Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 151, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 June 1912 — CONVENTION NAMED TAFT AND SHERMAN [ARTICLE]

CONVENTION NAMED TAFT AND SHERMAN

President Received 561 Votes on First 8a110t—344 Refused to Vote. ‘ • ? -1 - ...

RUMP CONVENTION NAMED ROOSEVELT Called Meeting at Orchestra. Hall and Placed Colonel in Nomination, Claiming Him the Regular Nominee. HE ASKS DELAY OF SIX WEEKS Pandemonium Marked Closing Hours Of the Most Marvelous Convention _ Ever Held in United States —Model Platform Adopted.

William Howard Taft and James S. Sherman will again lead the republican party in the campaign that will close with the election in November. The convention which opened in Chicago last Tuesday and which proceeded as though it had all summer to perform its task, had all the preNfninaries cleared away soon after Soon Saturday and rushed itself to a conclusion Saturday night. The bitterness which had characterized the fight during the past three months was intensified as the convention proceeded and culminated with the refusal of 344 delegates to vote, the holding of another convention'by the Roosevelt forces and the placing of him in nomination, following the adoption of resolutions declaring that the nomination of Taft had been effected by fraud. While the rump convention seems to have been given plenty of inspiration from Roosevelt, he accepted the nomination conditionally, saying that ,he Vanted the delegates to return to their homes, consider the matter with their constituents and if their action found endorsement, to- call another convention a month or six weeks later and there to name him or some other progressive to carry' on the fight for “the people” The nomination of President Taft was made at 9:25. He received 561 votes of the 1,078 in the convention. This was, 21 more than was necessary Jo choice. Roosevelt received 107, LaFollette 41, Cummins 17, Hughes 2, and 344 dld not vote at all. Six delegates were absent when the vote was taken. The name of Theodore Roosevelt was not presented to the ..convention, although he received scattering votes. Senators LaFollette, of and Cummins, of lowa, were regularly placed before the convention. While the voting was going on, the Roosevelt delegates occupied their seats but kept mute. Chairman Root was of the opinion that the refusal of the delegates to vote constituted a vacancy and that the alternates from their districts had a right to vote, but this met the prompt disapproval of the delegates and Was not carried out.

The platform, which was approved by 666 of the delegates, only 53 voting against it, while 16 were absent and 343 refused to vote, is regarded as progressive. It reaffirms the republican policy in respect to the tariff, declaring that the policy of former years has been of the greatest benefit to the country, has developed its resources, diversified its industries and protected our workingmen against the cheap labor prevailing in other coun.tries, thus 1 establishing the American standard of living with wage earners. It also says that the products of the farm and the mine should receive the same measure of protection. The platform frankly says that some of the import duties are now too high and should be reduced. It advocates the commission form of obtaining information for the readjustment of tariff I schedules in conformity with the I changing conditions. It is a tariff platI form so fair that no republican can I afford to go back on it The high cost of llvtng.the banking and currency laws, the parcels post, campaign contributions, the navy, the merchant marine and all issues of the day are met in a manner to assi«w republicans that the old party is [proceeding with commendable pro- | gress and with the highest honor in I setting forth its standard for the approval of the people who are now republican management of sixteen I years It is a platform that needs no I defense, bat which every republican,

no matter how ardently he may have admired Theodore Roosevelt, or how hard he may have worked to secure the ndmination of the latter, should support

And we feel certain that William Howard Taft will devote himself zealously to the carrying out of the platform just as it is written and just as he has always set about the performance of any duty that has been assigned him in public life. It will be realized full well that the nomination of President Tafe has been fought by a large number of people. Some because he urged the adoption of reciprocity, some because he did not swing the big stick with the vigor of his predecessor in compelling tariff reductions, some because he retained Secretary Ballinger in office beyond the jjoint where Ballinger was worthy of his confidence and others because they believed as a matter of policy that Roosevelt would make the best candidate. But these are all rational men .who must realize the character of Taft and must know that he is a statesman of ability, of experience. of integrity, who can not be swerved from the line of honest duty and who holds dearest to his heart the welfare of all the people. The following sketch of his life will prove interesting: William Howard Taft was born at Mount Auburn, Cincinnati, 0., on Sept. 15, 1857. His father was Alphonso Taft, secretary of war and attorney general in the cabinet of President Grant and a prominent Cincinnati lawyer. His mother was Louise M. Torrey. Both parents wpre of New England stock. After graduating in 1878 from rale University, where he had been Extremely popular with tutors and classmates—earning from the latter the tale of "Big Bill,” which has clung to him for life —Mr. Taft became a newspaper reporter. Later he studied law at the Cincinnati University, was admitted to the bar in 1880, and practiced in Cincinnati. He was assistant prosecuting attorney of Hamilton county in 1881-82, and in 1887 was appointed judge of the Superior Court by Governor Foraker.

In 1886 he had married Miss Helen Herron, of Cincinnati. Their children are Robert Alphopso, now a student at Yale; Helen, a student at Bryn Mawr, and Charles Phelps, a pupil in the Washington Public Schools. Judge Taft left the bench in 1890 to accept from President Harrison the post of solicitor general of the United States. Three years later he was appointed judge of the Sixth United States circuit court, In Ohio, resigning in March, 1900, to accept an appointment as chairman of the Philippine Commission, tendered him by President McKinley. In 1901 he became the first civil governor of the Philippine Islands. - He thrice refused a federal judgesKlp, and only left the Philippines, Feb. 1, 1904. to become secretary of war under President Roosevelt. In the same year he visited Panama to confer with the local authorities.

He completed the pacification of Cuba in 1906, and he has been the principal director of the work of digging the Panama Canal. In 1907-08 he made a tour of the world, and Was received everywhere with great distinction. He resigned the secretaryship of war on receiving the nomination* fpr the presidency at the republican convention in Chicago on June 18, 1908. In the succeeding November election he was elected over William Jennings Bryan, his democratic opponent, by a plurality of 1,263,342. His career has been signalized by soungi. sense and robust manliness. In Cincinnati he gave a Well-deserved and thorough thrashing to an editor who had slandered his father. As judge on the federal bench he refused an offer to become a member of a New York law firm with a guarantee of $50,000 a year. “There are bigger things in the world than money," he The Taft smile and its accompaniment of hearty laughter have become famous wherever they have been seen or heard, and they have practically clrcumnivigated the globe. when asked to make a compromise with Senator Foraker on the basis ol

giving his support for a second term in the senate to Foraker in return for Foraker’s support of himself for the presidency, Mr. Taft refused, even against President Roosevelt’s expressed advice. “In plain English,*’ said Mr. Taft, “to secure harmony In Ohio I must sell out my friends. This is my answer—once and for all, no. A man might pay too high a price for the presidency.” His good nature and his philosophical temperament shine out in one of his favorite sayings: “Nearly every quarrel begins in a misunderstanding, in an erroneous interpretation of the truth.” This is a paraphrase of the terser French phrase, “To understand all is to forgive all.”