New Britain herald., 1916-03-02
ROOSEVELT OUT OF
ILLINOIS PRIMARIES
Colonel May Force Himself on
Republicans at Chicago

lieved that once he was beyond their
| reach on his trip to the West Indies
| they would be able to place his name
on the primary ballots in various
states as a candidate for the repub-
lican nomination as president, and
| thus make him a prominent figure in
/ pre-convention campaign, received
| a decided shock yesterday when it
became known that letter had been
! sent to the secretary of state at
! Springfield, Ill, by John w. McGrath,
| the colonePs secretary, announcing
/ that RoOSeVelt'S name must not ap-
pear on the primary ballots there.
Mr.. McGrath had been authorized to
act in such matters before the colonel
sailed on his sea journey.
Politicians working for a reunion
of forces against Wilson, who have
been watching carefully the growth of
the Roosevelt movement, and have
feared bitter pre-convention squab-
bic. especially after the Endorsement
OF the colonel in Massachusetts by eX-
Congressman Gardner (republican)
and others, read in the action now
taken by Colonel Roosevelt, not an
effort to eliminate himself finally from
the nomination, but a determined eff
fort to prevent as far as it lay in his
power, factional fights in the repub-
ican party over the election Of dele
gates
They pointed out that the colonel
could scarcely hope to win enough
delegates to the republican conven-
ton in such fractional fights to obtain
hn
contest for delegates could only serve
to disrupt the republican ranks and !
leave a situation at Chicago, on June !
7, when the republican and progress |
sive national conventions meet, which !
would have the effect of continuing i
the breach brought about by the con- |
troversy of 1912 when Roosevelt, out |
IN the open, fought for the nominal |
ton against eX-President Taft.
Chicago Must Be the Test.
1.-The test must come at Chicago, !
said one of these men, land a fac
tional fight over the naming of dele
gates at this time could only mean /
wrangling, bitterness, and lining up
OF forces which might prove dis
astrous to the efforts to agree upon
a candidate whom republicans and !
may support. If COlonel
Roosevelt's close advisers, and they
are not the ones responsible for these
petitions, hope to obtain his nomina-
ton, they know the best chance is
when the delegates assemble at Chi
go and the question of American
SIN and the nations welfare is
brought forward as the issue of which
LII must agree.
"They know also that the very
+; ho hN
who really have a reunion of forces
at heart is to start bacll-biting and
wrangling and bitter contests with
the colonel seeking the nomination
openly
The letter sent by Mr. McGrath
the receipt here of a letter
from the Illinois secretary of state
that a number of the
friends had prepared petit
tons placing his name on the primary
ballot for the republican nomination..
The reply was emphatic and UNI
equivocal. The colonel would under
no consideration give his consent to
such a step and his name must be
taken off Immediately.
Even more significant of the at
titude the colonel has taken was in
formation that similar letters would
any other section of the country if the
to get the colonel in the
race openly was prosecuted This
course will be followed in Massachu-
sets, where the movement has been
started if word is received by the
coloneps secretary, that his name is
to be placed on the ballot. Even
though laws are changed to make it
unnecessary for the candidate so
named to give his consent the colonel
will strive in every way to hold his
followers in the republican ranks in !
check.
The letter to the secretary of state !
in Illinois came as a great relief to |
many political leaders, republicans !
and progressives, working for re- |
union, who have been endeavoring to |
do everything in their power to pre- |
vent squabbles in the party ranks |
which might cause another rumpus at |
Chicago along the lnies of that dur
ing the convention days of 1912. They !
believe that Roosevelt has his eye on |
the nomination and that he would ac- |
cept, if the call came to him at Chi !
cagO, and he was asked to take the |
lead in the fight on the issue of Amer
icanisnl, win or lose. But the ma
iority of them would rather have the |
issue come during the convention days |
than to see the republican party
openly disrupted now.
Believe Colonel Favors Hughes.
Most of these leaders believe that
Roosevelt cannot obtain the repunli-
can nomination SO soon after the split
of 1912, and his action in doing, as
they see it, what he can to prevent
fractional differences over himself as
a candidate has convinced them that
he Will support another union can
didate, such as Justice Hughes, if it
is demonstrated at the Chicago con-