REPUBLICAN PARTY OF TEXAS 
 The First 50 Years

DALLAS, August 13 and 14

The delegates of the Taft convention of May last were seated by the National convention. When the State executive committee met at Dallas, August 12, the members of that committee supporting Taft refused to recognize Cecil A. Lyon as State chairman, and proceeded to elect C. A. Warnken to that position. However, the members supporting Lyon outnumbered his opponents, so the latter changed their place of meeting, and proceeded with their convention independently. About three hundred delegates attended; of this number about one-third were negroes.

Officers: Chairman, Eugene Marshall, of Dallas. Secretary, Sam L. Gross, of Harrison.

Presidential Electors: State at large, Ira P. Jones, Dr. J. L.Gaston, J. C. Gibbons, Lewis Johnson, of Jack; District electors, Will E. Singleton, Jr., of Marion; S. H. Pedigo, of Tyler; R. C. Spence and C. A. Duck, of Hunt; A. M. Morrison, of Ellis; Seth W. Hamilton, of Limestone; W. C. Kendall, of Anderson; I. M. Limbocker, of Harris; J. F. McCan and E. P. Wilmot, of Travis; D. P. Baker, of McLennan; J. E. B. Stewart, of Parker; L. M. Kealy, of Denton; John Hall, of Lampasas; F. Vandervoort, of Dimmit ; M. F. Burns, of Midland.

Nominees for State Offices: Governor, C. W. Johnson, of Young; Lieutenant-Governor, W. C. Averill, of Jefferson; Attorney-General, Tyler Baker, of Johnson; Comptroller, Frederick Hofheinz, of Comal; Treasurer, W. C. Kenyon, of Potter; Commissioner of the General Land Office, W. H. Love, of Collin ; Railroad Commissioners, T. M. Barret, of Bexar, and George W. Eason, of Nacogdoches; Commissioner of Agriculture, Joseph F. Green, of San Patricio ; Supreme Court, Eugene Marshall, of Dallas, J. Walter Cocke, of McLennan, and T. M. Kennerly, of Harris; Court of Criminal Appeals, Nathan Pat ten, of McLennan ; Congressmen at large, J. E. Elgin, of Bexar, and R. B. Harrison, of Bowie.

Committee on Platform and Resolutions: W. J. Baker, of Lamar; George W. Eason, of Nacogdoches; George C. Hopkins, of Wood; R. S. Legate, of Grayson; W. H. Atwell, of Dallas, chairman; Claude P. McGregor, of Milam; M. M. Rogers, of Fayette; John L. Burke, of Bastrop; Dan Emerson, of Falls; C. B. Milliken, of Parker; C. W. Johnson, of Young; M. D. Townley, of Lampasas ; Harvey Finch, of Callahan ; L. D. Roach ; H. F. McGregor, of Harris; C. P. Jones; T. W. Johnson; R. B. Stite.

PLATFORM 

[1] The Republican party, in State convention assembled, at Dallas, Texas, August 13, 1912, reaffirms the cardinal principles and tenets that gave it birth and strength and that have marked the administration of its respective leaders as they have successfully and successively administered the affairs of this Republic from Abraham Lincoln to the pres ent hour. Incited by its faith, high aim, and purposes, the people believed, and believing, embraced.

Not unlike the rest in faithfulness, statesmanship, and fidelity has been the administration of President William Howard Taft, who for the last four years, despite bickerings from within and opposition from without, has guided honorably and nonpartisanly the destinies of our matchless Republic. In recognition of this service and because the people believed in the reward of the faithful servant, they renominated him at Chicago, and we here and now approve and indorse his administration, his renomination, and the platform that our representatives at Chicago, in June, 1912, fashioned and framed as a renewed promise to the American people, and in this connection we call attention to the fact that the Republican party makes no promise to be broken.

We are satisfied with our form of government and are against its destruction. We believe the Declaration of Independence is right; we believe that the Constitution of the United States of America is not out of date. We believe in individual liberty; we believe in the protection of life; and we believe in the protection of property. As long as any of these beliefs are assailed the mission and work of the Republican party is unfinished.

2. We have always stood for fair elections, and while there are many good features in the so-called Terrell primary election law, there are many features that are not understandable, and tend to keep the Democratic party and its machines and bosses in power, when, if the same were remedied so as to include a direct primary law, the voice of the people would be substituted for the rule of the boss.

3. We favor a reformation of Texas court procedure.

4. We condemn the present stock and bond law, and demand that such legislation be had as shall be fair to the people and permit the business interests to develop the resources of the State.

5. Profligate expenditure of the people's taxes is as indefensible as unjust taxation, and we criticise any system of government, county, or State, which is not economical and that is not regardful of the purse of the people; and we, therefore, condemn the present Democratic State administration, and call the attention of the people, specifically, to the $2,000,000 deficit and to the increase in the burden of taxation.

6. We favor the provision by the State for a full nine months public free school and free textbooks, and we believe that such school should embrace as a part of their fundamental work the teaching and demonstration of agriculture and the proper acquaintance with indus trial and mechanical arts; and we favor a compulsory school law requiring at least six months attendance in each year of every child between the age of eight and sixteen.

7. We favor the enactment of a law that shall authorize the Gover nor to appoint a highway commission, whose duty it shall be to super vise the construction of all permanent roads and bridges; and we further recommend that the present road law shall be so amended that a majority vote shall carry, instead of a two-thirds vote, in the issue of all road bonds.

8. We favor the abolition of the office of county treasurer where a county has a depository.

9. We demand the reduction of the present exorbitant freight and express rates on fruit and vegetables grown in the State of Texas.

10. We do not believe that free labor should compete with convict labor, and we, therefore, favor the use of the convict in the betterment of the public roads rather than on the farm, in the factory, or in the mine.

11. We demand the strengthening and rigid enforcement of the present barratry statute, to the end that the burden of the damage suit evil may be removed.

State Executive Committee: C. K. McDowell, of Val Verde, chairman; 1st Senatorial district, W. E. Singleton, Jr., 2. W. J. Ingram, 3. Phil E. Baer, 4. R. S. Legate, 5. D. W. Ryan, 6. George F. Rockholt, 7. J. H. Parker, 8. D. H. Morris, 9. blank; 10. J. B. Copeland, 11. M. M. Patton, 12. P. D. Daniels, 13. W. B. Rogers, 14. blank, 15. George W. Jones, 16. C. A. Warnken, 17. E. C. Webster, 18. George F. Steiner, 19. Charles B. Ziegenhalz, 20. John Hall, 21. blank, 22. H. C. Adler, 23. blank, 24. Julius Oppenheimer, 25. C. L. McDowell, 26. George H. Wray, 27. J. H. Burnett, 28. L. S. McDowell, 29. E. E. Diggs, 30. G. A. Tomlinson, 31. T. A. Robison.