The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1907-11-28
REGARDING POLITICAL ACTIVITY
OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.
SENT TO CABINET OFFICERS
Is, For What the President Terms
coed Reasons" Not TO be Made
Publie-Letters Are Being
Published by Dozen.


Ardmoreite Special
Washington, D. c., Nov. 2S.-As
was 70 have been expected, many
widely different constructions have
been placed on the meaning of the
letter which President Roosevelt sent
90 certain of his cabinet officers re-
garding the political activity ot en-.
ployes OF their departments. For
what he termed good reasons" as
many as a dozen versions of the let.
ter and its meaning have been pub
lished. Opponents of the administra.
tion are making political capital out
of it; the so called anti.third term
people are using their construction
of the letter to prove that Mr.. Roose.
welt cannot be a candidate for the
presidency again in any circum.
stances; and the advocates of the
claims Of other men to the republican
presidential nomination are main.
tanning that the letter, in terms, is
favorable to their candidates.
As a matter of fact, none of the
Views indicated are warranted. They
amount 10 just so much whistling
against the wind. To settle finally
Just what the president did write,
1t would seem to have been good
policy to publish the text of the let.
tr. particularly as erroneous YER.
slons of it were certain to obtain
wide circulation, but the good reas.
ons'' stood In the way.
The most generally accepted con.
struction of the letter is that Presi-
dent Roosevelt has directed that no
federal Office holder shall go to the
next republican convention as a dele
gate with the intention of voting for
the presidents denomination That Is
not the fact. The witer of this dis
patch has read the presidents let
ter. 1t Is no violation of confidence
TO say that the president has not
ordered than a federal official shall
not go to the convention as a dele
gate or that he shall not vote for
whom he pleases when he goes
there The salient point OF the letter
is quite different from that
\ short time ago. President Roose-
welt learned that some southern
states were likely to send delcga-
tioa to the 1905 convention instructed
for him by state conventions. such
acrion might place him in an embar-
rassing position. As a member of
the cabinet expressed it:
II would be impossible to convince
everybody that the president himself
has not connived at the selection OF
a delegation instructed for him, par
ucularly If federal office holders par
tclpaJed in the convention and secur-
ed their own election as delegates. 1t
was with the idea o preventing the
selection OF federal oflice-holders that
the letter was written. The president
does not say that federal ofc.
holder shall not attend the conven.
tion as delegate and does not at.
tempt to dictate for whom he shall
vote II he be a delegate. That would
be an impossible situation. His idea
was to prevent the manipulation of
conventions by federal office holders
In his interest. II, after the dele.
gates reach the convention they vote
for Fairbanks, Cannon, Taft Hughes,
Roosevelt or anybody else, they sim.
ply are exercising their legitimate
rights, with which neither the pres.
ident nor anybody else could inter.
fere. There will be no attempt on the
part of the president to dictate to
delegates how they shall vote"
The contents OF the letter bear
out that statement exactly. It can be
said, in addition, that the cabinet off.
GERS who have received the letter will
not issue orders under It. unless IL
should become manifest to them that
employees OF their departments de-
liberately are running counter to It's
spirit
Guthrie, ok-William Bllncoe. the