The Topeka state journal., 1908-03-20
HE DID HIS BEST.
La Toilette COmmends President's 9
Action During the Panic.

Washington. March 20.-Resuming in
the senate his unfinished speech on the
Aldrich currency bill. Senator La Fol-
! lette yesterday afternoon directed him
| self to the charge made in his remarks
| on Tuesday that the recent financial
| stringency was started by great bank
ers and financiers, declaring that since
he spoke on Tuesday he had secured
additional information proving that his
| charge was correct.
| Senator Gore Of Oklahoma interrupt
ed to ask whether in view of the charge
made by the senator from Wisconsin,
the president was justified in congratu-
! lating the men who brought on the
panic.
Does the senator think" he said,
| that President Roosevelt and Secre-
| tary COrtelyou were not star actors IN
| that performance or at least that they
| congratulated the chief actors when 1t
| was over?''>
He quoted from letter sent by Pres
: fdent Roosevelt to Mr.. Cortelyou MT.
La Toilette deprecated the idea of
bringing partisan politics into the dis
cussion and said he did not purpose to
| be drawn into. criticism of the president
| who had done the best he could to re-
heve the situation and had not rhougnt
| it wise at the critical moment to at
tempt the punishment Of 1ncend1ar1es
| who had started the conf1agrat1on the
president ought to put out. Whatever
the agencies were back of that panic
said Mr. La Toilette. whatever the
purposes were behind it, the president
and his secretary of the treasury were
confronted with condition"
THE panic was on declared the SEN
ator, in tragic tones that rang through
the chamber. 1.-THE panic was on.
do not know how the president regard
ed it. He was sitting there in the
White House, He was man who had
faced all manner of dangers without
flinching, but he was confronted with a
situation and the panic was on. He
4 saw that legitimate business was put
in peril, and the responsibility came te
him as the head of the government and
to his secretary as the head of the
!. treasury department. Where else could
the money have been sent to stop the
panic, no matter what influences might
have been behind this bill?'
Senator Bailey said he sympathized
with the Oklahoma senator; that the
money should have been sent to the
banks throughout the country. whose
money was in New York and was kept
from them, and he did not think such a
performance should have been ended by
letter of congratulation from the
president.
Calls Them Pirates.
Mr.. Gore said he justified the presi-
dent ''in standing and delivering to
| those pirates ana Q6pOSlIlHS with tlleii
the peoples money when their dagger
was at his throat, but I cannot" he
said. excuse him for congratulatine
the pirates as public spirited benefac-
tors. 1 excuse the president for helping
the incendiaries who kindled the fire
but 1 can hardly go so far as to ap-
. prove his proclamation of them as the
| deliyerers of the country"
Mr. Gore stated that he heartily
agreed with the senator from Wiscon-
sin that Mr Rockefeller and Mr.. Nor.
| gan brought on this country panic
which had ripened to the point of fall
/ ing. but he did not think they should
be hailed as benefactors afterward.
Referring to the. bill as originally re-
: ported, Mr. La Toilette declared, with 6
suggestion of a sneer, that the raiiroae
bonds had been "whisked'' out of the
measure. I'VE are not through with
: that proposition" he added. TT viii
| appear again and again, until finally II
| is overwhelmingly beaten or until it Is
worked in and engrafted upon the cur
| rency system of this country"
He then discussed at some length his
| resolution for the valuation of railway
, property. which, he said, had been SEN
to the committee on interstate com
merce. but was not acted upon.
There was quite a large attendance
{ | of Democratic senators in their places
but comparatively few Republicans
1 Occasional conversation between sen
f ators On the Republican side caused th-
s senator from Wisconsin to discontinue
= the reading of his remarks. On one oc
: casion he remarked, IF there are an,
r comments on my remarks I would b,
a glad to have them made SO audibly tha
f 1 can hear thern.'
n '@Chis is not the first time in the his
a tory of legislation he said, that tn,
u chairman of the committee on f1nanc
y has brought in propositions. by execu
n tive decree, to work railroad bonds int,
the treasury department, as bearin,
:, upon the financial operations of tina
s great departfnent of the government