The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-09-28
TAFT COMMENDED.

er,) and from the standpoint of NOR
ais.
One of your supporters. the New
York World, in February last. printed
list of contributions to your cam
paign fund of 1896, containing the
names of individuals and corporations
owning silver mines who made con-
tributions to the aggregate amount of
1888 900, one of these contributions
being of SIS, 900 and another of $45,-
900. ETC., etc.
Now, all the great financial mag
mates who then contributed to your
campaign fund would have preferred
business prosperity to business adver-
sity, other things being equal; but
they would rather have had the i'm
mense profit that would have accrued
to them from the free coinage of SO
cent dollars than the smaller profit
which would have accrued to them
merely from the general industrial
prosperity of the country
Because of their personal interests
and against the interest of the COM
munity at large these trust" mag
mates then supported you. My belief
is, and the statement of Judge Priest
| quoted above and the attitude of
many men of large financial interest
| warrant me in expressing the belief
that those trust magnates whose fear
of being prosecuted under the law
by Mr.. Taft is greater than their fear
J OF general business adversely under
! you, will support you and not Mr..
Taft.
Contributions to Campaign.
l now come to what you have to saw
as to contributions, and here you fur.
nish your own answer. You state
that it appears from the published
statement of the contribution to Mr.
Hughes campaign for governor two
years ago that various men of wealth
some of them connected with big cor
porations whom you name, to the
number of nine, contributed from 500.
900 to $500 apiece.
You ask, Would the fact that these
gentlemen contributed to his cam
paign fund strengthen or weaken his
testimony against the reasonableness
of our antitrust remedy?" and later
you continue by asking, Are you will
ing to say that any public interes,
was served in 1904 by concealing un
I'll after election, the contributions
made to the republican campaign com
mittee by Mr.. Hartman and those col
lected by him for others? Are you
| willing to say that the publication be
| fore election of the contributions Their
made would have had no effect or
the election?" You then propose te
publish the names of contributors be
fore election and ask us to do the
same
The amoHnts you mention as contri
buted to Mr.. Hughes are utterly tri
vial compared to the amounts I have
already mentioned as contributed to
your campaign in 1896, but in m,
Judgment the amount contributed ha.
nothing whatever to do with the poin
at issue. The question was, for ex
ample, whether Mr. Clark of Mon
tana, when he contributed heavily t.
your campaign fund, had a proper
motive and whether your action.
would or would not have been infIu
enced properly or improperly by tina
contribution and the same question
applies to Mr. Hughes and to me. Ii
the case of Mr.. Hughes and myself
the answer is fortunately easy. Yo,
have nothing to do but examine on
records in the offices to which W,
were both elected. You either knew
or ought to have known before writ
i ing that in not one instance has Mr.
Hughes. as governor. done one thin,
of any kind, sort or description 70
any one of the contributors you me-
ton, or for any other contributor t,
: his fund which ought not to have beef
done and would not have been don
II no contribution had been made
Yet you clearly imply that he is an,
has been improperly influenced b.
the fact of these contributions havin
been made. Do you consider such Al
implication either straightforward O
sincere?
No Obligation for Donations.
|, In letter to the chairman of M
! campaign committee on Oct 26, 1904
specifically approved of the cond
tons under which the national com
mittee was accepting contributions
saying that their acceptance was +
. be with the explicit understanding
, that they were given and receives
; with no thought of any more obligs
ton on the part of the national CON
mittee or of the national administrs
, ton than is In implied in the state
ment that every man shall receive
; square deal. no more and no less an