Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 June 1908 — BIG CONVENTION ON IN CHICAGO [ARTICLE]

BIG CONVENTION ON IN CHICAGO

Republicans Gather in National Assembly to Nominate Next President of the U. S. Tuesday, June 16th, is the day set for nominating the republican candi- * date fop president and vice president of the United States and for adopting the platform that is to be the guide of that party in its future law making efforts. While the real big day is to be Tuesday, the delegates have been gathering since the middle of last week, and Saturday and Sunday many more of the delegates aq|i a great many attaches and visitors have been crowding the hotels of the Windy City. As the time for the big convention approached, the certainty of nominating William Howard Taft has increased and within the past ten days there have been many votes come his way that were not even expected and now he probably has two-thirds of the votes and there seems no doubt but that he will be nominated on the first ballot. The other candidates, Fairbanks, Knox, Cannon and Hughes, who combined or pooled their interests against Taft, have at last seen the handwriting on the wall and have practically laid down. All will be placed before the convention, as will probably also LAFollette, of Wisconsin, and Foraker, of Ohio, but the effort wifr be a weak one. As the time for the convention approaches the demand for Vice-Preßi-dent Fairbanks to again take the nomination for vice-president increases, and as suggested some weeks ago by the Republican, it is probable that Mr. Fairbanks is more than half willing and has been all the way along, notwithstanding the fact that he set down a firm negative foot when the proposition was first made to him. But at that time he could not have well admitted that he was willing to take the second place race. Now, however, that he can plainly see that the first place is to go to Secretary Taft it is probable that he will gracefully accept all support for the second place.