The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-12-07

daily press. and the whole matter has
100000 for the property, and continues.
But who got the money? We are not
TO know The administration and Mr..
Taft do not think it right that the peo-
pie should know Really this is so
ludicrOus as 10 make one feel little
impatient at having to answer it. The
fact has been officially published again
and again that the government paid
s4O,OO0O0O, and that il paid this $40, 000.-
zoo direct 70 the French government.
getting the receipts of the liquidator
appointed by the French government to
receive the same The United States
government has not the slightest knowl-
edge as to the particular individuals
among the French government to whom
was distributed the sum. This was the
business of the French government. The
mere supposition that any American re-
celVed from the French government a
'rake-off is too absurd to be discussed.
1t is al abominable faIsehood, and il is
SANDER not against the American
government, but against the French
government. The News continues. say
ing that the presidents brother-in-law
is involved in the scandal. but has moth
ing TO say. The presidents brother-in-
law was involved in no scandal.
Shorter and UgIier Word Used.
-Delavan Smith and the other people
who repeated this falsehOOd lied about
the presidents brother-in-law; but why
the fact that Mr.. Smith lied should be
held to involve Mr. Robinson in q
scandal is difficult TO understand. The
scandal affects no one but Mr.. Smith.
and his conduct has been not merely
scandalous. but infamous. Mr.. Robin
had h. eli Of
any kind. sort or description, at any
time or under any circumstances. with
the Panama matter. Neither did Charles
Taft. The News says that Mr.. Taft
was a member of the syndicate. So
far as / know there was no syndicate;
there certainly was no syndicate in the
United States that, to my knowledge,
had any dealings with the government
directly or indirectly; and inasmuch as
there was no syndicate. Mr.. Taft natur-
ally did not belong to 1t. The News de-
mands that Mr.. Taft appeal to the evil
dence.' by which it means what 1T calls
the records'-that is, the mass of pa
pers which are stored in the war de-
partment save such as, because of their
technical character, and their usefulness
in the current work of the canal, it has
been found advisable to send to the
isthmuS.
documents MADE PUBIC.
All of these documents that possessed
any Importance as illustrating any
feature Of the transaction have al
ready been made public. There re-
mains a great mass of documents of
little or no Importance which the ad-
ministration is entirely willing to have
published. but which, because Of their
mass and pointlessness, nobody has
ever cared to publish. Any reputable
man can have full access to these docu-
ments. If you or Mr.. Swift or Booth
Harrington or George Ade-in short, If
any reputable man-will come on here
he shall have free access to the docu-
ments and can look over everything
for himself. Congress can have them
all printed il it wishes. not no con-
gresham has ever, so far, intimated
any desire that this should be done: /
suppose because to print such 4 mass
of documents would be a great OK
pense. and, moreover, an entirely use
less expense, unless, which is not the
case, there was some object in print
ing them.
Two of Them.
Now. my dear Mr.. Foulke, 1 have
answered in detail your questions and
the statements of the News. You are
quite welcome TO print my answer, but
| must frankly add that I don't think
any good will come from doing so.
Delavan Smith is a conspicuous Of
fender against the laws of honesty
and truthfulness,, but he does not stand
alone. He occupies, for instance, the
same evil eminence with such men as
Mr. Laffan of the New York Sun. the
editorials of whose papers you or 9TH
ers have from time to time called to
my attention, just as you have called
to my attention these editorials of the
indianapolis News. / never see an ed
itorial in any one of these or similar
papers unless for some reason ii is
sent to me by you or by someone else,
and of the editorials thus sent me
there is hardly one which does not
contain some willful and deliberate
perversion OF the truth. For example,
I have just made public the following
statement concerning a tissue of ut
terly false statements which appeared
in Mr.. Laffan's paper, the Sun:
Prairie Oil Story.
LAS the New York Sun story en-
titled Roosevelt and Prairie OiI'' has
seemed to deceive a number of people,
the following statement was made pub
lie about it:
AS soon as the story was brought
to President Roosevelt's attention he
not only called for the reports con-
corning the statements from the de-
partment of justice and the depart
ment of the interior. but also commu-