Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-24

GUTHRIE, Okla, September 24-Gov
Charles n. Haskell has issued a state
ment in reply to President Roosevelt's
letter to William ]. Bryan. dealing with
four specific charges against Mr.. Haskell.
namely that he is subservient to Stand
ard Oil; that he vetoed a child labor bill:
that he dealt extensively in Creek Indian
lands and that he had allowed politics to
dominate him in the removal of members
of the faculty of the state university and
the appointment Of others to succeed
them.
Gov Haskell took up the four charges
as dwelt upon by President Roosevelt In
turn, dealing with each in a characteristic
manner.
The Prairie Oil and Gas Company
charges Gov Haskell declared to be a
Joke on Roosevelt's stupidity" asserting
that he had done nothing which would
confer upon the Standard Oil subsidiary
company more authority than il already
possessed under franchise granted it by
Secretary Hitchcock.
Haskell's Statement.
The statement in full follows:
ITO the Associated Press:
President Roosevelt's letter is before
life | have been made the subject of
cabinet meeting. / am thankful for the
distinction and wish to express my high
regard for the office of the President and
my profound respect for the wisdom OF
our fathers in making 1t possible to
change the occupant of that high Office
every four years without the right grant
ed to crown prince to succeed the king.
II assert that Ii is fair for me to as
sumo that If my case was to be dignified
by an all-day cabinet meeting that be-
yond question Mr.. Hearst and his cam
paign associate. President Roosevelt, left
no stone unturned to blacken my charac-
ter. That being true, they certainly raked
Ohio fore and aft concerning the Ohio
Standard Oil cases of 1899, and finding
absolutely nothing rejecting on me- the
President tried to wave his charge of
last Monday aside by saying, he will
make no allusion to that. He drops this
subject because his original statement
was untruthful. and he must know from
what he knows and tries to find in Ohio.
that l spoke the truth when l said that
never in all my life had any interest in
connection with nor service for that COM
pany.
II say the President knows now that
my statement is true, and l regret that
he tries to brush 1t aside without doing
me candid justice. Were ] to adopt the
character of language commonly used
by the President / would spell ii in fewer
letters than 'falsehood.'
Mr.. Roosevelt, l hope to speak in Ohio
soon. May | hope to divide the time
with some partisan of yours or Prince
William who will defend your action in
this instance?
AS to the Prairie Company.
President Roosevelt comes to Okla
homa and finds a substitute for his Ohio
failure, does he. in the case of the state
against the Prairie Oil and Gas Company,
which he complains compelled to be dis
missed?
"Yes, 1 did have it dismissed. We all
know that the Prairie rompany Is
STANDARD Oil offspring. and don't forget
the President claims to have known this
also. and | charge that the political allies.
Hearst and Roosevelt. both know that /
acted properly.
.Efrst the Prairie OIL Company got its
franchise In our state not from me, but
from Rooseyelt's Secretary of Interior,
long before statehood began. and had its
main line built and operating, and Con-