Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-16
MADE no 0VERTuR[s
Senator TilIman's Reply to the
Presidents Letter.
DID NOT SEEK CONFERENCE
Authorised No One to Represent
Him.
REFERS TO ATTORNEY GENERAL
Declares He Seems to Think Code of
Honor Among Gentlemen Is
Not Binding.
REFERS TO ATTORNEY GENERAL

Senator Tillman's reply to the Presidents
letter in the Senate yesterday afternoon,
which was briefly outlined in The Star,
has attracted much attention both for the
moderation of language used and the
firm denial by the South Carolina senator
Of the insinuation that Mr. Tlllman's
friends had brought the President and him
self together for mutual rate making. The
statement was made on behalf Of ex-Sena-
tor Chandler
Mr.. Tillman read the portion of Mr..
Chambers memorandum of his confer
ences with the President which has here
tofore been given to the public, prefacing
1t with brief statement of his own. say
Ing that on Saturday the Senate had been
startled and mortified to hear the utter
ances of an ex-member denounced on be-
half of the President as "a deliberate and
unqualified falsehood.. AS he had been
responsible for introducing the subject
which had caused the attack on Mr.. Chand-
Ter, he felt under obligations to place him
right on the record. To, that end he read
the ex-senator's statement.
No Overtures to the President.
The reading of that statement was fol-
lowed by the following from Mr.. Tillman:
There are only two points in the Presi-
dents letter which / deem worthy of no
tice. His attempted explanation is inge-
NOUS, but not ingenious He calls in
question the integrity of purpose and ut
terance OF Mr.. Chandler by declaring:
He was asked to see ex-Gov. Chandler
as representing Mr.. Tillman, who was In
charge of the bill. He stated to me the
views of Mr.. Tillman with seeming au-
thority.'
Mr.. Chandler has declared most posi-
lively in written statement that the
President sent for him for the purpose OF
getting into communication with Senator
Bailey and rayself, and he has produced
the letter of Mr.. Loeb.
II now declare most emphatically that to
no human being have L ever given author
ity or even expressed a wish to have any
conference with Theodore Roosevelt In re-
gard to the bill now under consideration.
On the contrary, have expressed the opin
ion in more than one published interview
that he had nothing to do with 1t and that
1t was the business of the Senate, and while
did, at his request, enter into negotiations
with the Attorney General, it is we'll known
to every senator on this floor what my at
titude and feelings have been, and 1t is
most remarkable, while the President sent
for democrat after democrat to confer with
hinlf about this measure, that he should un-
dertake, under the circumstances, to as
sert that / sent an agent to him to beg n
negotiations The statement is absurd on
its face.
Honor Among Gentlemen.
1.-The other point to which shall refer is
the cavalier way in which Mr.. Moody dis
cusses the idea of the President not being
bound.
while contradicting in no instance, how
ever slight my statement of what occurred,
the Attorney General seems to think that
the code of honor among gentlemen Is not
binding upon the executive and his cabinet
The President asked him to see Mr..
Bailey and myself. We met by appoint
ment, made by Senator Chandler and
talked over the vital question. He wrote
and sent to Mr.. Bailey his understanding
of our views, and when we met subsequent
ly we reached absolute agreement both as
to the form and the substance of pro-
posed amendment, to which he said the
President would assent and help get votes
for.
"Of course the President was not bound
not to change. but he was bound under
such circumstances to give notice, and this
was not done. Even the Attorney General
himself was not notified. The charge l
made and still make, Is that the President
is guilty of bad faith, and that the rate
bill. which will be, when enacted into law,
a much better and stronger measure than
we had hoped to get, has been emasculated
of one of it's most valuable and essential
features by the Presidents action.
II am ready to leave the whole question
to the thoughtful and honorable men of the
country.