based upon the republican vote cast in elections
long that the memory of the present generation runs not to
The spirit Of the square deal is deeply ngraned in the
State it has been quite clear why few south
ern republicans should outvote national conventions any
than southern democrats should have representation
Congress based upon coored population that is utterly dis
franchsed
The declaration of the progressive republicans gathered
in Chicago this week in favor of change in the basis of
resentaon in national conventions which Vermont easily
favors, reaches much further back than many people
pose
Not few Hughes republicans protested against the
OF coored delegates from the South the republican national
convention of 1908 by the federal administration force the
nomination of Mr. Taft the party when many
legislation in New York.
hryX votes OF changing the basis of representation
to give the southern republicans only their fair share Of del
egates in future conventions and the Vermont delegation to
that convention voted in favor of the change
This having failed and steps having been taken
in the interim to make change in the rules the call for the
republican national convention in 1912 used the basis of
representation favor of which the Roosevelt had stood
to large degree III the previous national convention when
Taft to be made the candidate Of the party for the pres
idency.
been strongly in favor of reducing the representation from the
Southern States but the proposal always precpated in
convention whose basis established by call issued
long before and when nominations were to be made with the
result that it was impossible to unbiased vote
In heated campaign and amid bitter political contro
very it is difficult FOR even udicay inclined minds to see
things as they really
III is easy Tor hughes man TO that regards the
Of southern delegates and coored representatives by Taft
and Roosevelt in the republican national convention of 1912
neither the pot nor the kettle call the other black
Any unprecedented student of politics who to refer
to newspaper files of the spring of 1912 during the campaign
preliminary to the last republican convention read in the
dispatches sent out by the campaign managers of both Roose
welt and Taft how emissares had been sent to the South by
both candidates to round the cooed delegates well as
to corral all white southern republicans possible
Our readers will recall how both Taft and Roosevelt
headquarters sending out frantic dispatches claiming
that one side was winning coored delegates from the other
slde and vice versa.
AS late June IT, the Monday before the convention
opened the Roosevelt headquarters in Chicago sent out
statement embodyng letters bearing the of five dele
gates from Georgia and five from Mississippi heretofore
counted sody in the Taft column declaring themselves for
Colonel Roosevelt and the statement containing this claim
can be read in the files Of American daily newspaper
of that time.
The fact that Mr. Roosevelt entirely content to
y upon southern delegates for support in the republican con-
vention of 1912 demonstrated absolutely by the fact that
COL Cecil Lyon the national committeeman from Texas and
other southern delegates were among his eutenant in that
other southern republicans.
This being the situation the fact that Mr. Taft
mated not Justify to the slightest degree the charge
that republicans all and that Mr. Roosevelt
all right as regards southern representation in the repub
the peard with which he hosted Hughes and the opposition
to Taft in 1908 and if he had been able to secure delegates
enough to nominate him in 1872 nobody would have heard
Of nomination gained through southern delegates
If Mr. Roosevelt had been willing to his influence to
ton of 1912 would have had the changed basis of representa-
ton for which the Vermont delegation voted
That southern representation simply made one of
the excuses for bolt projected long the national
venon of 1912 assembled indicated by the fact that
early June H. the Roosevelt leaders discussing bolt
in of the nomination Of Taft and of them then de-
cared it to be without reasonable foundation the press
dispatches of that date prove concusve Indeed on the
Monday before the convention opened Mr. Roosevelt said:
There will be two conventions the only question when
When Mr.. Roosevelt bolted, and formulated platform
Of his he went to the opposite extreme and excluded alb
sute all southern coored delegates from seats on the floor
of his convention in manifest attempt to capture much OF
the white democratic vote of the South.
This unjust and un-repubican attempt to do what demo-
Gratis in that section had long been aragned for doing
DISTINGUISHING voters account of color failed utterly and
predict that national party will before the
country again with of its panks excluding voters from
its councils as delegates account of color.
The desire of the Vermont delegation in 1903, and of
Vermont republicans since and the desire of the progressive
republicans everywhere to-day is simply to deal Justly and
fairly with republicans everywhere North South giving
each and all the representation in the national convention
to which their vote plainly entities them.
The republican national committee will unuuesonablv
see the wisdom OF calling national convention when no can
ddate for the presidency is the field for the purpose Of
making various desired changes especially reducing the rep
resentaton of the Southern States in republican national con-
venon and putting representation in the national councils
of the party basis eminently fair just to all con-
cerned. 49, wa
o donen suna