Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-02-06
Presidents Letter Expressing
Opinion of Hanks and Harri-
man Made Public
CHARGE is DECLARED FALSE
interstate Commerce Commission Ac-
corded Railway Masnates Every
Opportunity to Be Heard-couldn't
Pin Hartman Down-Harriman Re-
iterates Charges.

~
Roosevelt's letter in which he t1ays
Charles S. Hanks and George w. Har-
riman for falsely accusing the inter-
state commerce commission of COM
piling faulty railroad statistics was
made public. These men brought down
the wrath of the president as a result
of their failure to show, in accordance
with their claim, that the freight and
passenger rates of the country could
be reduced on an average or lV per
cent without reducing wages or divi-
dends
The interstate commission in a re-
port on the case submitted to the pres
ident, said Messrs. Hanks and Harri-
man were given every opportunity to
make good in their investigation.
The presidents letter to Mr.. Hanks
Is as follows:
"My Dear Mr.. Hanks: l am in re-
ceipt Of your letter of the Goth. l send
you herewith the report of Messrs. Neil
/ and Garfield on the only specific
charges I was able to get Mr.. Harri-
man to make after repeated efforts on
my part. Mr. Starck joins in the re-
port. The charges are completely dis
proved.
Last winter you came to me on sew
eral occasions, sometimes with and
sometimes without Mr.. Hartman, as
surfing nae that grave errors and short
comings existed in the work of the
interstate commerce commission, these
being due primarily to the work of its
statistician, Mr.. Adams. The allega-
tions made were SO grave that had
both of you meet certain members OF
the commission, on which occasion you
stated that you would be able to put
the commission in possession of in
formation which would practically rev.
olutionize much of the work they were
doing if you were given the chance to
have access to their books. The COM
mission, at my request, gave You such
access. You were engaged in the re-
searches last spring.
when I returned to Washington
last fall I heard from both Mr.. Harri-
man and you on different occasions
that you had found errors of the grav-
Of the statistician-errors which COM
pletely nullified and rendered valueless
the work of the whole commission.
The charges you had made and were
then making were Of so grave a char
>aeter that I did not feel justified in
failing to give you every opportunity to
substantiate them; for, OF course, there
wa nothing more important than to
a. <l,o,, H. ar pf
the interstate commerce commission
was accurate and trustworthy.
II endeavored to have Mr.. Hartman
state to me definitely what his charges
were. You admitted that your only
knowledge of the matter was from him.
I found it almost impossible to pin
him down to any definite statement,
and finally, in view of the repeated
statements of both you and himself
that only experts could go into the
matter, I appointed o. p. Austin to
look into the charges. He reported to
me that after careful examination
Of the charges as presented In the
paper Of Mr.. Hartman and of the re-
ply of Professor Adams that he be-
lieved the charges We're without foun-
dation. You and Mr.. Hartman insist
ed that Mr.. Austin had erred, and you
yourself suggested that / should have
Mr.. Neil and one or more bank exam
liners examine your charges. l sum-
anoned Mr.. Hartman to meet me with
Mr.. Neil. Mr. Garfield and Mr.. Adams.
/ spent an entire evening endeavoring
to get Mr.. Hartman to make specific
charges, telling him that he had been
MANY months at work, and that it was
out of the question for me to any longer
accept general allegations or sweeping
accusations without specific statements
to back them up.
ct proved exceedingly difficult to
pin him down to anything specific, but
I finally did pin him down to three
definite charges. explained to him
repeatedly that he must then and there
make any charges he had to make; that
It was impossible to take up the time
Of officers of the administration any
longer with loose defamation. and that
I would consider nothing whatever
save what charges he then and there
presented; that I would have them
tested by a commission consisting of
Mr.. Garfield, Mr.. Neil, and a Mr..
Starck one of the best bank eXamin-
ers in the government service.
."rhe examination has been made.
and the charges of Mr.. Hartman are
found to be without any foundation
whatever. Under the circumstances, it
would be simply folly for me to pay
any further heed to any allegations
whatever made in regard to the work
OF the interstate commerce commission
by either Mr.. Hartman or you. The
incident is closed, and shall forward
a COPY of this letter to the chairman
Of the interstate commerce commission.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
"Mr. Charles S. Hanks, the New
Willard, Washington, ID. C.
Hartman Reiterates Charges.
Speaking for himself and Hanks,
with whom he has been associated,
Hartman reiterated his charges that
the statistics of the interstate COM
merce commission are of no value
whatever in connection with the regu-
lation of railroad rates. In summing
up he said:
TN a letter which I sent to the COM
mittee of which Commissioner of La
Dor Neill is chairman, I have called
attention to exhibits which are on file
and which 1 claim will prove the fol-
lowing:
1.-The fallacy of merger rule; the I'M
just!fiable and misleading alteration OF
sworn returns made by editing; the