Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1906-05-15
PRESIDENT IS EVASlVE
Fails TO Meet The Issue Raised
by Senator Tillman.
As TO ATTACKS ON SENATORS
Makes No Allusion I'm His
Letter to This Charge.
DENIES GOING TO THE DEMOCRATS
Says That Overtures Came
From Them.
President Roosevelt Gives His Version OF
Alleged Dickering Between Democratic
Senators and the Administration over
the Railroad Rates BiIl.
As TO ATTACKS ON SENATORS
Makes No Alluslon In His
Letter to This Charge.
DENIES GOING TO THEDEMOCRATS
Says That Overtures Came
From Them.

Washington, May 15.-The sensational
Rates bill incident in the Senate Satur-
day, during which Senator Tillman, on
the authority OF former Senator Chandler,
made statements regarding the Presi-
dents course in connection with pending
railroad rate legislation, had its sequel
this evening when a statement was issued
at the White House giving an account Of
the subject on the part of the President
and Acknowledgement Moody. The state
ment comprised two letters, one from the
President to Senator Allison. and the
other from Attorney-General Moody to
the President.
The Presidents letter to Senator Allison
follows:
My Dear Senator Allison: As Senator
Tillman brought in your name in con-
nection with mine in the statement he
made concerning our relations to the Rate
bill last Saturday it is perhaps due to you
that | should write you on the matter.
After the Rate bill was reported from
the committee, and after by vote of the
committee Mr.. Tillman had been put in
charge Of il, many Senators and many
outsiders came to see me with reference
to IT, Among others ] was asked TO see
ex-senator Chandler az representing Mr..
Tillman, who was in charge of the bill /
stated in response that 1 was of course
entirely willing to see Mr.. lillman per-
sonally or to see Mr. Chandler OF any one
else who could speak for him, and / ac-
cordingly directed my secretary to make
an appointment for Mr.. Chandler TO see
me. My understanding was that he was
the representative OF Mr.. Tillman.
L. NJ. = /. t..I -
the views OF Mr.. Tillman, with seeming
authority. He called on me several
times During the same period i saw
other gentlemen who professed TO give
the views of other Senators. In addition /
saw numerous Senators, both Republicans
and Democrats, some of them once or
twice, some Of them many times. ! also
saw numerous outsiders, railroad men,
shippers, newspaper men and students of
traffic regulations, including especially the
Attorney-Ci General and the members of the
Interstate Commerce Commission, and on
two occasions I saw groups OF newspaper
men in a mass.
To all of these Senators, representatives
of Senators, and outsiders alike, / made
the same statements; those that made
70 Mr. Chandler being the same in sub
stance that I made to you and TO those
Of your colleagues OF both political par
ties with whom | had any extended
conference on the subject
"lhe letter of the attorney-general,
which ] enclose, shows fully the facts as
10 the conferences which, at my instance,
he held with Senators Tillman and Bailey.
Those conferences we're precisely such
as, at my instance, he held with many
other Senators to determine the phraseol-
ogy and discuss the effect of amendments
proposed by them.
To all whom / saw I stated that the
Hepburn bill was in its essence entirely
satisfactory to me. The Hepburn bill
as It passed the House simply recognized
the right of review by the courts
that is, the jurisdiction of the courts
but did not attempt to define il, thus
leaving the courts to prescribe the limits
of their own jurisdiction. This was in
accordance with the ideas Of the attorney
general, his belief being that thereby
we avoided all danger OF the bill being
declared unconstitutional because Of
the attempt to confer either too much or
too little jurisdiction on the courts.
also repeatedly stated that while it
was entirely satisfactory to me simply TO
leave the Hepburn bill in substance as il
| jurisdiction Of the courts. but without any
attempt TO define that jurisdiction; yet
that | was entirely willing that there
should be definition, provided that this
definition did not seek 10 grant a broad
review, but explicitly narrowed it to the
two subjects which, as a matter Of fact, /
believed that the courts would alone con-
slider in case there was no attempt to de
fine the limits of th,ir review; that is
would limit IL to the question as TO whether
the commission had acted ultra vires
and as to whether any mans constitu-
tional rights had been impaired. I
stated that il the question of defining OF
limiting the review was brought up at all
| personally felt that this was the way in
which it should be limited or defined.
At different times at least score Of
tentative amendments were either pre-
pared by the attorney-general at the re-
quest of Senators or submitted TO me hv
| Senators. As 10 many of those amend
ments Gncluding among Others the sub
stance Of The so-called Long. Overman,
Bacon and Spooner amendments)
stated that L should be entirely satisfied
10 have them in the bill; as to Others. /
suggested notifications which would
make them satisfactory; a. 20 none did
ever say, either to Mr.. Chandler OF TO any
one else, that ] should insist upon having
them In the bill as a condition of my ap-
| proving IL. On the contrary. I was
always most careful to state that I was
not trying to dictate any particular pro-
| gramme of action
In no case. either in the case Of Mr..
! Chandler or in the case Of any one else