Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1906-12-19
ROOSEVELT VERSUS
"MY DEAR MARIA"
Remarkable Rushing Into Print with Private Cor
respondence that Should Have been
Dun1Ded in Waste Basket
From the Now York Evenlne Post.

If an old Judge Of chancery were to
sum up this case we think he would be-
gin by saying that it never should have
been taken into court. II is the kind Of
personal squabble which ill-brcd people
may be expected occasionally to air in
public, but which gentlemen--to say
nothing of high ofliclas--would UNDER
go any penalty rather than expose to
the gaze of the curious. Many of the
Roosevelt Storcr letters were not fit to
be even written; the thought of ever
publishing them should have filed all
parties to the controversy with dismay.
The president truly says that this rush
ing into print with private correspon-
dence Ia "a peculiarly ungentlemanly
thing though then he proceeds to
quote the personal letters of a lady!
Mr. Storer and his wife displayed
shocking taste-the point of diplomatic
propriety never seems to have occurred
to them--and the lamentabe thing is
that Mr. Roosevelt did not concede
them monopoly Of it. His personal
and official dignity would have been
much better conserved if he had de-
clined to follow them into the riHinS
of private letter boxes. AS it is, the
whole disgusting reading has been
thrust upon the public; Americans are
mortified; foreigners are aghast at this
exhibition of official manners. AS the
charges and counter-charges go on,
with one betrayal of confidence after
another on either side, one can hardly
help exclaiming with Matthew Arnold
apropos of the Shelley group, What al
set!'
The correspondence is out, however,
and attentive reading of 1t shows that,
on the merits of the public controversy
Gas distinct from the personal wran-
gling) between president and ambas-
sador, some points are scored on either
side. Mr. Roosevelt is able easily to put
Mr.. Storer I'm the wrong in the matter
of the Dear Bellamy'' letter of Janu-
airy 20, 1904. 1t was not a condonation
of the Vatican intrigues, as Mr.. Storer
asserted; the president clearly proves
that the CLOSED incident" was a differ
ent affair altogether.
In other respects the president comes
off badly. Never was there such indis-
erection in public man. He writes a
letter to Mrs. Storer, which he himself
afterward confesses was filled with i'm
prudences, and in it says to her, while
1 would not like to have this letter pub
lished, you are most welcome to show
it to any one you see fit" That was
the letter in which he rallied at Prot |
estant fanaticism." In another one he
paid his respects to Methodist clergy
men of the fool type" To put such
phrases at the disposal of a woman
like his Dear Maria" was giving dyna-
mite to q child for plaything. 1t was
not long before Mr.. Roosevelt was
alarmed to hear that Rampolla had |
copies of his letters. He at once wrote
in a tremor to Mrs Storer, 81 did what |
ought not to have done in writing |
you that letter. Can you not
reclaim any copy of my letter." Aft
erward this grew into q demand: Il
must ask you to return to me all of my
letters in which ! have spoken on any
of these ecclesiastical subjects" But
the mischief had already been done;
Mr.. Roosevelt's blazing indiscretion
had got it's punishment.
The presidents angling for the Cath
Ollie vote appears most lunpleasantly in |
this correspondence. His admiration for
Archbishop Ireland was plainly mingled |
with hope of political support. you
may be interested to know" he writes
from Albany in 1900 to Catholic Mrs.
Storer. of the large percentage of Cath
olics whom 1 have placed upon
the various important commissions in
this state" Later he said that he had
accumulated an enormous quantity of
Catholic intimacy. l do not think it is
SAdClly oupE OIl, II 10 ItlleI IL ueSlfe 10
be supported" With all this, it is not
that Mr.. Storer came to imag-
inc that the presidents interest in the
promotion of Archbishop ireland was
largely political, or that he should have
written anXiously in 1904: I'm 1896 and |
1900 we got perhaps more than half of
the votes of the members of the church.
IRE we going to keep them"
The worst single blow that the presi-
dent gets in this unhappy controversy
is where he directly raises an issue of |