The Winchester news. [volume] (Winchester, Ky.) 1908-19??, 1908-12-07

600 direct to the French government.
getting the receipt of the liquidator
appointed by the French government
to receive the same. The News con-
tinues saying the presidents brother
in-law is involved in the scandal, but
he has nothing to say The presi-
dents brother-in-law was involved in
no scandal. Mr. Delavan Smith and
the other people who repeated this
falsehood lied about the presidents
brother-in-law; but why the fact that
Mr.. Smith should be held to involve
Mr.. Robinson in scandal is difficult
to understand.
"The News says that Mr.. Charles
Taft was a member of the 'syndi-
cate So far as l 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 in
directly; and inasmuch as there was
no syndicate, Mr.. Taft naturally
could not belong to it. The News de-
mands that Mr. Taft appeal to the
evidence by which it means what it
calls the records that is, the mass
of papers which are stored in the
war department. Ali of these docu-
ments that possessed any importance
as illustrating any feature of the
transaction have already been made
public
Nov, my dear Mr.. Foulke, l have
answered in detail your question and
the statements of the News. You are
quite welcome to print my answer;
but l must frankly add that l don't
think any good will come from doing
so. Mr.. Delavan Smith is a conspic-
uous offender 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, editorials of whose
papers you or others have from time
to time called my attention. For ex-
ample, l have just made public the
following statement concerning a It's
sue of utterly false statements which
appeared in Mr.. Laffan's paper, the
Sun. AS the New York Sun story en-
titled Roosevelt and Prairie OIL has
seemed to deceive a number of peo-
pie, the following statement was
made public about it:
"'As soon as the story was brought
to President Roosevelts attention he
NOT Onlv oo1Iod for ronOrfc oOpoorp
ing the statements from the depart
ment of justice and the department
Of the interior, but also communicate
ed with ex-Secretary Hitchcock so as
to be sure that the presidents recol-
lection was lot faulty The story is
false in every particular from begin
ming to end. Not only is there no
such report in the department Of JUS
tice and never has been, but no such
report was ever made. In granting
the franchise of the Prairie Oil and
Gas company the president simply
approved the recommendation of Sec
rotary Hitchcock, submitted to him
precisely as all other recommends
tions were submitted
"The fact is that these particular
newspapers habitually and continual
~ and as a matter of business, prac-
tice every form Of mendacity known
to man, from the suppression of the
truth and the suggestion of the false,
to the lie direct. Those who write or
procure others TO write these articles
are engaged in the practice of men
dacity for hire; and surely there can
be no lower form of gaining nveli-
hood
Il doubt if they themselves remem-
Der their own falsehoods for more
than a very brief period; and doubt
still more whether anybody else does.
Under these circumstances, it seems
hardly worth while to single out for
special mention one or two given
falsehoods or one particular paper.
the moral standard of which is as
low as but no lower than that of GER
tain other papers.
Therefore, as far as l am con-
cerned, l would rather make no an
swer whatever in this case But /
have much confidence in your judg-
ment, and if you feel that these men
ought to be exposed, why you are
welcome to publish this letter.