The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-11
sEC'Y WILSON WON'T RETRACT
uo,.LD WELCOME A LIBEL SUIT
ny BROKER PRICE.
..rnls Is a quarrel Among Gamblers" TIC
said. drought About by the Dlssat's'
faction Of some OF Them In Not Getting
what they Thought Was Their DUE


v,suIsoroS, July 10.-There were three
,,,rastiny developments in connection
nj ,be cotton scandal to-day. Tho trst
,bo announcement of Secretary OF
'".,onlture Wilson that no had no inten-
.len ~ apologizing to Theodore H. Price,
w.. w. Nav York cotton Spectator, for having
wv" s,,,o,ed Prices name In the official state
nent given out Saturday; the second was
,be determination Of the authorities 10 To-
". the Holmes case to legal officers OF the
covernment with view to ascer'aihihB
,,hstber he can he prosecuted on charge
y, hrbery, the third was the issuance OF
o.,,or,ent by George p McCabe, solicitor
',,ho Danartment of Agriculture. in which
vo,s that United States District Attorney
's.~.ar n Beach informed Secretary Will
wv ,hat fine evidence submitted to the
e.o,,,,orv convinced him that prosecution
-o;r.t Holmes could not he maintained.
Secretary Wilson did not mlnce words IN
,,,,,,ssing the demand made upon him by
Mr prc, for a retraction,
This i a quarrel among gamblers,
A., SECRETARY .aid, brought about by
,h, dissatisfaction Of some of them In not
,.o,ting what they thought was their due.
hive nothing to take back As the head
NJ an executive department OF the Govern
,'on, /, was my duty and my right to give
80 ,be nublic the result of the investiga-
,;,, he rhe Secret Service agents into the
ahar,es which had been filed, the investi-
,a,ion Of which led up to the dismissal
e. Assistant Statistician Holmes
Secretary Wilson said he had reached
III decision not to make any retraction
81 ,l. statements in the official document
in rcrari 10 Price only after serious con-
,idera,ion had been given to Prices re-
n,,est presented through his attorney,
william NJ. Wins of New York, "to with
draw the unjust. offensive and unsus-
uued charges and implications" in ques-
ton. The Secretary added that he would
NOT communicate with Mr., Price or his
ittorncy in any way.
There /, good reason to believe that
President Roosevelt will instruct the At
torney General to review the report Of tho
Secret Service agents on the cotton crop
scandal with a view to criminal prosecu-
ton of Holmes and his associates.
II must not he forgotten that Secretary
Richard Cheatham of the Southern Cotton
Growers Association, who first presented
the charges against Holmes to Secretary
Wilson on Saturday night, said that Dis
trirt Attorney Beach had int imated that
while there was not sufficient evidence
against Holmes and his associates in the
report turned over to him on which an in
dctmcnt might lie nevertheless he thought
there was IA strong case for conspiracy
charge If the matter were properly handled.
The statement made by Mr.. Beach last night
bears out Mr. Cheatham's views to con-
siderable extent.
There is a difference of opinion between
the Department of Justice and the De-
pariment of Agriculture as to tho nature
Of the opinion rendered by MIR. Beach in
the case. As Mr.. Beach expresses mis- side
Of the story, he evidently informed Secre-
tary wilson that, in order to prosecute,
additional evidence would have to be Sc
cured Unintent ionally Secretary Wilson S
statement, was not complete. The De-
artmen-'- position is outlined in a state
ment made public to-day by George +.
McCahc a, follows
'Ahout 10 A. NJ, Friday. July !, under
instructions from the Secretary Of Agri-
culture, ] called upon Mr. Beach, United
States Attorney for the District of Columbia,
taking With me the Secret Service operative
who had made the investigation in the
reported leakage on the cotton crop report
The Secretary instructed me to place all
the evidence in the possession of the Der art
ment and the original report of the Secret
Service operative in the hands of Mr.. Beach,
and to request that official to advise the
Secretary whether. in his opinion, a criminal
action would lie against any Of the parties
named in the evidence or in the report. |
carried out the instru ctions of the Score
tar. and further told him that the Secre-
tary desired to have his opinion on the
matter as soon as possible, and asked
vwhetherit would handicap him in his efforts
to maintain a prosecution if the Secretary
gave report of the investigation to the
newspaper men lending Mr.. Beach's de-
termination of the matter. Mr.. Beach
replied that he did not want one word to
be made public until he had time to go over
the matter and satisfy himself as to whether
or not an ofIense had been committed and
prosecution could be maintained.
Upon my suggestion Mr.. Beach called
up the Secretary Of Agriculture by tele-
phone and advised him of the fact that he
did not want publicity at that time and
that he would communicate with the Secre-
tary as soon as possible. On Friday after
called upon the Secretary in person and
returned all the papers, and stated that a
Prosecution would not lie. The whole
question was presented to Mr.. Beach, l. e.,
whether an ofense against the law had
been committed and whether in his
oP',uoi tIliIiiiidi prosecution COulc DC
maintained"
Secretary Wilson is not satisfied with
the outcome Of the recent investigation
and he would be glad to see the matter
gone, into at greater length. He very
plainly intimated to-day that he would
welcome some such action as is threatened
py Free, as he believed it might be the
means OF developing some facts not already
uncovered which it was extremely desirable
70 Know The Secretary is inclined to
believe that il Mr. Price brings suit for
loel against him the resulting testimony
ana court proceedings might reveal things
OF vital interest and importance to every
'ody concerned.
secretary Wilson does not know at first
,Ahd OF any connection Mr.. Price may have
nag with the leaks from the Bureau of Sta
tslics, That is one of the reasons why he
l-hVes that Mr. Prices grievance if the
a''er Is sincere in his statement that he
n W. one, should he against the Treasury
Vv'HCiaIs and not against the head of the
Asncn!tural Department. The Secretary
outsiders that when the report of the Secret
,FtNce officials was handed to him he had
ouI one course TO pursue. re followed that
.oufse' he says, and made public the entire
ltpoft, holding blck nothing. As matter
y. lact the Secretary is inclined to believe
va. ms action in giving ont the entire re-
Ioft Is what has caused most of the after
math VI trouble" But ne realizes that he
M9S IN the position OF culprt who hesi-
, %y'u etween confession and denial and