New-York tribune., 1908-12-08
DELAVAN SMITHS REPLY
FoUozced the Leader an Charging
Panama Canal Deal.
rRv Telegraph to The Tribune. J

TndfananoIIs. Dec. THE Indianapolis News
of which the editor. Delavan Smith was men
toned in President Roosevelts retutauon or the
Panama Canal charges, in an edltoTlaI Io-oaI I'
plies to the President in part as follows;
Disregarding the Presidents abuse and dlsclaln-
ing any desire or ambition 10 C9gey9 g Wte %I tat 10,
it is both right and our duty 10 give the [aCsi
Of our course in relation to the Panama Caliai
first place it Is Te9rabie dq s st5 that tarss the
" on the statements of The New York World
GuriGg the campaign were utterly ignored m
day. The only man who PAID any aIIehtIoH ttt @ I
was is any way related to the affair. We had no
word from the President or Adr, Tar, LI9 Ne o'Ie her
leved TO have full information in regard TO the
The charges were Repeated over and over again.
and toward the close OF the campaign We as 5. alG
and Inevitable conclusion that silence was prac-
EaTe Efs the Presidents denial W6ich is not made til
It is too late fer any votes to be amected OF "
And what does his denial amount TO? He only
6 that dp4 the Fegn 9aeg Waf ez G P Buf to 20 e French
government: Ho does not know to whom that gov
The President in one breath. says that It is
off and in another that neither & ne nor t19 gov
eTqmept knows to whom the e. FTeaeI gTy9T5nr 55 9T
government knows who got the money the Fre5i S
dent eann0t bn0w but & that IS some me A6 of denial Mai
that the country is asked to accept. The FRENCH
men Holding t6e 4 sssgriieS 4 s., Of the old Panama
company. That is what II did
The President says that he does not know who
those were. And yet, possessing no knowi-
edge the subject, he denies absolutely, as , he
confesses without knowledge, that any of this
money found it's way into american pockets
The News took the only course that could have
been taken by paper whose policy 1t is 70 print
the and to tell the truth about It. The
charges publicly made by responsible
paper-made many times during the campaign
and attention whatever was paid TO them by
the President the Except Charles Z. Taft)
said to be involved. And even now the President
openly admits that he has evidence in his
possession, has knowledge which 1t is pos
sible to base a denial He does not know who
got the money, and vet he says positively that
no American got any of It
1.-The News has not the slightest desire to mis-
represent the facts make unwarranted IN
ferences. It had psrpOse or motive but to serve
the best interests of the peOnle by publishing what
It believed to be pertinent and timely information
relating matter Of public importance. 1t re-
peatediy expressed surprise that all the men (eX-
cept Charles P. TafD whose names were men
toned in connection with the charges continued to
ignore them.
On a review Of all the circumstances as they
presented themselves at the time we confess that
unable to what other course THE
News, could. consistently have pursued. As for
Delavan Smith of the owners of ''The News
that is question in which the public have
legitimate interest. But the canal question is
q public question It IS one into which Congress
should inquire.