Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-15
REPLY MADE BY
THE PRESIDENT
Negotiations With Democrats
on Rate legislation
EXPRESSED HIS PREFERENCE
Did Not Bind Himself to Any
Amendment.
DEMOCRATS APPLIED TO HIM
Furnishes Letter From Attorney Gen.
eral Moody to Sustain His Asser-
tions as to the Circumstances.
DEMOCRATS APPLIED TO HIM

w
about o'clock yesterday afternoon of a
letter addressed by President Roosevelt to
Senator Allison of Iowa. explaining his par
ticipation In conferences with ex-senator
W. E. Chandler on the rate question.
Strong efforts had been made during the
day to influence the President to let the
matter drop and to have nothing to say in
answer to the charges against him of
breaking faith with Senators Tillman and
Bailey He concluded, however, to adopt
the form of a letter to Senator Allison
the best method of making a reply.
Accompanying the letter of the President
to the Iowa senator was letter from At
torney General Moody to the President ex-
planning the part he took in the conferences
with Senators Tillman and Bailey.
The Presidents Letter.
The Presidents letter follows;
THE WHITE HOUSE;
WASHINGTON. May IA, 1906.
My dear Senator Allison.-As Senator
Tilman brought in your name in connection
with mine in the statement he made con-
corning our relations to the rate bill last
Saturday. it is, perhaps due to you that l
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 it. many
htndlOFS ana many outsiders came TO see
me with reference to it. Among others I
was asked to see ex-senator Chandler as
representing Mr.. Tillman. who was in
charge of the bill. / stated In response
that l was, of course, entirely willing to
see Mr.. Tillman personally or to see Mr.
Chandler or any else who could speak
for him. and l accordingly directed my
secretary to make an appointment for Mr..
Chandler to see me. My understanding was
That he was the representative of Mr.. Till
man. In this first interview he stated to
me the views of Mr.. Tillman with seeming
authority. He called on me several times
During the same period / saw other gem
temen who protested to give the views of
other senators. In addition l saw numer-
GUS senators. both republicans and demo-
Gratis, some of them once or twice, some of
them many times. l also saw numerous
outsiders, railroad men, shippers, newspa-
per men and students of traffic regulation
including especially the Attorney General
ana the members of the interstate COM
nerce commission and on two occasions
saw groups OF newspaper men in mass
: 10 all OF these senators, representatives of
senators and outsiders alike, / made the
same statement, those that / made to Mr.
chandler being the same in substance that
l made to you and to those of your COL
leagues to both political parties with whom
l had any extended conferences on the
subject. The letter of the Attorney Gem
eral, which inclose, shows fully the facts
as TO the conferences, which, for instance
he held with Senators Tiliman and Bailey
THOSE conferences were precisely such as
at my instance, he held with many other
senators 10 determine the phraseoIogy and
DISCUSS the effect of amendments proposed
by them.
TO all whom l saw l stated that tho
Heppurn bill was in It's essence entirely
satisfactory to me. The Hepburn bill as
- passed the House simply recognized the
right OF review by the courts-that is tha
jurisdiction of the courts-but II did NOT at
tempt to define It, thus leaving the courts
10 prescribe the limits of their own turis-
uicton This was in accordance with the
Ideas OF the Attorney General his belief
peing that thereby we avoided all danger
or the bill being declared unconstitntionsi
because of the attempt to confer either too
much or too little Jurisdiction on the courts.
Jurisdiction of the Courts.
also repeatedly stated that while II
was entirely satisfactory to me stmnlv m
leave the Hepburn bill in substance as +.
was, that is, with the recognition of the
jurisdiction of the courts but without anv
attempt to define that jurisdiction, vet that
was entirely willing that there should he
a ue-lhluon provided that this definition
oio not seek TO grant broad review but
explicitly narrowed ii to the two subjects
which as matter of fact, l believed thai
the courts would alone consider In csse
tnere was no attempt to define the limits
OF their review-that is, would limit II tn
tne question AS to whether the commission
mad acted ultra wires and as tn whathar
any mans constitutional rights had been
impaired / stated that if the question ~
defining or limiting the review was brousbt
up at all personally felt that this was
the way IN which 1t should be limited or
defined. "
AT different times at least a seore NJ
tentative amendments were either nrenared
py the Attorney General at the request Of
senators or submitted to me by senator's
As to many of these amendments (inclnd
ing among others the substance of the so.
called Long, Oyerman, Bacon and Spooner
amendments), | stated that | sbonld ha
entirely satisfied TO have them in the bill,
AS 10 others, l suggested notifications
which would make them satfsfactorI,.N &C
10 none did l ever say. either TO Mr.. Chan
dler or 10 any one else. that l should IN
sist upon having them in the bill as a
condition or my approving 1t.
No Attempt to Dictate.
On the contrary. l was always most
careful to state that / was not irving RI
dictate any particular program of action.
in no case either in the case of Mr.. Chan
der or in the case of any one else. was
there the slightest opportunity for any
honest misconceptiOn OF my attitude or any
belief that had pledged myself specifcailv
10 one and only one amendment nv sat -
amendments, or that / would not be salts
heo with any amendment which preserved
the essenaal features of the Hepburn bill
as II came from the House You will do,,ht
less recall that In the course of the sew.
erai visits that you personally made me we
discussed number OF these pronosed
amendments, trying TO find out for which
one there could be obtained suffieient
body of assent 70 secure Its passage and
the passage OF the rate bill.
To almost every amendment proposed
by any one found that there were other
excellent men who objected. or who al
least wished to change il, and finaIl ybe-
came convinced that 1t was impossible for
senators with advantage to use me as the
Intermediary in coming to an agreement
with their colleagues. especially when they
only communicated with me through an
other intermediary, and 1 earnestly sue-
gested to all TO whom / spoke that they
should communicate with you, whose pur-
poses and mine were Identical
Negotiations With Democrats.
About this time 1 was Informed by va
rious democratic senators that they could
not come to an agreement upon any amend
ment and that the best chance for success
lay in passing the Hepburn bill snbstan-
TALLY unchanged. ! was informed and be-
iieved that this was Senator Bailey,s view;
and a number of the republican senators
who favored the bill expressed the same
Gnort1y In,