The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-15
AN OFFICIAL DENIAL
PRESIDENT coNTRADTcrs Ex-sEN-
 AToR CHANDLER.
NIT. Roosevelt Declares He Does Not Be- iieve the Allison Amendment Changes Materially the Orig
 inaI Hepburn Bill.

washin gton, May 14.--The sensational rate bill incident in the Senate satur- day. during which Mir. Tiiiman. on the authority of former Senator Chandler. made statements regarding the Presi- dents course in connection with pend- ing railroad rate legislation. one of which statements was denied by Mir. Lodge on behalf of the President. had it's sequel this evening when an official statement was issued by the White House giving an account of the subject on the part of the President and Att torney- General Moody.
 The statement comprised two letters. one from the President to Senator Al lison and the other from Attorn ey- Gen eral Moody to the President. both dated today.
 The President says:
 Tn no case, either in the case of MT. Chandler or any one else. was there the slightest opportunity for any hon. est misconception of my attitude or any belief that I pledged myself spe- officially to one and only one amend ment or set of amendments, or that l would not be satisfied with any amend ment which did not preserve the es- sential features of the Hepburn bill as it came from the House"
 The President says that as to many of the amendments. including the so- called Long, Overman. Bacon and Spooner amendments, he said he should be entirely satisfied to have them in the bill and suggested notifications as to other amendments. but that 'as to none. (of the amendments) did I ever say either to Mir. Chandler or to any one else that I should insist upon hav- Ing 1t in the bill as a condition of my approval"
 And that on the contrary he tthe President), was careful to state that he was not trying to dictate any par ticular program of action.
 The President says that the state- ments made to Senator Chandler were the same in substance as those made to MT. Allison and other senators of both parties. He said he was asked to see Senator Chandler as the rep resentative of Mir. Tillman. in charge of the bill, and that the conference Att torney General Moody had with Sena- tors Tillman and Bailey were such as had been held with many other sena- tors to determine the phraseology and discuss the effect of amendments pro- posed by them.
 The President states that he became convinced that 1t was impossible for senators with advantage" to use him az an Intermediary and suggested to all to whom he spoke that they communi- cate with Senator Allison. whose pur- poses and the Presidents were fdenti- cal" The President says that his own opinion that the Allison amendment in no way changed the court review as provided in the original Hepburn bill is also the opinion of Attorney Gen eral Moody and Secretaries Root and Taft
 The attorney generals letter gives an account. at the Presidents request, oe .ha conferencAs which Mir. Moody had. by the Presidents direction. with Senators Tillman and Bailey regard ing the court review feature He says he advised the President that he should not at any stage become finally com nitted beyond recall to any form or language in any part of the Dlil. an1 inc President affirmed the wisdom or that course -,-.. =, t,.n- locutory intunctions and concludes that tbore was nothing in the conVersa- lions" between the senators ana hlh- self which bound the President 10 any particular amendment
 Senator Tillman talked Ireely to- r,sht with a number of his callers HIsn tha .tntament issued by Presi- So,,t D oosevelt. He expressed his pref
 ra,ce how ever. not 10 be quoted. ,,ointing out that whatever he wished ~ ,a, or the subject of the statement t -s-ouId say on the floor of the Sem ata He expects that the question will he brought to the front Tn some way in the Senate tomorrow
 eanator Tillman wanted the fact to so into the newspapers that he did Iot in any way initiate the negotiations ,,ith the President regarding the Dem- ocratic support for the railroad rate bill and that he did not ask Senator Chandler to go to the White House.