And I fought it out fair and square on that issue from one end of Illinois to the other. [A voice: “You did.”] And I won. [Applause.]
And I got every delegate in Illinois excepting two, the two from the district which Mr. Lorimer carries in his waistcoat pocket, and those two are for Mr. Taft. And, friends, it would not have been possible for me to have supported Mr. Lorimer at all—to have acquiesced in his support of me; but if it had been, and I had been going to repudiate him, I would have repudiated him before the Illinois primary and not afterwards. [Applause.]
THE MAN FOR THE BOSSES.
I have got a couple of columns arranged parallel here, one containing a dozen of my representative supporters and the other containing the dozen foremost supporters of Mr. Taft.
There has been a question raised by Mr. Taft as to whom the bosses were for. I will read you these two lists, and I will ask you to judge for yourselves. [A voice: “Exactly.” Laughter.] I will read you—[pounding at entrance]—there seem to be some gentlemen who would like to come in. I will read you the dozen of my supporters first: Gov. Hadley, Gov. Bass, Gov. Stubbs, Gov. Johnson, Senator Beveridge, Senator Clark, Senator Bristow, Frank Heney, Gifford Pinchot, Mr. Garfield, Judge Ben Lindsey, Jacob Riis.
[A voice: “How about Perkins?”]
Perkins? He is for me. You can’t—I will tell you. Wait a minute. You can’t put a question to me that it will embarrass me to answer for one moment. [Great applause. A voice: “Go to him! Go to him!”]
RECORD IS OPEN TO ALL.
Wait a moment. I know that kind well. And you can guarantee that any supporter of mine comes out in the open and supports me. [Applause.] And you can guarantee also that after he has supported me, and I have accepted his support, I won’t repudiate him afterwards. [Great applause. A voice: “That is a square deal.”]