The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-02-10
ROOSEVELT SAYS
HIS CRITICS LIED
President Answers Statements
AMade Regarding Use of Fed
eral Patronage for Taft.
COMPLAINT FROM INDIANA
FAIRBANKS PEOPLE MAKE GER
TAIN CHARGES.
COMPLAINT FROM INDIANA

w dSililiS lOlis ICDs lGolutIS IAOOoC-
welt today made answer to the recent
public statements that he has made use
of federal patronage TO further the
presidential interests of Secretary Taft.
The answer ,is in form of a letter ad-
dressed to William Dudley Foulke of
Richmond, Ind, and includes a letter
from Mr. Foulke to the president sug-
costing the need of such a statement.
The president begins by characteriz-
ing the charges as false and mali
cious." He follows this with an analy-
sis of all appointments sent by him to
the senate for its action to show that in
no case has the proximity of a presi-
dental contest influenced his action.
Letter of Mr.. Foulke!
Mr. Foulke's letter, dated February
5th. says:
ION January 10, l laid before wa an
article in the Indianapolis News On pa
per supporting the candidacy of Mr..
Fairbanks) accusing you of using the
federal patronage to secure the nOml-
nation of Mr.. Taft and naming the post
offices in particular. 1 spoke of the fact
that certain Taft men had been nOmi-
mated in Ohio and you answered that
that was true; that you would be very
weak if you allowed the power of APP
pointment in that state 10 be used
ONLY as a means of attack upon the
administration.
ION my return home observed other
articles making similar charges in va
rious papers. for instance, the follow
ing in the New York Evening Post of
January 16:
1--WE are now getting daily lessons
in civil service reform from the White
house which ought to attract national
attention. The appointment of Taft
workers to postoffices in Ohio and of the
totally UNIT George w. Wanamaker
as appraiser of this port is now followed
by the presidents refusal to Te-appoint
a good Hughes man as collector of Gus
toms at PlattsburS.
indianapolis Star Charges.
q "On January II. All article charging
You with similar abuse of the patronage
appeared i'm the Indianapolis Star, a pa
per also supporting Mr.. Fairbanks and
reputed to be owned principally by DAN
iel G.. Reid, representing important
Wall street interests This article | en-
close in letter to you in which l said:
No man can be a more unqualified
supporter of Mr. Taft than l, yet l real
ize that any use of the patronage TO aid
him. especially if coercion can be inn
Piled is likely to injure you very Sc
riously. The use of any public office for
this purpose is fraught with great dan
ger and subject TO unanswerable crlti-
cism.'
ITO this you answered January 10:
Roosevelt Asks for Names.
viii you produce the name of a
single man whom 1 have coerced or in
fenced; will you give me the name of
any official who has been controlled by
the threat or implied threat of dis
nissal or from whom | have demanded
support for Taft; in fact will you give
me one particle of justification for the
fears you expressed? Name the man
whom have removed because he was
not for Taft or threatened TO remove
because he was not for Taft. You can
not do so, and as you cannot why do
not YOU repeat this challenge 10 the
newspaper in question; assert that their
words are absolutely false and challenge
them to make good?
Il accordingly wrote to the Star ask
ing il to name a single case of coercion
referred to in its previous issues. 1t
published an answer to my letter, out
failed TO name any instance of the
kind. then wrote again, calling atten-
tion 10 this failure and asking if / were
not forced to conclude from its own ST.
lence that its own charges were aoso-
lutely without foundation ms seconu
letter. however, it would not publish,
Although il still continues TO repeat its
teneral charges of abuse of the patron
age, ,,L
Story In Boston Herald.
these charges also continue to be
circulated by other newspapers in all
parts of the country. Thus the Boston
Herald Of January %. says:
Federal office-holders may be conf
manded to use their influence and their
authority i'm behalf of candidate Such
a command has beers issued and the
president should know of it. Somebody
has instructed postmasters that they
must obtain from their subordlnates
either their designations or their pledges
HI support for Taft delegates to the
convention. Even in Massachusetts Ell
forts of this kind have been maze re-
Gently. but happily they nave Deeh
stopped. partly because thefpostmasters
ON whom the attempts were made have
the courage to resist and partly from
other causes.
IN view of these reiterated COM
plaints. would not a detailed statement
of your recent appointments, the men
bv whom they were recommended, your
reasons and the principles upon which
Won have acted i'm making them as well
as a statement in regard to the alleged