The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-10
ty of a Presidential con dis actions.
.r Correspondence,

,eri i48o respondence in full follows: IL 'February 5 1908. th. rv the President-Sr: On January l3 ,-.s laid before you an article in the In afanapos News Ga paper supporting the candidacy of MT. Fairbanks), accusing you of using the federal patronage to secure the nomination of MT. Taft and naming the postoffice in particular. spoke of the fact that certain Taft men had been named in Ohio, and you an- swered that that was true, that you would be very weak if you allowed the power of appointment in that state to be used only as means of attack upon the administration. On my return home ] observed other articles making similar charges in various papers, for instance, the following in the New York Evening Post, of January 16: We are now get ting daily lessons in civil service reform from the White House which ought to attract national attention Three work CTS of postoffces in Ohio and the totally unfit George G. Wanamaker as appraiser of this port is now followed by the Pres ident's refusal to reappoint a good Hughes man as collector of customs at Plattsburg.'
 "On January r an article charging you with similar abuse of the patronage ap- peared in the Indiana Star, a paper sup porting MT. Fairbanks, and reputed to be owned principally by Mr. Daniel G. Reid, a gentleman representing important Wall street interests? This article I enclosed in letter to you in which l said:
 NO man can be a more unqualified supporter of MT. Taft than I, yet I real ize that any use of patronage to aid him, especially if coercion can be implied, is likely to inJure you very seriously. :. The use of any public office for this pur- pose is fraught with great danger and subject to unanswerable criticism
 ITO this you answered January 19:
 Presidents Reply.
 Will you produce the name of la sin gle man whom l have coerced or infiu- enced; will you give me the name cf any official who has been controlled by the threat or implied threat of dismissal or from whom I have demanded support for Taft. In fact, will you give me one par z ticle of justification for the fears you ex- pressed, name the man 1 have re- moved because he was not for Taft. If you cannot do so. and as you cannot why do you not repeat this challenge to the newspaper in question; assert that their words are absolutely false, and challenge them to make good?'
 l accordinly wrote to the Star ask ing it to name single case of coercion referred to in it's previous issues. It published an answer to my letter. but failed to name. any instance of the kind. l then wrote again, calling att tention to this failure, and asking if were not forced to conclude from it's own silence that it's own charges were absolutely without foundation. Tn is second letter, however, it would not publish, though 1t still continued to repeat it's general charges of abuse of the patronage.
 These charges also continue to be circulated by other newspapers in all parts of the country. Thus the Boston Herald, of January 29, says:
 "Federal office holders may be com manded to use their influence and tn cir authority in behalf of candidate. Such a command has been issued and the Pesident should know of it. Some body has instructed postmasters that they must btain from their subordi- mates either their resignations or their pledges of support for Taft delegates to the convention. Even in Massachus- etts efforts of this kind have been made recently, but happily they have been stopped, partly because the postmas- ters 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 detailed statement of your recent appointments, by whom they were recommended your reasons and the principles upon which you have acted In making them, as well as statement in regard to the alleged CO., ercion be the best method of exhibiting the facts? Yours respectfully,
 WILLIAM DUDLEY FOULKE.