Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. IV.djvu/228

188 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS alleging unfair methods in their choice. The com plaints were generally dismissed, however, and on the conclusive ballot Mr. Taft received 561 of the 1,078 votes, to Mr. Roosevelt s 107; 344 of the Roosevelt men refused to vote, sixty delegates divided their strength between other candidates, and six were absent. Elihu Root, who presided, was so resolute in his rulings that the anti-Taft delegates raised a half-cynical, half-humorous pro test against being crushed under a "steam-roller," and the phrase acquired a certain historical signifi cance in the campaign that followed. At a mass-meeting held in one of the Chicago theatres immediately after Mr. Taft s nomination, Mr. Roosevelt was hailed by acclamation as the head of a progressive party, for which a general scheme of organization was adopted at once. In the same city, on August 5, a delegate convention of the new party assembled to nominate him formally for president and adopt a platform. In the interval, the democratic national convention which met in Baltimore on June 25 had nominated Woodrow Wilson, of New Jersey, for president. In the November elections the democrats were victorious, the progressives coming in second. Mr. Taft received 8 electoral votes in a total of 531. He bore his defeat with a philosophic calmness of temper which commanded general admiration, and