The Oskaloosa herald., 1908-12-10
PRESIDENT HITS
=, INDIANA PAPER
INDIANAPOLIS NEWS ACCUSED or
RANK FALsEHooDs.
He DOESN'T MINcE WORDS
Roosevelt Says Charges Of Scandal
In Canal Purchase Are Lies
Laffan Of Sun Also
Raped. z.s... .'

Hot Springs, Va, Dec. THE fol.
lowing correspondence passing be.
tween President Roosevelt and vii.
liam Dudley Foulke has been made
public by the latter .-s
Hot Springs, Va, Nov. 20, 1905
The President-Sir: The indianapolis
News, not only during the campaign
but even after its close has been re-
peatedly and continually making seri-
Gus charges against your administra.
ton as well as against Mr.. Taft in
connection with the Panama purchase,
as for example the following:
The Panama Matter.
1.-THE campaign is over, and the
people will have to vote tomorrow
without any official knowledge con
corning the Panama canal deal. 1t
has been charged that the United
States bought from American citizens
for $40,000,000 property that cost these
citizens only $12,000,0OO. Mr.. Taft
was secretary of war at the time the
negotiation was closed. There is no
doubt that the government paid $40-
100000 for the property. But who got
the money? We are not to know
The administration and Mr.. Taft do
not think it right that the people
should know. The presidents broth
er-iri-law is involved in the scandal
but he has nothing to say. The can.
didate's brother has been charged
with being member of the syndicate.
He has, it is true, denied it. But he
refuses to appeal to the evidence, all
of which is in the possession of the ad.
ministration and wholly inaccessible
to- outsiders. For weeks this scandal
has been before the people The rec
ords are in Washington and they are
public records. But the people are not
10 see them--till after election, if
then
Mr.. FouIke Calls for Facts.
Even after the election this has
been continued, it being said that Mr..
Tafts weakness in Indiana (where
he ran many thousands ahead Of any
other Republican candidate) was due
scandal What are the facts in re-
gard to it? Where are these 'inacces-
sible records" When did they come
into the possession of the government
and what do they contain? If the
statements of the News are true. our
people ought to know it; If not true,
they ought to have some Just means
of estimating what credit should be
given in other matters to the journal
which thus disseminates falsehoods.-
Yours.-William Dudley Foulke."
The Presidents Reply.
5"White House, Washington, Dec /,
190S.-My Dear Mr.. Foulke: have
received your letter of the 29th ultimo
and have read it in connection with
your previous letters inclosing quota.
tiOns from the indianapolis News,
paper edited by Mr.. Delavan Smith.
As Mr.. Smith certainly knew that all
the statements he made we're false.
both as to this Panama matter and as
to the other matters of which YOU in.
close me clippings, and inasmuch.
falsity will not affect his future state
tments, | am not clear what good will
result from such exposure But mas.
much las you evidently earnestly de-
sire some answer to be made, and in
asmuch as you say that some reputa-
bic people appear to believe the false
hoods of the News and Mr.. Smith. and
inaSmuch as you seem TO think that
his falsehOods as regards the Panama
matter are the most prominent, | will
answer them.
Documents Are Accessible.
'The News states in one of its is,
Sues that probably some Of the docu.
mCnts dealing with the matter have
been destroyed. This is false. Not
one has been destroyed. 1t states that
the last documents were sent over in
June of this year, the object of this
particular falsehood being, apparently,
to connect the matter in some way
with the nomination of Mr., Taft. As
a matter of fact, the last papers that
we have received of any kind were
sent over to us in May of 1904. and they
have been accessible to every human
being who cared to look at them ever
since, and are accessible now. ANY
reputable man within or without CON
gress, Republican or Democrat, has
now and always has had the oppor-
tunity to examine any of these docu
ments. You quote the News as stat
ing that the people have no official
knowledge concerning the Panama
canal deal The fact is that the peo
pie have the most minute official
knowledge; that every important step
in the transaction and every important
document have been made public in
communications to congress an0
through the daily press and the whols
matter has been threshed over in al.
its details again and again and again.
The News gives currency to the
charge that the United States bough.
from American citizens for $4,000
900 property that cost these citizen.
only $12,000,000' The statement l..
false. The United States did not pay
a cent of the $4O,0O0,O00 to any Amer
lean citizen. The News says TIM.
there is no doubt that the government
paid $40.000,000 for the property and
continues but who got the money?