The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-12-10
Special to The Journal.

Special to The Journal.
Washington, Dec. l0.-Presidents
Roosevelt has issued a statement in reply
to the pamphlet of former Ambassador
Bellamy Storer, who was dismissed
from the diplomatic service at Vienna
the date of Dec. g, and was prepared
before the pamphlet issued by Bellamy
Storer was given to the public.
I 1t was announced at the White House
last night that Mr.. Storer's pamphlet,
which was sent to members of the cab
met and a large number of senators and
representatives, was not given out at
the White House: and that President
Roosevelt had nothing to do with its
publication. liz.
The presidents statement is in the
form of a letter to Secretary Of State
Root, calling the secretary'sf attention
to Mr.. Storer's pamphlet, and express
ing the desire that certain facts that
Mr.. Storer "either suppresses Or mis-
states ':should be known. In iustifca-
ton Of the removal Of Mr.. Storer, the
president says at the outset: can am
bassador who refuses to answer the let
ters of the president cannot remain an
ambassador Then follows the final
letter of the state department to Mr..
Storer as follows:
- Answer Was Expected.
I - Sept. 10, l9O6.-Hon. Bellamy
Storer, Paris, France. Sir: Your letter
of Aug. does not require any COM
ment, as a whole, but by direction of
the president answer it as regards one
point. You assume that in the letter Of
Dec. IL the president wrote you not as
an official Of the United States, but
purely personal and private letter, and
state fhIc 1otto,. oh SIC 20
that no answer from you was asked for,
suggested or expected. - :.
1t IS hard to understand your max
ing such a statement, in view of the
fact that the letter you quote derives
It's entire Importance from the accom-
panying letter, which you were asked
to read and hand to Mrs. Storer, in
which Mrs. Storer was informed that
unless she took certain definite action
your. connection with the diplomatic
service. would have to severed.
1t is, Of course, unnecessary to dis
cuss and it ought to be unnecessary
even to allude to any proposition SO abb
surd as that this severance of you from
the. service. would be asked for, not
by the president, but in his private ca
pacity. The president was anxious to
treat both YOU and Mrs. Storer with the
utmost gentleness and consideration,
and it seemed to him that his end
could be achieved in the way2se easiest
for you by following the course which
he, actually did follow.
1.-The letter to Mrs. Storer, of course,
became part Of the matter of which YOU
were required to take cognizance. In it
Mrs. Storer was asked to fulfill certain
conditions, failure to fulfill which
would require, she was Informed, your
severance from the service, which con-
dltions. she never. fulfilled. You were
requested to read this letter and hand
tie merely as folly the proposition
that under these conditions the presi-
dent 8 letter required no answer.
II have the honor to be. sir, your
obedient servant, Robert Bacon, -
"Acting Secretary.''
D.. Interest in Archbishop.
Having thus explained the iinnaedi-
ate cause. Of Mr.. Storer s removal, the
president goes on to recite the Incl
dents which led up to the break. He
greatly interested in having Archbishop
Ireland made a cardinal, and wrote to
him, then governor Of New York, urg-
ing his assistance. AS a result. he
asked President Mckinley whether he
could properly do anything to help the
archbishop. Mr.. Mckinley responded
that he could not with propriety inter-
fere. After he was elected vice presi-
dent he had a, further talk with Mr..
Mckinley on the same subject After
this he wrote to Mr.. Storer explaining
why. it was out Of the question for the
president to try to get any archbishop
made cardinal. He says: }s...
IT explained repeatedly that my
friendship and admiration for Arch
bishop ireland would make me pleased
to see any good fortune attend him, or
any churchman like him, of any creed;
but that I could not interfere for his
promotion, or indeed in any way in the
ecclesiastical affairs of any church.
This us. was also the position I took
in all private conversations, and the as
sertion that in any private conversa-
ton took an opposite position from
that which [ was thus repeatedly ex-
pressing in writing is not only an un-
truth, but an absurd untruth; for I
would, OF course, not say privately to
any one the opposite Of what T was
repeatedly writing to that same per-
Mrs. Storer's Letters.
Mr.. Roosevelt then turns to Mrs
Storers' letters, saying: At one time
she wrote me with great bitterness
against the Protestant missionaries
who were being sent to the Philippines,
at the same time requesting me to
champion Archbishop Ireland because
he had been loyal to the United States
during the war with Spain, which, she
asserted, was not true as to another
Catholic archbishop whom she named.
10 this and other things in the same
letter, Mr.. Roosevelt replied that he
could not interfere with missionaries.
In this connection he wrote:
IL cannot stop, and l cannot urge
the stopping, Of missionaries. going
anywhere they choose. I emphaticallV
feel, as l have always told you, that
the chance for lettering the Catholic
inhabitants of the tropic islands lies
by bringing them to the highest stand
ard OF. American Catholicism. The worst
thing that could happen both for them
and the Catholic church would be for
the Catholic church to champion. the
1 n that have undoubtedly been
committed, not only by lay, but by
clerical, would-be leaders in the Philip
pines and elsewhere.
One incident, which I actually can
not put on paper, came to my personal
knowledge in connection with a high
Catholic ecclesiastic in Cuba, which
was of a character SO revolving and
bestlal that it made one feel that the
whole hierarchy in the island needed
drastic renovation. :.
Now, | very earnestly wish that
Archbishop Ireland and those who are
most advanced among our Catholic
priests-men like the Paulist Fathers,
for instance-should be given a free
hand in these islands, and should be
advanced in every way. But
you must remember how hampered T
am in writing. from the fact that Z