The Grenada sentinel., 1907-02-02
PAID FOR FAv0RS|
CORPORATION CONTRIBUTIONS
TO REPUBLICAN PARTY.
In Spite of RooseveIt's Denial, Recent
Facts Show He Must Have
Been Cognizant of the
Nefarious Scheme.

Roosevelt to reward Mr.. Cortelyou
by appointing him secretary of the
treasury naturally brings to mind
what Mr.. Cortelyou did in the cam
paign of 1904. He was then secretary
of the department of commerce and
labor and also chairman of the Re-
publican national committee, to which
office he was elected by the request
OF the president. He managed the
campaign for the election of President
Roosevelt and, it was stated at the
time, was in daily communication by
telephone and otherwise with the
president and that no important steps
were taken in that campaign until the
president was consulted, so that vir
! tually Mr.. Roosevelt ran his own cam
paign. He was successful. But by
what means? The means were de-
scribed by Judge Parker, the Demo
cratic candidate, in his address deliv-
cred at Madison Square Garden in
New York city on October 81, 1904,
in which he said:
Congress creates a new department
of commerce and labor OF that de-
partment the president of the United
States appoints secretary. That sec
retary was his private secretary.
Within the department provision is
made for the collection, from large
corporations, including the so-called
trusts, Of information which, it is to
be borne in mind, is to be submitted
to the president for public or private
use, as he may direct. By grace of
the same executive this secretary,
through whose department this infor-
nation is collected, becomes chairman
of the Republican national committee
His chief duty 1t has been, and still
is, to collect funds for the purpose of
securing the election of the president
And it is now notorious that there has
resulted from this organized impor-
tunity-whatever may be the precise
way in which it is made effective-an
overfloWing treasury to the committee.
of which boast is openly and continu-
ally made. Although this may be sat
iSfactOry to the conscience of Repub-
Z, t.
be condemned as nothing short Of
scandalOus, not alone by myself or the
Democratic party, but by the Ameri-
can people as we'll"
The same charge had been made b.
Judge Parker on October 24th. but not
until November 4, 1904, u days after
the first utterance of Judge Parker on
this question, did President Roosevelt
deign to publicly take cognizance of
the charges by Judge Parker, at which
time he gave out public statement,
in which he said:
But there is not one particle of
truth in the statement. as regards any
thing that has gone on in the man.
agement of the Republican campaign.
Mr.. Parker's accusations against Mr..
CortelyOu and me are mOnstrOus. If
true, they would brand both of us for
ever with infamy; and inasmuch as
they are false, heavy must be the
condemnation of the man making
them"
On November 5th Judge Parker
made another speech and took occa-
sion to reply to President Roosevelt's
statement. He said:
He is in a position to know what
contributions have been made to the |
Republican national committee by the |
trusts; if there have been no trust |
contributions he could easily have said |
so. He did not say so. He cannot |
say so. He has waited until the clos |
ing hour Of the campaign to make |
easier the pretense of an answer But |
it is not an answer. 1t is a confession |
with a plea in avoidance addressed to |
kindly and generous people"
But the proof Of Judge Parker's
charges was not long in forthcoming,
for on September 20. 1905, the evi-
dence of John A. Mccall, president of
the New York Life Insurance COM
pany, who testified before the legisla-
tive insurance investigating commit
tee that he knew of $4,000 paid to
Mr.. Bliss, treasurer of the Republican
national committee, and approved it.
On October 10th Dr. Gillette. vice
president of the Mutual Life Insurance
company, testified that about" s4O,-
900 was contributed; on November
14th James H. Hyde, vice. president of
the Equitable Life Assurance society,
testified that $4,000 was contributed;
Senator Platt testified that he had
been paid $4,000 year, and the rea-
son that he gave for these contribu-
tions to the Republican campaign fund
was: II suppose that they thought
l might have some little influence
with my party"
Who can honestly doubt or deny
that the managers of railroads, banks,
trust companies and other corpora
tions contributed in the same surrep-
titious manner to the Republican cam
paign fund of 1904 and that Mr.. Cor
telyou as we'll as Senator Platt might
have had some influence with his
party" and would exert that influence
in the interest of the contributors?
President Roosevelt rewarded Mr..
Cortelyou for his services in that cam
paign by giving him the much mo e