Omaha daily bee., 1906-05-17
". E. CHANDLER IN REBUTTAL
Former Senator from New Hampshire
Comes to Aid of Tillman,
REITERkTtS STATEMENT ON CONFERENCE
Regrets Issue with President IL
Raised, hut Insists that lie
Told the Truth ht
First.

ANAu NJ
First.
WASHINGTON, May Ex-senator Till
man today received from former Senator
William L. Chandler a statement Of his
course as an intermediary in the ncgotia
tions between President Roosevelt and
Senators Tillman and Bailey On the railroad
rate bill. The communication bears upon
Senator Lodges denial for the president of
Mr.. Chambers statement quoting the presi-
| dent as saying he had lost confidence in
Senators Foraker spooner and Knox. It
was offered in the senate by Senator Till
man and will be printed in the Congress
sional Record.
The text of the statement follows:
My Dear Mr. Tillman: As the telephone
| denial by President Roosevelt, sent to the
senate through Senator Lodge, remains IN
! the Congressional Record Of May l.. 1t
| seems to me that l should take some notice
! of it. which ! do now by reafilrmlng the
| essential truth of the statement | made
| to YOU, and which you repea ted in the
! senate. Much as ! regret that the haSty
action of Senator Lodge and the president
| has forced an issue between the president
and myself the extreme language he used
makes such issues unavoidable and l can
4 not shrink from or evHde It, although
cannot use toward the chief executive OF
/ the nation language like his own. Upon
J our respective statements | submit the
/ controversy with confidence to the judg-
/ ment Of those who know me.
Makes Additional Statement.
For those who do not know me there Is
| high order which shows that the president
! could not have omitted in substance the
have then made the whole statement which
! he now substitutes. His impulsiveness has
led him into serious error upon a point or
/ no Importance in itself but only as affecting
| MS Attack upon me, | give to you IuT-
| ther statement, as follows:
| Prior to March 81 l had not seen the
| president for u long time. l did not 60 10
! the White House as representative OF
Senator Tillman but sOceIy because the
! president summoned me there by the letter
from Loeb and l waited for him TO express
his object. 1t was Enthusiastically stated TO
be common with Mr.. Tillman. who had the
rate bill in charge. ana other democrats
Of the senate for the purpose Of securing
the adoption in the railroad rate bill Of u
! court review clause limiting the inquiry
| to the question whether the commission had
| exceeded its authority or had violated the
constitutional rights of the carrier
/ knew, and he knew, that II was i'm
possible for him to open conferences with
I Mr.. Tillman, unless he was fully satisfied
that the president had absolutely given up
all intention of coming to an agreement
with the senators who had been making
the contest for an unlimited court review,
and in stating his object he said that he
had parted from them finally. naming Sen
ators Knox, Foraker and Spooner as the
senators who had made the arguments in
used, nearly as ] can recollect tho Ian
guage given in my statement repeated by
Mr. Tillman.
TiIImRn DistrustfuI.
The conversation included the under.
standing which he had that day reached
with Senators Long and Allison, the fact
that not over one-third of the republican
seha tors could be relied on to vote for the
limited court review, and that It was vital
that the support of nearly all the demo-
, Gratis should be obtained
1aV, VTA
man and told him my mission from the
president l found him distrustful and sus
picious. He questioned me closely as tC
/ what the president had said and | related
to him as accurately as | could the state
! ment made by the president to me, and
, / convinced him that the president haC
| senators named and the other advocates
of an unlimited court review.
!, When satisfied that this was the case h'
readily consented to cooperate with th'
! president and said that he would see Sen
ator Bailey and report TO me the result
which he did, saying there would be pcrfec
accord upon the limitation of the right o.
? review II carried forward in connection
) with a Limitation Of the right to issue el
The conferences thus begun were on tht
, 10Th at my suggestion transferred TO At
torney General Moody and at once resulted
, In an understanding that the effort coulC
be made to limit the right OF court review
the paper drawn up on April 16 by Mr.
| Moody and later perfected by Messrs
Moody, Tillman and Bailey.
MIR. Chandler Asks Questions.
! Was il not natural and essential that tn
, president should have satisfied me that h
: had finally separated upon the question o
the court review from the senators VIII
were the principal opponents of any limi
tation of that review which they believes
would be unconstitutional and that / shoul
. have repeated his statements to Mr.. Till
! man? Is II possible that | went directl
I that night to Senator Tilman at the Co
= lonial hotel and poured into his ears de
n liherate and unqualified falsehood2
We consider next the statement whcl
+ the president says he thinks he made. in
stead of the one narrated by me. Senate
= Foraker, he says, was not MENTIONED.
. | am quite sure he is mistaken. Senator
Knox and Spooner, he says, were men
?. toned, but that all that was said abou
8 them was, as to Senator Knox, that tn
> ! president did not agree with portion Q
7 his proposed amendment, but that h
! thought he had made a strong argumen
| for asserting affirmatively the iurisdictio
or authority Of the court and as to sena
Y tor Spooner that his name was only men
Z toned by him to express cordial approvs
4 of Senator Spooner's amendment
q As to spOOner Amendment.
: This Spooner amendment was not offere
In the senate until May 10, but l lear
that II had been in existence and show
TO the president, whether as early as Marc
! 81 does not appear. But this Is certain
! that il the president had on that nigh
told me that he cordially approved of
4 and l had so reported to Mr.. Tillman, ther
would have ensued no conferences lookin
TO cooperation; therefore, the presiden
ar to that amendment, had a Consultatio
some other time or with some other pei
son.
% 1t should also be borne in mind that III
= report / made TO Mr.. Tillman Of the pres
> dents conversation is comparatively harm
d less and inoffensive. Here it is: He sal
,s that he had been much troubled by th
a, advocacy Of an unlimited court review b
, some of the lawyers of the senate, namin
, Senators Knox, SpoOner and Foraker q
trying to iniure or defeat the bill by II
. genious constitutional argument, but /
- had come to a complete disagreement wit
them"
8; What is there in the above words that
untrue or should give grave offense TO y
! senators named? They were the great COZ
| stitutional lawyers of the senate, maxim
as ingenious arguments against any hmitj
At tion of court review, and they were troubl
40 some and likely TO be troublesome in ar
y attempt to carry the lOng-moOted limit
Us ton through the senate by the votes
le ! twenty-five or more democrats and twent
or less republican senators. What har
=. was there in the presidents saying that }
u had come 10 a final disagreement with the
n on the day when he had held a Whit
f. House conference with a view to unitiT
democratic and republican forces in carr
ing a Limitation Of court review then al