Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1907-05-31
ISSUE OF TWO MEN
Author L7ng Calls President
Roosevelt t. Acc uat
WANTS PUBLIC APOLOGY

Are Quite as High as Those OF
Chief Executive, Who Cannot Take
Refuge Behind Office and Be Silent
Stamford, Conn, May 29-Dr. Will
lam j. Long. writer on natural history.
has publicly challenged President
Roosevelt to Il 'show down" to let the
whole country see which of them is tell
ing the truth.
In an article in one of the June maya
zines the president in SO many words
says DR.. Long has prevaricated in Il re
cent book of animal stories. Long
wrote a personal letter to the president
last week and having received no re-
ply he issued an open letter" to the
president last night in which he says
THE issue between you and me is no
longer one of animals. but Of men. 1t
is not chiefly a matter of natural his
tory, but of truth and personal honor
In recent magazine article you de-
liberately attacked me as well as my
book. You have used the enormous in
fiuence of your official position to dis
credit me as man, to injure my repu-
tation and incidentally to make a poor
man even poorer by destroying. if pos
sble the sale and influence of his
work.
''In my book | have given the result
of long years of watching animals in
the wilderness. with no other object
than to study their habits and. so far
As man can, to understand the mystery
of their dumb life. In every preface
have stated. and | now repeat the
statement. that every incident have
recorded from my own observation is
true as far as an honest, educated man
can see and understand the truth.
"In your recent attack this is what
you chiefly deny. | have spoken the
truth and you accuse me of deliberate
falsehoOd and Misrepresentation. As
President of the United States you have
gone out of your way publicly to iniure
a private citizen who was attending
strictly to his own business; as a man
you have accused of falsehood another
man whose ideals of truth and honor
are quite as high as your own. This is
the whole issue between us. | meet
1t sQuarely and so must you.
IF | have spoken falsely, if in my
book or any work of mine have in
tentionally deceived any child or man
no Il lin, inns al
ly to retract every such word and never
TO write another animal book On the
other hand, if | show to any disinter-
ested person that you have accused me
falsely you must publicly withdraw
your accusation and apologize. AS a
man and as president no other honorable
course is open to yQH.
You base your recent charges chief
ly on the matter of big white wolf
killing young caribou by a bite in the
chest. described by me in Northern
Trails You declare the thing to be
mathematical impossibillty and de-
clare by no possibility could a wolf
perform the feat"
DR.. Long declares he knows from his
own observation and from the testi-
mony of Indians that wolves do some
times kill in this way and then quotes
the signed and witnessed statement of
s. J. Hapidan. an educated Sioux In
dian. who states he saw n horse which
a wolf had killed by tearing its chest.
In addition to this, DR.. Long says he
himself had seen Il deer which had been
slain in this manner by wolf. and
further recites that his Indian. Matty
Mitchell of Bonny Bay, y. f.. declares
that the big white wolf frequently kills
caribou in this manner Continuing,
DR.. Long says:
'TheSe are the facts underlying the
incident which you declare to be i'm
possible and false. If this testimony is
not enough | will fill it up to full scrip
ture measure,
"You cannot at this stage, Mr. ROose-
welt. take refuge behind the presiden-
tlal Office and be silent You have for.
fcited your right to that silence by
breaking it by coming out in public
to attack "A private citizen. If your
talk of square deal is not all Il sham.
if your frequent moral preaching is
not hypocrisy, | call upon you as presi-
dent and as a man to come out ami
admit the error and injustice of your
charge in the same open and public
way in which you made it,"
Nav Irwin's Quiet Weddipn
Clayton, n. Y, May 27.-May Irwin.
the actress. was married a her summer
home on Irwin island. in the ST I.aw