The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-11
FiRancier of Panama Canal Deal Issues Full State-
 ment of the Affair
ALL RECORDy ARE WITH
 FRENCH AUTHORITIES
Absolute Denial is Made by Mir. crom- we'll That He or Any Other Americans Profited From
 the Deal With France.

New York, December 1O.-wiliam Nell sor Cromwell today authorized the fol- lowing statement:
 My attention has been called today to statement issued by the editor of the Indianapolis News, in which he attempts to reply to the charge made by Presi- dent Roosevelt that certain statements made in the Indianapolis News, both be- fore and since the recent election. and relating to tbe purchase of the Panama canal by .he United States were false and untrue.
 ''rhe President says: The News gives currency to the charge that the United States bought from American citizens for S40,O000OO >Sroperty that cost these citi- zens only s12OO0,OOO The statement Is false. the Urited States did not pay a cent of the s4O,o0O,ooO to any American citizen, etc.
 From the statement issued in reply by the editor of the News, quote the follow ing: "rhe only man who paid any atten- tion to them Chat is, the criticisms re- ferred to, etc.) was MT Charles P. Taft, who did deny that he was in any way related to the affair. We, had no word from the President or Mir. Taft The other men, such as Cromwell and Mor- gan, who were believed to have full infor- nation in regard to the business, said nothing.
 Basis of Statements.
 And he attempts to justify the publica- ton of the false statements appearing in his paper by saying that they were based largely on statements of the New York World, criticisms which were made over and over again during tlte4 campaign and which were utterly ignored until today.
 tThe reply of the editor of the News furnishes ai.ot;er proof of the justice of the Presidents characterizations, for in the very journal under whose sheets it now takes refuge, namely in the New York World, of October 3. 1908, appears an explicit and unqualified denial by me of the story referred to, and in which is used the following language:
 We may expect during a heated po- litical contest all kinds of stories which are not worthy of notice. but this one I wish to denounce in the strongest terms as a lying fabrication without the shadow of truth in it. Neither I or any one con nected with me, directly or indirectly, at any time or any place. in America or abroad, either bought, sold dealt in, or in any way made a penny of profit out of any stocks, bonds or other securities of either the old Panama Canal company or the new Panama Canal company, or ever received for tho same a single dollar of the S40,000,Oo0 paid by the United States. I make this the most sweeping statement that language can convey
 Kept Away From Funds
 eAs. everybody connected with the affair l-nows l ahstained from receiving the $40 100000 in lnv own hands at Washington or New York as the general counsel of the company and myself arranged for the payment of the entire s40,000O00 direct from the treasury of the United States through the bankers of the government Into the Bank of France at Paris to the credit of the liquidators of the two com Ianies There it remained subject to the order of the liquidators until distrib- uted by them to the hundreds of thou sands of benefciaries, and not one dollar of it ever came to me or any one in any way connected with me. Of course, l do not refer 10 cur regular compensation as counsel.
 q wish to call attention to the fact that upon the first day of the hearings before the committee on inter-oeeanic canals of the Senate of the United States in Feb ruary, 1906, l voluntarily made an explicit and detailed statement showing how the $40 1000 GOO was paid by the United States through Messrs. J. P. Morgan & Co.,, as their agents to the Bank of France at Paris for account of the new Panama Canal company, and also explaining the subsequent payment of the full amount 10 the liquidators of the new Panama Canal company and to the liquidators of al r.hA turn distributed the same to their re- spectivc stock and bond holders, number ing hundreds of thousands of persons. further submitted to the Senate commit tee with the permission of the Panama government, a detailed statement of the disposition by the Republic of Panama of the S10,000 GOO paid by the United States to Panama in 1904. accounting for the payment of the whole amount and show ing the investments and disposition by the Panama government of every dollar.
 Proposed Syndicate.
 'sUpon the same public inquiry l further stated with reference to the proposed Americanization of the Panama Canal company in the year 1899. and the pro posed formation of a syndicate for that purpose in that year. that the proposed plan never matured into anything. It was never consummated, either by sub scrip;ion or by assent, and 1t is obsolete and impTacticable thing-proved so to be. It has no life or force of being. did not exist and never has existed and is as dead as q door nail
 'The testimony taken by the Senate committee is a public record and was available to the editors of the News and the World, and had either of them been as interested in publishing the truth as they were to create a political sensation they doubtless would have taken the pains to have published the above facts which quote.
 Statement Denounced.
 ''I again denounce the statement. wher- ever published, or by whosoever made. that there was syndicate formed by A A,,aa,.,oa,, ofti1aus ta t,urch ia so rba para ma