Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1908-09-28

lis record of actual achievement, and
beside it mere promises are empty in
deed, and thcy would not be made now
with any possibility of performance re.
sulting if it were not for the achieve.
mcnt above rccited.
you state that the steel company,
with my express consent, purchased
one of its largest rivals and thus OBJ
tanned control of over so per cent OF
the total output. This action of the
steel company (Which increased its
share OF the total output by only about
4 per cent and in no way altered the
standing Of the company under the
law may have been a violation Of
your plan, the absurdty of which has
been exposed by Governor Hughes
But there was no violation of the law
/ was cognizant Of the entire transac-
tlon. 1t was not entered into by the
Steel Corporation of its own desire but
solely at the urgent requests of the
corporation purchased and of the big
banks holding thst corporatiou'to Sc
curitics, in order to enable them to
prevent a crash which would have
turned the panic Of last fall into most
widespread disaster | should indeed
have been derelict in my duty IL l had
not so acted and efficiently used all
the power of the government, where it
could be legally and properly used (as
1t was in this caSe), to see that the
panic was kept within the smallest
possible radius and the damage caused
as slight as possible You would bet
ter understand the principle on which
I acted if you would rid yourself of the
idea that l am trying to discriminate
for or against any man or corporation
because he or ii IS either wealthy Or
not wealthy. l regard such discriml-
nation in either direction as utterly in
compatible with a spirit of honesty
and fair dealing. I base my distnc-
tions on conduct, not on relative
wealth. When the same men who
were leaders in the Steel Corporation
acted in connection with the Northern
Securities suit in a matter which l re-
regarded as contrary TO the law, by my
direction successful suit was immedi-
ately undertaken against them. II
| they violate the law in connection
with any act of the Steel Corporation
| will Immediately proceed against
them. Until they do violate the law
they will be treated precisely as any
other corporation, great or small
which obeys the law, is treated.
II treat each man and each corpora
ton with a view solely to whether he
or it is acting rightly on a given oc-
casion. Let me give you an example
I have proceeded against the corpora
( tions Of which Mr. Il. II. Hartman is
the head on certain points where ]
believe they have violated the law But
when, in connection with the breaking
of the SaltCn Sea dam, one of the Har-
riman corporations repaired the dam
/ | last winter did everything / could tc
have congress reimburse Mr.. Harri-
/ man for so much OF the obligation af
/ | felt ought to come upon the United
States. | would hold myself unfit tc
be president if, because of prosecuting
Mr.. Hartman whore | thought he hac
broken the law. | yet hesitated to dc
him justice whore / thought the facts
required that justice should be done
him. In exactly the same way / have
acted and shall act as regards the
Steel Corporatin
You ask me to name single Off.
cial connected with law-defylng cor.
poration who has declared or will de,
clare that he is supporting you. II
a st. Louis paper which reaches me
the same time as the papers contain
Ing this published letter Of yours
find statement from Judge Henry
Priest, attorney for the Waters Picrc,
Oil company, the western subsldiar!
or representative of the Standard Oi
company. In which he announces tina
he Is for Bryan and states that Wal
street believes that Bryan will b'
elected. In response to the question
as to whether he could quote any o
the Standard oil magnates as feellnl
that way. he answered. i did not sa.
saw any of the officials OF the Stand
ard oil company. I am giving yol
what | found was the drift Of opinion
among well posted politicians as wei
as bankers.
"I guess Governor Haskell Is al
right They have not proved any
thing on him have they?'
"Thc newspaper clipping goes OF
to say that Judge Priest was one 0
the lawyers who fought Attorney Gen
eral Hadley I'm the states custer sui
against the Waters-Picrce and Re
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