The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-16
PAPER HOLDS
 ITS DIGNITY Replies to Remarkable
 Message. AMAZED AT CHARGE
 MADE OF LESE MAJESTE Respects Office, But Not Theodore
 Roosevelt. stmI Demands Investignsion Of Alleged scandal And DecIarcs That Editor Palltser Is Ready
 To Go To JaII.
 q

 Roosevelt's references to that paper in his special message to Congress today says:
 "Mr Roosevelt is mistaken. He can not muzzle The World.
 sWhile no amount of biIIingsgate on his part can alter our determination to treat him with judicial imparttaIity and scraplous fairness. we repeat what We have already said. that the Congress of the United States should make a thorough investigation Of the whole Panama transaction, that the full truth may be known to the American people.
 .'The World fully appreciates the compliment paid to 1t by MT. Roosevelt in making 1t the subject of a special message to the Congress of the United States.
 ssrhe World likewise appreciates the importance of Mir. Roosevelts state meut when he declares to Congress that the proprietor Of The World should be prosecuted for libel by the govern mental authorities. and that ,.thes attor- ney general has under consideration the form under which the pro ,ceedinss against MT. Pulitzer shall Do brought
 s.This fs the fisst tifne President AAAENFtA IVAE-aAN@tt~ masesta, or proposed. in the absence cs d fic teaial9tinn. tha criminal prosecation by the government of citt- sens who crltleized the conduct of the governnaeht or the conduct of in- dividuals who may have had bust2ess dealings with the government Neither the king of Great Britain nor the Ger man Emperor would venture to arro- gate such power to himself. John Adams's attempt to enforce the seditton law destroyed the Federalist party in America. Yet Mr. Roosevelt, in the absence of law, officially proposes to use aii the power of the greatest gov ernment on earth to cripple the free dom of the press on the pretext that the government itself has been liheled. And he Is the government
 Is Thas Treasons y
 'Tt is true that The World printed the public reports, concerAainRs the Panama canal affair. which resulted fp5In William Nelson Cromwella ap- peal to the district attorneys office during the recent campaign to prevent the publication of story which was said to be in the hands of the Demo- cratic National Committee. It was Mr. Cromwell's own action which raised the issue in the campaign.
 ''It is true also that when Mr. Roose- welt made his attack upon Dclevan Smith, The World called attention to certain statements which Mir. Roose- welt must have known to be false or misleading, and appealed to Congress to end all scandal by a full and i'm partial investigation. If this be. trea- son. let Mr. Roosevelt make the most of 1t.
 "Nr. Roosevelt's lamentable habit of aw., tss zfa a lF aR 1t impossible to accept either his Judg- ment or his conclusions. In his mes- sage, he does not state correctly even so simple a matter as the pretended causes of his grievance.
 "The World has never said that Charles P. Taft or Douglas Robinson made any profits. whatever. Mir. Taft denied that he was concerned in the transaction in any way, which denial The World published and accepted. IL would have been equally glad to print MT. Robinsons denial could 1t have succeeded In obtaining one from him. as 1t frequently attempted. The World has no evidence that he was associated with Mir. Cromwell, and would accept his word to that effect. for Mir. Robin son is an estimatble gentleman of high character, whose reputation for Veracity is infinitely better than that of his QlBLlnSulSnGQ DFoLHeE-ih-AdWs
 eff The World has libeled anybody, we hope 1t will be punished, but we do not intend to be intimidated by Mir. Roosevelts threats or by MT, Roose- veIt's denunciation. or by Mir. Roose- velt's power.
 "ReckIess and UnSeruPulOus."
 No other living man ever so gross ly libelled the United States as does this President who besmirches Con gress bulldozes judges. assails the in- tegrity of courts, islanders private citi- zens and who has shown himself the most reckless, interruptions dema- gogue whom the American people ever trusted with great power and author ity.
 We say this not in anger, but in sim cere sorrow. The World has immeas- urably more respect for the ohfce of President of the United States than Theodore Roosevelt has ever shown during the years in which he has maintained reign of terror and vil- lIfied the honor and the honesty of both public officials and private citizens who opposed his policies or thwarted him in his purposes.
 "So far as The World is concerned, its proprietor may go to jail. If MT. Roosevelt succeeds as he threatens, but even in jail The World will not cease to be a fearless champion of free speech, free press and free people"
 Jesoph Pulitzer. proprietor of The World, tonight said:
 ESQ far as I am personally concerned. waa al sea during the whole of Oc- tober. and. in fact, practically for two wears I have been yachting on account of my health. I never read word or syllable of this Panama story. was not in communication with the paper. and ha6 nothing to do with it.
 MT. Roosevelt knows this perfectly.