Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-30
Standard Bearers Statement.

Pal NIL bl al iCitci, III iui'' AOA
lows:
Standard Bearers Statement.
Rock Island, ILL.,. Sept. %, 1908.
Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, President of
the United States, Washington, DC:
Dear Sir: A brief reply to your last
letter is all that is necessary to call at
tenton to your attempt to shift the is
sues raised. In your letter attacking Mr.
Foraker you inserted an attack upon Gov
Haskell and attempted to use the charges
against him to connect the democratic
party and me as it's candidate, with the
trusts. l asked you to name a tribunal
before which the charges could De lnVes-
| tigated, or, If you would not do that, OF
fered TO leave it to you to say Wnether, IN
your judgment, the charges justihed Mr..
| Haskells withdrawal from the organl-
| cation.
You did not deign to suggest tribunal,
| but proceed to pass judgment upon MN.
| He Immediately resigned his position that
| he might be more free to prosecute those
| who brought accusations against MN.
| Thus his connection with the organization
ended.
Can't Deny This Right.
! Il had no authority to submit, and did
not submit, to you, the question of his
suilt or innocence for final decision. Even
the President cannot deny to the hum
blest citizen of the land the right to pro-
tect his reputation and vindicate his name
in courts established for the purposes
where witnesses can be examined ana
evidence submitted according 10 the rules
in law.
In my first letter to you resented the
imputa ton that any charges made aealhs.
Gov Haskell could be justly construct
as connecting the democratic party OF me-
as it's candidate, with any trust or law
defying corporation. You replied that the
charges we're a matter of general hoCo-
riety. and l asked you why Mr.. Taft dlo
not mention them when he made speeches.
against Mr.. Haskell in Oklahoma.
You at once endeavored TO cohiioh'
me with new matters which arose AFTER
the Denver convention, and conscious
that those charges were insufficient, you
have since given wings 10 accusations
that no disinterested party would make
against another without inVestlgauon
Stands on His Record.
Il am willing that all your charges
against me shall be submitted to the
voters of the country, and with your
charges submit my denial of any knowi-
edge or information that could, in the re-
| hottest way, connect me with any trust.
| monopoly or law-defying corporation MY
record is sufficient answer to your lnslnu-
alton have lived in vain If your accu-
sations lose me a single friend.
Il challenged you to name trust ON
cial who is supporting me. ana aIter
searching the country you produce the
name of one man. not a trust official, out
the local attorney of a trust. Without
inouiring whether he votes for me De
cause of his connection with trust or
in spite of it. or because OF his Tear OF
business adversely under Mr.. ia!t, you
accept his statement that he will vote
for me as conclusive proof that l am In
league with the trusts, although you ad-
NIT that trust officials are supporting the
| republican ticket.
ure me by higher standard than you 40
! your political associates, for you insist
| that Mr.. Rockefellers contribution to
| Gov. Hughes campaign fund was no re-
Election upon him. and 1 take 1t TOT
| granted that you do not criticise Judge
| Taft's recommendation of a Standard OIL
| attorney to the federal bench. place
where the judge might have to pass upon
| the charges against the very trust Tor
which he had been attorney.
No Favors to Any One.
while the trust attorney to whom you
| refer is not an official of a trust, l will
warn him, and through him his clients
that If l am elected I will not only vigor-
ously enforce against all offenders the
laws which we hope to have enacted in
compliance with the democratic platform
but that l will also vigorously enforce eX-
listing laws against any and all who violate
| them and that l will enforce them not
| spasmodically and internationally. but per
sstently and consistently; they will not
be suspended, even for the protection OF
cabinet officers.
| large financial interests warrants you
| in expressing the belief that those trust
magnates whose fear Of being prosecuted
under the law by Mr.. Taft is greater than
| Cd fx
under me will support me rather than
| Mr. Taft. You have attempted to word
| that statement in such a way as to claim
the support of all the trust magnates. and
| supporting your party for patriotic rea-
| sons rather than for the promotion OF a
| selfish interest.
| Let the People Judge.
This is ingenious. but it is not sound
The trust magnates are supporting the
republican party. and the Bible offers an
explanatiOn-'the OK knoweth his owner
| and the ass his masters crib
You admit that you gave permission to
the steel trust to absorb a rival. and thus
| increase it's control Of the output Of steel
| and iron products. l will leave the
American people to pass judgment upon
| that act and compare your position on the
trust question with mine.
You refer to our compaign fund in
| 1886. and accuse OF allowing two men
| to contribute largely to the small fund
| with which the committee conducted the
campaign l am not sure about the fig
ures, because l have not seen an au-
thentic statement of the contributions. but
l was informed that the largest of the
two sums which you mention was not all
contributed by the man to whom it was
| credited. but included contributions from
others as we'll as that which he gave him
| self.
| But if you want to be fair. why do
you not give the amount of the republican
| campaign fund that year and the sources
OF IT, l am willing to have both funds
published; are you?
Explain These Contributions!
lf some of those who contributed to
our fund of less than $500, 600 had a pecun-
larry interest in the result of the cleo
! ton. how will you explain the enormous
contributions to the republican fund? If
you will remember. the democratic plat
form candidly declared the party's MIR
pose. If the carrying out of that motley
! would have been of ADVANTAGE to any
one. the whole public had knowledge and
L blk tot fNWr