The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-12-29
: BOSS PLATT IS ANGRY.
B Doesn't Like Biography Of Him
\ Written by VIM. Allen White.
SoooooooooooHooo
(san Francisco Examiner.l

(Sdn Francisco Examiner
Washington.-Seri differences be-
tween the president and Senator Plat
ara likely to grow out OF an article IN
the December number of McClures
Magazine purpOrting to be a biOgraph-
zeal study of the senator from New
York. It is positively known that Mr.
Plat called at the White House today
ana asked Mr.. Roosevelt If he intended
II countenance the visits Of a man who
had made such slanderous statements
about him as had William Allen White
of Kansas in the offensive article.
1t may be said on good authority
that President Roosevelt instantly re-
I sented the inquiry made by Senator
Plat and intimated that he was not
/ responsible for the acts of everybody
numbered among his casual acquaint-
ances. He admitted that Mr.. White
had been brought TO him by ex-COmp-
troller Dawes; that ne had visited the
I White House twice, but that no init
nation was given to him on any oCCa-
sion that any article about Senator
Platt or any other senator was in
contemplation. The president would
not argue the matter, but changed the
subject directly.
This is far more than mere rumOr.
though Senator Plat refuses to discuss
the matter. That he is much hurt over
the whole affair does not admit Of
doubt
Among other things, the writer ac-
cuses Senator Platt of writing bad
verse and cites this as an evidence:
To Stella.
A 1s447- 1Tcror
azure sky.
And sang so mournfuIy because no
other star was nigh,
But soon another planet swept adown
the ethereal main
And twinkled at that pretty star, which
twinkled back again.
They wove in one their silver crown
and locked their flashing wings,
And now no rover of the skies Ike
happy Stella sings.
Nj White follows the senator's ca
reer very closely, and suggests that it
! is as tOrtuOus as the mOle's, and what
he has accomplished has been the re-
suit Of much underground work in
the dark. For example:
The very moment he entered the SEN
ate fate led him on TO great asphalt
field under a glazing electric light
Publicity followed him like a search
light, and naturally when the Blaine
Ccnkling feud broke out Platt put his
hand down, trying to dig under, and
began intriguing with both sides.
And the writer degrades him still
further by making him the earth
worm. which usually makes small
mine for an able-bodied and industri-
Gus mole:
He is not national statesman, not
even a national politician. He is pro
vincial in his influence; he is merely
a magnified type of hundreds of earth
worms boring beneath the roots of 10
cal lf-government by cities and
states. burrOwing silently, yet with in
calculable power, loOsening the soil,
sagging foundations, changing the as
pect of the political landscape
Of the political relations Of the pres
ident and the senator. the writer says:
Several times Platt and Roosevelt
disagreed, and where a question Of
honesty was raised Roosevelt has won.
So Plat conspir.Z to shelve Roosevelt.
Platt and Quay made Roosevelt vice
presidenA to punish him for his integ
Tity."
There is no doubt that the aged sena-
tor is mad. If anyone doubts it, let
him ask what he thinks of Mr.. Whites
article.
The article about me in McCIure's
Magazine is a tissue Of lies" said Sen
ator PIatt this evening. Many untrue
things have been uttered AMI written
about me and I have not even bothered
10 deny them; but really this publica-
ton goes far beyond the limit Of toll
Grafton I have made up my mind to
sue somebody for that article, but
whether it viii be the writer or the
publisher I cannot say just now. I
am told that the former is a very young
man. William Allen White; but I have
no idea who he is. He does not know
me and 1 never met him. 1t would
have been an easy thing for him to
have got some of his statements right
The first page of the article, for ex-
ample. does not contain single truth,
though the statements are not Hbelous.
like those in other parts Of the screed-
He quotes a poem Of the Greeley cam
paign and ascribes it to me. Every
man and woman and child who lived
in Owego in 1872 knows that Charles
Munger, a handy versifieT Of that
town. wrote the campaign songs of
that period. I am sure that he wrote
that one, and equally sure that I did
not Then White labors to show that
1 have been guilty of every crime
charged against politics except theft.
He is generous enough to admit that
I do not steal. Perhaps I ought to be
grateful for that. But / am not
This man is from Kansas, I am told
but he pretends to know heaps about
politics in New York state during the
last thirty years. His misinfOrmation
-s,T- -
at smart writing, but it does not go
with me