Roosevelt Says He Had Lorimer Ousted.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 14, 1912:
The Matter Would Have Been Dropped if He Had Not Refused to Sit at Table with Him.
COLONEL LAUGHS AT DR. LONG
"Said Bull Moose Was a Coward, Did He? How Can I Reply to That Natural Unnaturalist?"
Special to The New York Times.
    OYSTER BAY, N. Y., July 13.— Col. Roosevelt was immensely pleased this afternoon when he heard of the vote in the Lorimer case.
    "It was my fight and my victory," he said.
    "If, two years ago, I had not refused to sit at the same table with him at a public dinner, the entire matter would have been dropped. There would have been no division of opinion.
    "I made the stand and the whole thlng kept going on and on, until the conclusion has now been reached.
    "Mr. Lorimer has the right to feel irritated at my stand, and I am willing he should be. I kept after him, day after day, in my last campaign, and little by little the other people came around."
    With the exception of two hours of exercise on the back of his favorite horse, Col. Roosevelt passed the entire day in preparing a statement of principles which he intends to make public in advance of the Chicago Convention. He is taking this work seriously and may devote an entire week to it.
    Because of this task he may not keep a conditional engagement which he made to speak at the first meeting of the new Progressive Party in Michigan, to be held at Jackson, Mich., next week, "under the oaks," where the Republican Party was first organized.
    He thinks it is necessary to place before the people a statement of his convictions at the earliest possible moment. He is taking up in some detail the various issues which he has raised, including the high cost of living, the tariff, the judiciary, and the principles which he enunciated in his Columbus address last February, when he started out to capture the Republican nomination.
    Col. Roosevelt got a lot of amusement to-day out of Dr. John Long's characterization of the Bull Moose which has been identified with the Progressive Party. Dr. Long it was whom Roosevelt, while President, included among the famous "nature fakers."
    "I think it is lovely," said the Colonel when told what Dr. Long had to say about the Bull Moose. Then he added:
    "I think Long on nature study and Lorimer on corruption are highly interesting; no, the word I should use is impressive. So Long said the Bull Moose is a coward, did he?" asked the Colonel, and then laughed again. "How can I reply to that natural unnaturalist?"
    Col. Roosevelt had to visitors to-day— Ethan Allen Doty, ex-President of the Union League Club of Brooklyn, and John F. Stevens, former engineer of the Panama Canal.
    Col. Roosevelt said that in the campaign he was to make after the convention of the Progressives he would visit every State in the Union. He had not fixed upon the date for his campaign to begin, he said.
 
COMMITTEE FOR ROOSEVELT.
Two Democrats to Aid in Organizing Here for Third Term Campaign.
    William H. Hotchkiss, State Chairman of the National Progressive Party, appointed a provisional committee yesterday to organize New York County for Col. Roosevelt. Kings is getting along so well under the leadership of Timothy L. Woodruff that the third-termers are exceedingly well pleased with the progress made there, while the regular Republicans are very much worried.
    On the New York Provisional Committee there will be both Republicans and Democrats. The membership as announced yesterday is as follows:
    George W. Kirchwey, Dean of the Columbia Law School; Leo Einstein, Secretary of the Borough of Manhattan; Lindon Bates, Jr., William M. Chadbourne, William Halpin, Ernest Harvier, and Joseph W. Savage. Ernest Harvier and Joseph W. Savage are Democrats.
   Henry K. Davis, a member of the Tammany Hall General Committee in the Bronx, enlisted yesterday in the Bull Moose movement. It was learned yesterday that a great many members of the Republican County Committee have signified their intention to join the third party. Mr. Hotchkiss has advised them to resign in a body from the Republican Party in order to make a more impressive showing, but so far this suggestion has not been complied with, and it is understood that a great many of the Roosevelt enthusiasts in the regular Republican organization would prefer to be left straddling the fence until they have had an opportunity to find out what headway the Bull Moosers are going to make in this neighborhood.

ROOSEVELT MEN WIN OUT.
Prevent Taft's Indorsement by Richmond Hill Republican Club.
    Followers of Col. Roosevelt in the Richmond Hill Republican Club, one of the strongest clubs in Queens, were strong enough to prevent, for the fourth time, an indorsement of resident Taft Friday night when the club remained in session wrangling till after midnight. On three previous occasions a motion to indorse President Taft was laid on the table and the President's friends in the organization determined on Friday night that the resolutions should be pressed. The result was that the leaders of the club feared that an attempt to force the passage of the resolution would result in the disruption of the club and so a compromise was sought. This was later introduced in the shape of a resolution, saying that the will of the majority should prevail instead of the might of the few and as the methods of the party leaders at Chicago were disapproved no candidate for President would be indorsed, but the choice of candidates would be left to the discretion of the members, individually. The adoption of the resolution was followed by a declaration from Peter Meniger, recently appointed Commissioner of Assessments and Arrears for Queens by Controller Prendergast, that after twenty-eight years of service in the Republican Party he had decided to leave the party and resign his membership in the Queens County Republican Committee and join the Progresslve Party.
    A split has occurred among the Bull Moose men in the Long Island City District Peter P. Campbell, who contends that he is the original Progressive over there, has refused to recognize former Postmaster George Ripperger and Lucien Knapp, who pose as the Progressive leaders.