Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-02


resentative Sherman of New York,
chairman of the republican con-
gressional committee, III October
last. as refutation OF the allegation
made bv Mr.. +. H. Hartman i'll a
letter purporting to have been writ
ten to Sidney Webster.
President Roosevelt today enphaticaiiy
denied the statement contained in a Hetter
published this morning purporting to nave
been written by F. III. Hartman to sidney
Webster of New York in the latter part or
December, 1893. In Mr.. Harriman's letter
the statement is made that at the request
Of President Roosevelt he OHarriman) as
sisted in raising a fund of $4,000 to De
used i'm carrying New York for the fepuo-
ucan party at the election which was then
approaching.
This statement the President character
ICES as "a deliberate and wlful untruth-
by right il should be characterized by an
even shorter and more ugly word. ! never
requested Mr.. Hartman to raise dollar
for the presidential campaign Of 1904"
The Presidents denial was contained in
a brief statement and copies of letters
written to Representative Sherman of New
York. The letters are dated October and
October Il, 1906 respectively.
The President after furnishing the letters
to the press dictated the following state
ment:
After writing these letters to Represen-
tative Sherman the President was assured
that Mr.. Hartman had not made the state
ments which Mr.. Sherman credited him
with making. Inasmuch as the same state
ments appear in the major part in the letter
of Mr. Hartman. now published, the Presi-
dent deems it proper that the letters he
sent TO Representative Sherman last Octo-
Der shall now themselves be made public"
Letter to Sherman.
October S, 1906
My Dear Sherman:
Since YOU left this morning / succeeded in
getting hold of the letters t. which / re-
ferred, and l send you a copy IF Gov
Odelrs letter to me of December 20 1904
AS l entirely willing that you should
show this letter to Mr.. p. Fl. Hartman,
shall begin by repeating what you ;old me
he said to you on the occasion last week
when you went to ask him for cont-Iou-
ton to the campaign. You informed ne that
he then expressed great diss abstraction with
me and said i'm effect that as long as was
at the head of the republican party or as 1t
was dominated by the policies which | ad-
vocate and represent he would not support
1t. and was quite Indifferent whether Hearst
beat Hughes not, whether the democrats
carried Congress or not. He gave as rea-
son for his personal dislike of me partly my
determination to have the railroads super
vised and partly the alleged fact that after
promising him to appoint Depew ambassa-
dor to France / failed to do it; and. l I'M
derstood you to say, that he alleged that
made this promise at a time when he had
come down to see me IN Washington when
requested him to raise $3.50, 900 for the re-
publican presidential campaign which was
then on.
A Deliberate and Willful Untruth.
Any such statement is a deliberate and
willful untruth-by rights it should be char
acterized by even shorter and more ugly
word. i never requested Mr.. Hartman to
raise dollar for the presidential campaign
of 1904 On the contrary. our communica-
tions regards the campaign related ex-
clusively> to the fight being made against
Mr.. Higgins for governor of New York, Mr..
Hartman being immensely interested in the
success of Mr.. Higgins because ne regarded
the attack ON Higgins as being really an
attack on him, Mr.. Hartman, and on his
friend, Gov. Odell; and he was concerned
only in getting me to tell Mr.. Cortelyou to
aid Mr.. Higgins 80 far as he could, which
i gladly did. He also Q think more than
: once) urged me to promise to make Senator
Depew ambassador to France, giving me In
detail the reasons why this would help