Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-25
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Governor Haskell Of Oklahoma, chair
man of Mr.. Bryan's resolutions com
mittee at Denver and Mr.. Bryan's per-
sonal selection as treasurer of the dem
ocratic national committee, has been
complied with. Mr. Bryan wanted Ger
tain information. He has received It,
along with a lot of vastly interesting
information which he did not want. In
the curse of his letter to the presi-
dent, Mr.. Bryan said:
1 agree with you that II Governor Has
kell is guilty as charged he is unfit to be
connected with the democratic national
committee, and l am sure you will agree
with me that II he is innocent he deserves
to be exonerated from so damning an &C
cusation.
In the light of the record cited by
President Roosevelt, it will be difficult
for Mr.. Bryan to convince himself that
Governor Haskell is fit to remain in
his high official position in the demo-
cratic councils.
The original charges duplicating
Governor Haskell with al attempt to
bride the then attorney general of
Ohio, F. S. Monnett, in the interests
of the Standard Oil trust we're made
by ". r. Hearst. The charges were
somewhat indefinite, but Governor
Haskell denied them simply by plead
ing a case of mistaken identity. On
the basis of this denial, Mr.. Bryan be-
came highly indignant and demanded
proofs. The presidents reply is over
whelmingly convincing. He quotes
records instead of rumors, and he
passes up the Ohio case to cite n in
Oklahoma, a case that came into the
courts no later thar July of this year,
at the very hour when Governor Has
kell was in Denver framing Mr.
Bryan's incorporation platform.
Briefly summarized, the Oklahoma
case is as follows: The Oklahoma
constitution, alleged to have been
framed largely by Mr.. Bryan, con-
tained a clause prohibiting foreign cor
porations from doing business in the
new state except On compliance with
certain antitrust provisions of the
constitution. While Mr.. Haskell was
in Denver the Prairie Oil and Gas COM
pany sought a permit to do business
in the new state. This was refused
and the attorney general of the state,
with the counsel and consent of the
acting governor, obtained an injunction
in the courts restraining the foreign
gas and oil company from operating
in Oklahoma until it complied with
the provisions of the constitution APP
plicable to such corporations. Gov
ernor Haskell, hurrying home from
Denver, appealed to a higher court for
a dissolution Of the injunction, alleging
in his petition that he was the sole
authority to determine such matters
and that the action of the attorney
general was a encroachment by the
judiciary" upon the prerogatives of
the executive. The governor carried
his point and the Prairie Oil and Gas
company is doing business in Okla
homa, as the attorney general of the
state puts it, without the color of
law"
Governor Haskell and his friends
have offered neither defense nor ex-
PLANTATION of his conduct in that case,
except to assert that the permit was
given to the Prairie Oil and Gas COM
pany and not the Standard Oil com
pany. The testimony offered in a case
against the Oil trust in st. Louis less
than a year ago shows that the Stand
ard owns all but $500 of the sic, 0OO,-
900 stock of the Prairie Oil and Gas
company.
Whether Governor Haskell had any
connection with the attempt of the
Standard Oil company to bride the at
torney general of Ohio has nothing to
do with the present case. That he
acted in the interests of the Standard
Oil company in the Oklahoma case in
July, 1908, using his power as gov.
ernor of the state to prevent the at.
torney general from doing what he
thought was his sworn duty to do, sup.
porting the laws and the constitution
of the state, is proven beyond bubble
or question. 1t is a matter of officia'
record, supplied by the courts and
competent officials, that Governor Has
kell, whatever he may or may not have
done in his checkered career in Ohio
has been openly seeking to fasten the
fangs Of the Standard upon Oklahoma
going so far as to oppose his attorne!
general, who was making an effort t.
enforce the state law against the OF
trust, President Roosevelt has made
it impossible for Mr.. Bryan to appea
to the American people on a mora
issue when his chosen political asso
ciates and advisers are of the Haskell
stripe.