Arizona republican., 1908-09-22
THE INTEGRITY OF MIR. FOR

.AKER.
 The elimination of Senator Foraker from the republican national cam paign after the publication by Will liam E. Hearst of the Archbold let ters was inevitable, not because of the disclosure of any wrongful or improper act by the senator, but be- cause of the miscOnstruction which thousands of ignorant and minimizing voters would place upon those let ters in the excitement of a national contest.
 The Hearst newspapers, moreover are assisting the public mind to such a misconstruction and no doubt they would have been abetted in the er- fort by the democratic press and speakers, if MT. Foraker had remain ed associated with the campaign.
 To the ordinary analyst there is really nothing damaging in the Arch bold letters, and when the excite ment is removed, there will seem to no one that the letters reflect in any way upon the high character of Mir. Foraker. The unfairness of the attack upon MT. Foraker is manifest in inferences which have been en- couraged by the Hearst papers. For instance. certain letters allude to the pending antitrust bill then in a sen ate committee, urging the defeat of the bill Another letter advises the senator of an enclosure of a draft for S5O,OOO. The public is led to believe that the draft is a payment to the senator for his services against the antitrust bill. As a matter of fact, the letters bear no relation to each other. The S5O,OOO draft was in part payment for the Ohio State Journal, for whose pos session Archbold had been negotiat- ing. The deal was not consummated and the draft was returned to the sender.
 In regard to the letter relating to the trust bill. Archbold wrote that it was a vicious measure and asked if it would not be better to test the application of the Sherman antitrust law. Since then the Sherman law has been found to be effective, fully as effective as it was then thought the Jones act would be.
 The experience of MT. Foraker as the recipient of letters bearing upon pending legislation urging defeat or enactment, is the experience perhaps of every senator and representative of every congress. There can be no impropriety in receiving such letters, nor need there be any impropriety in acting favorably or unfavorably on such suggestionss as they may con- tain.
 That Senator Foraker had perform ed service for the Standard Oil com pany, for which he was paid, was frankly admitted by him, but the very fact that letters relating to those services ever came into the possession of Mir. Hearst, is prima facie evidence that those services were such as could be rendered with out impropriety. If those letters had related to the purchase of legisla- tiOn or to reward for any unlawful or improper act, copies of them would never have been left to be ab- stracted, to be converted into ruinous campaign material. Nor would the Standard oil company have rewarded the senator by easily traceable drafts, in themselves damaging evidence.
 What the effect of the publication of these letters may be upon the immediate political fortunes of MT. Foraker we can not predict, but we are certain that when the heat of the campaign has been displaced by cool and sober judgment the senator will occupy the high place in national es- teem which he has filled for many years.
 There is at least one spot where