Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-03-26
Gle thruout the length and breadth Of

Gle thruout the length and breadth Of
the land.
Il am not rewriting my speeches, and
I withdrew nothing from them. i am
simply putting in cold calm type the
substance of what I intended to say
and what believe did say, without
attempting to reproduce the literal
phrase that 1 at any time employed
"As read your letter, you accuse mo
OF falsehood in the following respects:
First, in declaring that the cross-ex-
animation conducted by you was hos
tile: second, in declaring that an att
torney for the railway companies sat
at your right hand during the cross
examination; third, that you appeared
to he In communion and sympathy
with this attorney; fourth, that during
the cross-examination the attorney
handed to you written questions to be
propounded to me-
Il shali give some attention to these
four accusations, promising that shall
not waste any time in defending my
description of the senate as "mau-
soleum of good resolutions" This,
take 1t, is purely matter of opinion.
/ cherish no hope of changing yours.
ana as it is not probable that you
could change mine, discussion would
be profitless and uninteresting. / take
up your complaints. Was your cross
examination hostile and unfair and
did you t.ansgress the proprieties of
your position?
May ask you, first. what you un-
derstand to be the duties and obliga-
tons Of the chairman of legislative
committee appointed to investigate the
subject your committee had under con-
sideration? If you understand those
duties and obligations to be similar
to those of an advocate, / then have
no criticism of your conduct except
to say that you were on the side Of
the railways instead of on the side
OF the people. have thot, how
ever, that as chairman of such COM
mittee your duties and obligations were
more nearly like those of Judge;
namely, to hear both sides patiently,
without bias or prejudice, and then to
decide impantiaaly, without fear or
favor. You heard patiently, but It
was clearly apparent in your cross
examination that you had decided the
case in favor of the railroads. and you
were determined to shatter my evil
sdence If you could.
You quote the following question
and answer to show that the cross
examination was not hostile: O..
Governor, have you anything further
to say? A. Nothing except to ex-
press my thanks for the patient and
courteous way In. which the members
of the committee have listened to my
statement"
Remember that never alleged any,
thing against your courtesy. If you
had taken the trouble to quote other
parts OF my speeches at Fort Dodge
and Spirit Lake 1t would have ap-
peared that 4 gave. you full credit for
courtesy. Your courtesy was so com-
plete that it became as elaborate as
that of the knights of the olden time
when they were about to draw blood.
It cannot be that you have lived to
middle age without observing theN con-
stant association of courtesy and hos
tility You were very kind and pa
tient with me personally, but you were
determined to slaughter what said.
'I have reread your cross -exanlin-
alton, and / repeat that those parts
which you quote. as well as all the
remainder of it, show conclusively that
you had made up your mind that the
proposed authority ought not to be Civ
en- to the interstate commerce commits
sion, and your effort was to show,
thru the cross ss-examination, that the
power sought to be given was unnec-
essary, dangerous, and filed with dis
aster to commerce. will not quote
from the examination, but if any per-
son who may read this letter wants
to know what construction should be
put upon it, let it be read as it appears