The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-06-22
BOWEN ANSWERS MR. ROOSEVELT Says LOOmis' Conduct is q National Disgrace REGARDS HIM AS DISHONES When He Went to Caracas the Whole City Was Fined With Rumors
 of Loomls' Underhanded
 Dealings.
REGARDS HIM AS DISHONEST

New York, June H.-Herbert W. Bowen, former minister to Venezuela, today maAe public long statement in reply to Pres ident Roosevelt's letter dsmisslng hni from the diplomatic service result of the investigation made by Secretary Taft in the controversy between Mir. Bowen and Francis B. Loomis, first as- sistant secretary of state.
 MT. Bowen declares that the Vene- zuelan scandal constitutes national dis grace" He asserts that the Loomis scandal pervaded Caracas and constantly grew worse and worse" Mir Bowen says that shortly after he called tho matter to the attention of the department of state he received cable offer from Wash ington of diplomatic promotion that would remove him from Caracas.
 T admit" he declared, that I regard cd the offer as an attempt to bribe me. yelled under the offer of higher posi- ton and inspired by MT. Loomis. l make I no doubt that in the course of the recent \ inquiry 1t has been sufficiently plain that l did not think MT. Loomis an honest man and that l did not believe his con duct as minister to Venezuela had been honorable"
 MT. Bowen says that the recent depart mental inquiry should not prevent an "open, impartial, fearless and thorough in vestigation into all the facts"
 Should Not Shelter Wrongdoer.
 Suppression of truth will never estab- fish it. he added. Tolerance of evil will i never crush 1t. No office, however high, 1 should shelter a wrong doer.'
 When he went to Venezuela in 1901 as successor to MT. Loomis, MT. Bowen de- clares he found current rumors serious ly affecting the honor and integrity of his predecessor, both as a man and as representative of the United States government
 Nil. Bowen says that feeling a. sense. of pride in representing the United States, those rnmors were a of a con tinual modification to him. MT. Bowen says:
 MT. Loomis. while minister. was re- ported to have used his public position to fill his private purse by obtaining n- terests in concessions and in various claims against the Venezuelan govern ment. He was commonly thought also to have been in the pay of the Bermudez Asphalt company and to have made use of his own official position to give color to the belief that the United States gov ernment was especially favorable to the side of that company in it's controversy with the Venezuelan authorities l had no means of refuting these scandabus state ments Their substantial truth was sumed by my diplomatic colleagues as well as by the general public at Car cas-"
 Referring to the documents left by his predecessor in the legation at Carcas and forwarded by MT. Bowen to the state de- pertinent. the letter says:
 Greatly Surprised and Pained.
 T cannot better express my own feel ings in regard to their contents than in the words of the secretary of state, who in his letter acknowledging their receipt, said: I have been greatly surprised and pained in reading the documents you sent me"
 Mir Bowen tells of sending to the state department information of the report current in Caracas, that incrminat- ing check to Mr. Loomis and letter from him to the government custodian of the asphalt property promising that the United States would not intervene in Venezuela were In the hands of one of President Castros friends
 Mir Bowen tells of sending to the state department information of the report cur rent from him to the governmental cus- todian of the asphalt property promising that the United States would not inter vene in Venezuela were in the hands of one of President Castros friends"
 "Shortly afterwards" he continues, q received a cable from the state de- rartment offering to me position that vas intended to be my stepping stone to an ambassadorship. It seemed to me that in the circumstances my duty to the United States demanded that l should stay, fer the present at least, in Gar acas, and I declined the offer, personally advantageous as It was to myself
 Currently with the report in Caracas that President Caracas had possession draf nj 0f state PreSi- of documents directly discriminating the first assistant secretary of state, Presi- dent Castro dispatched a general agent to Washington. Concurrently with my re- fusal to leave my post at Caracas there began to appear from Washington such false and misleading statements in our papers as, Bowen has asked to be re- called he wants to sever diplomatic rela- tions with venezuela he advises that naval demonstration be made In the Venezuelan waters; he Is at swords points with Castro.
 Was Not Contradicted.
 "False reports of this sort ordn- ariv contradicted by the department of state In this instance they were not. Any one at all familiar with diplomatic negotiations with Venezuela will under stand without further explanation the manifold endorsements or such situa- tion."
 After referring to Che appearance of Loomis' charges in several papers, MT. Bowen says:
 .ro say that I instigated these charges is the product of heated imagination.
 .It was right after this that was sum- moned by the state department to Wash ington, and departmental inquiry was made into Mir. Loomis conduct In YeH- ezuela, and l was dismissed from the diplomatic service. Yet I am neither re- sponsible for Mir Loomis' unsavory repu- tation in Caracas nor for the collecjo of scandalous reports about him. He es- tablished his reputation himself while living there as American minister from 1897 to April. 1901. and the statements charging him with dishonest and dishon- orable conduct were made with such de- tall of circumstances that mere denial by me was useless. What was needed wss not their denial but their disproof. I ad- init that after I found in February. 1904. In the legation archives, the documents