The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1908-09-30

n. Haskell tonight issued a statement
to the Associated Press in reply to
President Roosevelt's letter to VIM. ].
Bryan, dealing with four specific
| charges against Mr.. Haskell, namely:
that he Is subservient to Standard
Oil; that he vetoed child labor bill;
that he dealt extensively in Creek In
dian lands and that he had allowed
politics to dominate in the removal of
members Of the faculty Of State uni
versity and the appointment Of others
to succeed them.
Gov. Haskell took up the four
charges as dwelt upon by President
Roosevelt in turn, dealing with each
In a characteristic manner.
The Prairie Oil and Gas company
charges Gov. Haskell declared to be a
"Joke on Roosevelt's stupidity" as
serting that he had done nothing
which would confer upon the Stand
ard OIL subsidiary company more au-
thority than it already possessed un-
der a franchise granted by Secretary
Hitchcock.
II assert that It is fair to me to
assume that II my case was to be
dignified by an all-day cabinet meet
Ing that beyond question Mr.. Hearst
and his campaign associate, President
Roosevelt, left no stone unturned 10
blacken my character. That being
true, they certainly raked Ohio fore
and aft concerning the Ohio Stand
ard OIL cases Of 1899 and finding alb
solutely nothing rejecting on me, the
president tried to waive his charge of
last Monday aside by saying he will
make no allusion to that. He drops
this subject because his original state
ment was untruthful and he must
know from what he knows and tried
to find In Ohio that spoke the truth
when l said that I never in all my
life had an interest in, connection with
nor service for that company.
Il say the president knows now
that my statement is true and regret
that he tries to brush it aside with
out doing me candid justice. Were /
70 adopt the character Of language so
commonly used by the president I
would spell 1t in fewer letters than
'falsehood.'
"Mr. Roosevelt. hope to speak in
Ohio soon. May hope to divide the
time with some partizan Of yours or
FPrince William. who will defend your
action In this instance?
President Roosevelt comes to Ok
lahoma and finds a substitute for his
Ohio failure. does he, in the case of
the State against the Prairie OH an /
Gas company, which he complains l
compelled to be dismissed!
Eyes. did have 1t dismissed. We
all know that the Prairie company is
a standard Oil offspring. and don't
forget the president claims to have
known this also, and 1 charge that
the political allies, Hearst and
Roosevelt, both know that I acted
properly.
First. the Prairie Oil company got
Its franchise in our State, not from
me, but from Roosevelt's secretary of
Interior, long before statehood began,
and had its main line built and ope-
rating, and congress in our statehood
bill was careful to declare that our
new State, when organized, must re.
spect all such vested rights and ex-
listing franchises. That was all I did
and the federal courts stood ready TO
call me down If violated the Roose-
welt territorial franchises.
Now, Mr.. President, why did your
secretary Of the interior grant what
you knew to be a Standard Oil pipe
line franchise in our then helpless ter
ritory and fasten it on our new State
by permanent statehood bill? VIII
Mr.. Hearst or the president please
answer? l will also remind the presi-
dent that the company tried to enlarge
its rights so as to include gas as
well as an oil privilege. Tris I de-
feated. and even last 'o.i NJ? Pres
ident. your secreta-; D .Hter.o. t,irl
to help the Standard OL Il st sSs
privileges against my protest BY ac-
tually granting them franchise to
lay an interstate gas line also. l no.
titled the secretary that with state
hood your days Of giving valuable
franchises in our State had passed
and would resist laying the pipe only
after YOU yielded and cancelled your
unlawful act.
Il again assert that my act in that