The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-06-22
President Praises SccrctayMOr-
 toms Action in Matter
ADMINISTRATION SIDE WEAK
Roosevelt Excuses Santa Fe Officials In Spite of Advice of Special Counsel Composed of Jud-
 son and Harmon.

Washington. June a-(special)-The long promised statement on the Santa Fe case was made public at.the White House tonight The opinion is almost unanimous that the two attorney. Judson and liar mon, have decidedly the better of the argument with the President and his at torney general
 In fact some surprise is expressed that the President would make the corres- | pondence public. so weak is the adminis-
 tratlons side. Hereafter when the admin istration employs special counsel to as- sist the department of justice it will prob ably see to 1t tha. men are selected who will report right" The retention of Jud- | son and Harmon was about the most ex- pensiye luxury the administration has yet indulged in.
 Compliments Integrity and Ability. President Roosevelt has taken occasion to express himself in most positive terms ] complimentary of the integrity and ability of Paul Morton. former vice president of the Atchison Topeko and Santa Fe Rail- road company and now concluding his duties as Secretary Of the Navy that he may assume the chairmanship of the board of directors of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of New York. These l expressions are contained in two letters. one addressed to the attorney general ant the other to MT. Morton.
 The letters were made public today by 1 the administration together with d num- | Der of others which, taken together show the precise point of difference be- 1 tween the department of justice and | Messrs. Harmon and Judson, who recent 1 ly resigned as special counsel for the l government In the rebate case involv- l ing the Santa Fe rod and the Colorado l Fuci and Iron company The special coun- | sel wished to bring contempt proeeedipgs
 against the officers of the road which would have included MT Morton. Their position was that the testimony adduced l before the interstate commerce commis- 1 sion established violation of the court
 order of March 25, 1902, restraining the
 company from executing any agreement 1 to transport interstate traffic at rates l lower than the published tariff of the ! road. This testimony, they contended. | constituted a prima facle case against the officers of the road and the only way to
 ascertain their guilt or innocence was | through contempt proceedings.
 | Attorney General Moody opposed bring 1 ing the contempt proceedings on the 1 ground that while tl.e evidence before the commission might show a violation of the injunction by the road, 1t contained nothing connecting any officer of the com pany with such violation. President Roose- welt took the same view. Both the Pres ident and the Attorney General agreed that proceedings should be entered against tte corporation. in both the Colorado Fuel and the international harvester case. Tfe | latter case, the P 'esdent says, stands | oil f1aa aF,aa ifap md fnpn practically all of the western roads. Presidents Concluding Letter. The correspondence concluded with the | following reply from the President to Mr. Morton's letter, giving a history of his | connection with the Santa Fe.
 June 12. 1905.
 My Dear Mr. Morton:-I have ~oceiy- | ed your letter of the 9th instant, in ref | erence to your own action concerning the
 rebates which the interstate commerce | commission have found to have been | granted by the Atchison, Topeka and | Santa Fe railroad 10 the Colorado Fuel 1 company at the time you were vice presi- i dent of the road. Not a shred of the l testimony so far as 1 know, has been pre- l sented from any source, whether by the | interstate commerce commission, or by
 the special counsel employed by the de- | pertinent of justice, which practically | duplicates you in granting these re- bates
 Tn your letter you show not only that
 you were ignorant of the existence of
 such rebates but that you had taken every possible step to see that neither in this case nor in any other were any rebates granted. With this showing on your part, and in view of the fact. as [ have said not a shred of the testimony has been produced against from any source whatever, l do not think that you need pay any further heed to the accusations that have been made against you. l do not myself need any corrobora- tion of any statement you make but if | did need it, it would be furnished by the boldness and frankness with which over three years ago and before any pro- ceedings with which we are now dealing took place, you testified to the entire truth In connection with the taking of reabtes from the railroads: and 1t is deeply discredtable that this testimony not only should now shield you but with shameless perversion of the truth, should be quoted as having been given by you in this case. At the time you gave this testimony the interstate commerce law in the matter of rebates was practically q dead letter Every railroad man ad- mitted privately that he paid no heed whatever to it. and the interstate com merce commission had shown itself ab- solutely powerless to secure this heed. When I took up the matter and endeav- Ored 10 enforce ODeulence 10 the law on the part of the railroads in the question of rebates I encountered violent opposi- tion from the great bulk of the railroad men and a refusal by all of those to whom spoke to testify in public as to the very state of affairs which they freely admitted to me in private.
 Morton Was All Alone.
 You alone stated that you would do all in your power to breok up this sys- tenn of giving rebates; that you s'-Nngly objected to It: but that as long as the law was a dead letter the railroads. which refused to obey 1t. were forced to obey it If they operated at all I cannot too heartily commend the fearless and frank
 way in which you (and you alone). came forward and in the interests of the gov ernment and the public gave legal evi- dence of the facts. It was primarily due to this testimony of yours that we were able to put nearly so effective a stop to Continued on Seventh Paae.)