H^  SBflS^  ^  followers  in  the  convention,  with-
out putting  on  reoord  any  facts  upcm  iriiidi  the
public  could  base  a  definite,  intelligent  judg-
ment regarding  the  validity  of  Taft*s  nomi-
nation. He  sulmiitted  no  suggestion  as  to  a
l^tfwm  of  Fkogressive  princqples.  He  dam-
cnd  loudly  for  purging  the  conventicm  roll
ci  ''tainted''  delegates  without  purging  his  own
candidacy  of  his  tainted  contests,  and  his
tainted  trust  sumwrt.  He  offered  no  reason
for  a  third  party,  except  his  own  overmastering
craving  for  a  third  term.
CHAPTER  XIII

WHY    I    CONTINUED   AS   A    CANDIDATE  —

VELT   NEVER  A  PROGRESSIVE  —  HIS  RECORD

WHEN  the  men  who  had  su|>ported  ray
candidacy  dropped  away  from  iiie»  one
by  one,  and  turned  to  Roosevdt»  as
"a  winner/'  I  weighed,  and  impersonally  too^
I  think,  every  phase  of  the  situation.  I  had
gone  into  the  campaign  as  a  candidate,  beUeving
that  I  had  been  so  identified  with  the  ProgresBive
movement  that  my  candidacy  was  one  with  it.
It  is  needless  to  say  that  having  beoome  a
candidate,  I  wanted  to  win.  I  should  mot  be
frank  if  I  did  not  admit  this  to  be  true.  Yet
plainly,  at  any  time  during  the  campaign,
it  would  have  been  my  duty  to  stand  aside  and
support  the  candidacy  of  another  if,  by  so
doing,  I  could  advance  the  Progressive  cause.
