The farmer and mechanic., 1907-04-09
Pumpkins as To News
By THOMAS j. PENCE.

By THOMAS j. PENCE.
Washington, ID. G, AprIl D.
Theodore Roosevelt is fast burning
the bridges behind him in his en-
dcavol to force the nominations Oh :"
man Of his choice for the Presidency
on the Republican ticket. In ms re
.narkable conversation with neWspap-
g.. men Wednesday he made clear the
!aet that he will endeavor TO array
the big republican trust maghaleS
aarh as Rockefeller and Hartman
against him with the hope of Wlhhine
the republican masses To ms Siae.
.Ghal Mr. Roosevelt is playing poll
'.as with the hope OF breaking down
Foraker and other leaders who are
nppoeed to him is plain. But the
question is are the people so simple
as To swallow such palpable balt.
The President could never have been
elected but for the self-same crowd
that he is setting up as target. he
ran hard and fast with Hartman
when it was plain that everything that
Juggling financiers stood for was
institutions, not to speak OF tAe pup.
ular good.
That Theodore Roosevelt is a
mighty clever politician no one Will
deny, but many people think that the
disclosures resulting from his contro-
versy with f.. H. Hartman Will rise
up to haunt him when he attempts
TO force the nomination of one of MS
own in the Republican National Con-
VentiOn. There is q lurking suspicion
that the half has not been told, and
that when the whole story is divulged
there will be more evidence of con-
tributions to the Republican National
Committee in 1904 that will cause the
people of this country to sit up and
take notice.
Parker'S Hands Tied.
Nothing has been more interesting
than Judge Parker's reiteration Of his
charges Of 1904 that Roosevelt was
accepting contributions from the big
trusts and corporations 1t is one
of the accepted stories of inner poll
tical circles, that when, near the
close of the 1904 campaign Judge
Parker made his famous charge that
the big Interests made contributions
to the republican campaign fund
under pressure, he (Parker) had in
his possession the cancelled and
cashed check that represented one of
these big contributions; that he ex-
pected there would be a denial and
lhat Following the denial he would
produce the check as proof. The de-
nial came next day in the usual White
House language, but before Judge
Parker could spring his sensational
reply the man who had placed the
cancelled check in his hands withdrew
it. It has been said that this man
was Thomas +. Ryan. This is not
u l,zslt Of
equal wealth and prominence. He
was a director and big owner of the
bank III question, as the story goes,
1nd when he read RoOsevclt'S violent
denial feared that divulgence of the
authorship of the cancelled check
would destroy his bank and seriously
lnlure his standing before the public.
and permitted the Roosevelt outbreak
10 go unanswered.
The President has practically adj
mitted the accuracy of Judge Parker 9
charges about campaign contributions,
and this accounts for his failure to
press the bill uncOVering political con-
u.5utions.
i'arltcr'S Charges Were True.
Senator O"erman. who is in Wash
ington assisting in the Brownsville in
vCStgation, in talking about this to-
day said:
The letters of Mr. Hartman and
those Of President Roosevelt published
the past few days are evidence enough
To show that there was colluSiOn be-
tween the President and Mr.. Harri-
man IN the 1904 campaign, and that
he President, contrary To his vigorous
denial, charging that Judge Parker
had told falSehOOdS and 50 forth, was
practically soliciting funds from the
corporations represented by these
Wall street financierS. But | do not
see that this will have any effect upon
the bills to publish all the financial
transactions of the campaign commit
tees, or the bills TO prohibit the con-
tllbutions of corporations. Every
body has known all along that Judge
Parikers charges We're true. The
whole country knew last year lust
what these letters just published re-
veal. that the corporations financed
isooSeNeltS campaign. and the country
KNOWS that these corporations do not
make contributions for nothing. They
expected something from the admin
iStratIOn in return. Why, when the
Hlliman resolution for an Investigation
came up before the elections commit
tee of the Senate the Republicans adj
mitted it. What's the use Of inyesti-
eating thing which everybody knows
about? some one said. And that is
the way they all felt. or at least said
SO. Nobody except the President has
seriously denied that the corporations
contributed this money. and. of course
nobody except fool would say they
contributed it without cOnsidera-
tiOn.''
'ritchard and the Tobacco Trust.
The story that Judge Pritchad was
approached by representative of the
American Tobacco Company to de-
liver the North Carolina delegates to
the Republican National Convention
Of 1904 to Mark Hanna was told this
correspondent November 7th 1904
1t was repeated to this writer by a
gentleman who visited the White
House that day. For nearly two years
and 4 half it has been held in con-
iidence, because it was repeated with
the Injunction that it must never be
printed This obligative confidence
ended yesterday when the President
retold the story to more than a score
of newspaper men. The narration OF
the story was intensely interesting
and one of the most remarkable that