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Show jf x ROOSEVELT'S STATEMENT. ' Theodore Roosevelt is indignant and he 'has cause to be indig nant. In a statement -given out yesterday, after the Republican National Na-tional Committee had robbed him of the six Arizona delegates and two delegates in California, he said : In Arizona Ml. Taffs national comifteemen noted with great frankness la their view that the Intrusion of the people into politics is an unwarranted unwarrant-ed impertinence caUlng for rebuke by tho national committee. The case turned on the single county of Maricopa. Tho county committee had the option of selecting delegates to the state convention or of calling a primary to give the people tho right to -vote At a meeting of the county committee all the Roosevelt men, Joined by two of the Taft men, ordered a primary to be held throughout the county. coun-ty. A. minority of the county committee held a rump meeting and selected ' Taft delegates to the state convention. At the primaries the Roosevelt delegates were elected by a vote of 950 .as against less than twenty-five for Taft t , I call attention to the fact that six Roosevelt delegates from Arizona are excluded by tho national committee because they represent the people of Arizona and the six Taft delegates aro admitted because they do not. In California the action of the national committee was perhaps not worse than hitherto, but it "was just a little more flagrant. Here I can contribute con-tribute out of my personal knowledge to the history of what was done. The Progressives of California had contiol of the legislature and party machinery. machin-ery. Under the primary law then existing, which had been passed by the old Republican machine, tho Progressives could have obtained all the delegates del-egates without resorting to a primary. Governor Johnson -wrote for my views, saying he felt that even at the cost of surrendering the advantage the old primary law gave us, we should be true to our principles and give the people a chance to vote at a primary y for whom they wanted. I wrote back that 1 entirely agreed with him and urged the passage of the primary law. Every reactionary paper in the state was pleading for such a law he-cause he-cause they hoped to win under it. The legislature of California decreed that in California, as in Oregon, South Dakota arid North Dakota, the delegates del-egates all should be elected at large. All parties and all factions acquiesced acqui-esced in tho law and tho supporters of the three Republican- candidates for president made a campaign throughout the state. Mr Taft sent a special letter to California which showed his entire acquiescence in the law. There were no candidates in the districts at all and until after the primary pri-mary was held there was not a suggestion made about the district delegates. dele-gates. The Taft members of the- national committee now seat two Taft men, saying they come from the Fourth district. As a matter of fact fourteen four-teen precincts in the Fourth district overlap the Fifth distiict and uo man on earth can tell what the vote in the Fourth district was I have before me the list of the thirty-seven Taft national committeemen committee-men who thus have presented Mr. Taft with two delegates stolen from the people of California by the national committee at the reffuegt of the henchmen of Patrick Calhoun. The list offers Interesting reading" and it Is curious to see Mr. Brooker of Connecticut and Mr. Crane of Massachusetts Massa-chusetts and Mr. Nagcl, Mr. Taft's personal representative from Missouri, following behind Mr. Penrose, Franklin Murphy, Powell Clayton, Mr. Mulvane of Kansas and A. M. Stevenson of Colorado I ask that the decent voters of tho country read Judge Lindsey's book on "The Beast and the Jungle," study what lie has said, about Mr. Stevenson, Steven-son, and they will appreciate tho full significance of the actions of Messrs Crane, Brooker and company in backing up Mr. Stevenson. Of these thirty-seven national committeemen who thus robbed the immonse majority of the Republicans of California of their rights, four represent Alaska. Hawaii, Ha-waii, the Philippines and POrto Rico, who don't vote for president Twche represent Democratic states, none of which voted for Mr- Taft at the last election. Then there come fourteen who represent the Republican states, every one of which has repudiated Mr. Taft at tho primaries this spring with the exception of Massachusetts, which, however, repudiated Mr Crane, the man through whom the vote of Massachusetts has just been registered In favor of tho theft of the two delegates in question from the people of 8 California. II This makes a total ot thirty out of the thirty-seven Taft members of U the national committee. There remain but seven men fiora Republican I states, and of the seven states in six no primaries were held this spr'lng II and the Republican voters had no chance to express their wishes. |