Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-09-13
THE COLD FACTS
Regarding Tanners Retirement
to Private Life.
HIS LETTER REsIGNING Hn OFFICE

And the Pcsident's RepIy-An Irrepressi-
BILE Conflict Between the Com missioner
and the Interior Secretary Cor
porai's Integrity All Right. and Moth
ing Against IL In the Report of the In
vestigators-History of the Case and
Denial OF Certain Reports.
WASHINGTON CITY, Sept l3.-The corro-
spondenco conveying the resignation of the
commissionership Of pensions by Corporal
Tanner. and the reply OF the president, has
been made public. Mr. Tanners letter is
dated Sept. ~, 1889, and is as follows:
To TuE PREsIDRNr The differences which
exist between the secretary of the interior
and myself NJ ia the policy To he pursued in
the n ADMINISTRATION Of the pension bureau
have rea. he'd u stage which threatens To en-
barras- you 20 an extent which feel should
not call upon you To suffer, and as the inves-
tigation into the affairs of the bureau has been
completed. and am assured. both by yourself
and by the secretary of the interior, contains
no reflection ON my integrity as an individual
or as an officer, herewith place my resigna-
ton In your hands, To take effect at your pleas
ure, To the end that you may be relieved of
any further embarrassment in the matter
Very respectfully yours JAMES TANNER,
Commissioner.
To this the president sent the following re-
ply addressed to "Hon. James Tanner, com
missioner of pensons:"
DEAR SIW Your letter rendering. your resig-
nation Of the Office Of commissioner Of pen
sions his been ~Feceived AMI your resignation
II accepted, to take effect ON the appointment
AMI qualification of your successor do not
think It necess Try, in this cores ondence, to
discuss the causes which have led Ia the pres
ent attitude of a1i In the pension Office
You have been kindly aud fully advised OF
my views upon most Of these matters. IL
gives me pleasure to add that so far as am
advised your honesty has not at any time been
called In question aud beg To renew the ex-
pr, ssion Of my personal goodwill. Very truly
yours, BENIAMIN HARRISON.
A Brief Statement from Tanner.
Mr. Tanner was reluctant yesterday morn
Ing TO talk about his resignation. His dis
position, however, appears To b. not to show
any resentment, but TO maintain cordial re-
lations with the administration He said
''The president did not ask for my resigna-
ton, nor did he advise that | resign He
assured me-, however, thRt the investigation
into the affairs OF the pension Office had de-
veloped nothing that reflected upon my
honesty or my good intentions, and said that
IL / remained in office Secretary NOlle
would resign The ACKNOWLEDGMENT of tina
cabinet is very serious thing, and de-
cided that it was better that | should resign,
since the unreasonable prejudic's Of Mr..
Noble could not be overcome
Secretary Noble Interviewed.
When Secretary Noble returned from the
White House yesterday afternoon he said:
"The president has written Mr.. Tanner a
very cordial letter and | am glad that he
has done So" Reference was made to the
published statements of an unfriendly feet
ing between the secretary and the commits
sioner. Gen Noble said that there had been
no break in his personal relations with Mr..
Tanner, and that there was nothing person
al in the causes which led to the s.verance
OF their official relations The secretary said
that it was entirely due to difference of
op Mon in regarl to matters of off ia ad-
mnistrntion.
Gen. Noble referred to a newspaper report
that he aud Secretary Tracy hal exchanged
some sharp words Mt the White House
Wednesday on Tanners case, an said it was
"a lie out of whole cloth He adled that the
same cordial relations existed between him
self and Secretary Tracy as between the
other members of the cnbnet
Rus-sy Also Enters a Denial
Assistant Secretary Bussey, in talking To
reporter about recent published state
ments alleging that he Gen. BusSeyl had
worked up the case against Tanner, aud had
shown "A hostile disposition toward the com
missioner, said that there was no truth IN
such statements. He had been calel upon
90 pass as n lawyer upon the commissioners
decisions, and had in all cases simply ex-
pressed his opinion rs to their legality, and
had gone no further. He denied that there
WIS any unfrirndly feeling between him
self and the cummiss Toner.