Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1908-12-17
MESSAGE DEFENDS
PANAMA PURCHASE
President Roosevelt DenOunceS
the Charges That Anything
Was Wrong.
TO PROSECUTE WORLD EDITOR
Libel of Worst Form Is Term Applied to
Stories Printed by New
York World.

Washington, Dec. II. - President
| Roosevelt yesterday sent to the SEN
ate statement concerning the pur-
chase of the Panama canal property
| by the United States, denouncing in
strong language charges that there
was anything wrong in the acquisition
by the United States of the canal
property.
"These stories,' he says, "were
| first brought to my attention as pub
| lished in a paper in Indianapolis call
| ed the News, edited by Mr.. Delavan
Smith. The stories were scurrllous
and libelous in character and false in
every essential particular. Mr.. Smith
shelters himself behind the excuse
that he merely accepted the state
| ments which had appeared in paper
published in New York, the World,
owned by Mr. Joseph Pulitzer. 1t is
idle to say that the known character
of Mr. Pulitzer and his newspaper are
such that the statements in that pa
per will be believed by nobody; I'M
fortunately, thousands of persons are
i'll informed in this respect and be-
lieve the statements they see in print,
even though they appear in a newspa-
per published by Mr. Pulitzer.
The Taft Story.
''The inventor of the story about
Mr.. Charles P. Taft, for instance, evil
IDENTIFY supposed that at some period
of the Panama purchase Mr.. w. H.
Taft was secretary of war, whereas in
reality Mr.. w. H. Taft never became
secretary of war until long after the
whole transaction in question had
been closed The inventor of the
story about Mr.. Douglas Robinson had
not taken the trouble to find out the
fact that Mr.. Robinson had not had
the slightest connection, directly or
indirectly, of any kind or sort with
any phase of the Panama transaction
from beginning to end. The men who
attacked Mr.. Root in the matter had
not taken the trouble to read the pub
lie documents, which would have in
formed them that Mr.. Root had moth
ing to do with the purchase, which
was entirely arranged through the
department of justice, under the
attorney general, Mr.. Knox
The Real Offender.
"The real offender is Joseph Pulit.
ger, editor and proprietor of the
World. While the criminal offense of
which Mr.. Pulitzer has been guilty is
in form libel upon individuals, the
great injury done is in blackening
the good name of the American peo-
pie. 1t should not be left to a private
citizen to sue Mr. Pulitzer for libel.
He should be prosecuted for libel by
the governmental authorities. In
point of encouragement of iniuuitv. in
point Of infamy, of wrongdoing, there
Is nothing to choose between a public
servant who betrays his trust. a public
servant who is guilty of blackmail or
theft, or financial dishonesty of any
kind, and man guilty as Joseph Pu-
liter has been guilty in this instance.
1t is therefore high national duty
to bring to justice this vilifier of the
American people, this man who wan
tonly and wickedly and without one
shadow of justification seeks to
blacken the character of reputable pri-
vate citizens and to convict the gov
eminent of his own country in the
eyes of the civilized world of wrong
dong of the basest and fouIest kind,
when he has not one shadow of iusti-
fcatlon of any sort or description for
the charge he has made The attor-
ney general has under consideration
the form in which the proceedings
against Mr.. Pulitzer shall be brought"
Government Dealt Openly.
The president refers to various pa
pers which he transmits with his mes
sage. Explaining the method of con-
Guiding the purchase, the president
takes upon himself the responsibility
for all that was done to carry out the
will of congress. The action of the
government, he says, was wholly IN
influenced by any question of who
were or were not stockholders, either
In the new or the old company.
Our concern" he says, "was to get
the canal property which was owned
by the French company and to see
that the title was clear. Our transac-
lions were carried on openly, and
published in detail"
The president says that the United
States did not have anything to do
with the distribution of a dollar of the
money paid out except in following
out the instruction of the French
| court
so far as this government is con-
cerned,' concludes the president,
every step of the slightest impor-
lance has been made public by it's ex-
ecutive, and every step taken in
France has there been made public by
the nrNnpr officials >,