Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-12-07
CAUSTlC LETTER
SCORES EDITORS
ROOSEVELT REPLIES TO TWO
NOTED JOURNALISTS
NEW YORK SUN AND INDlANAP-
OILS NEWS INVOLVED
Charges Concerning Panama Canal
Deal Taft and Robinson Lead
Executive to Denounee Ae-
eusers Bitterly
lcontinnea from Fac Onel

ness of the French government.
1.-THE mere superstition that any
American received from the French
government a 'rake-off is too absurd
to be discussed. 1t is an abominaple
falsehood. asd it Is a slander not
against the American government Out
against the French government. Inc
News continues, saying that the pres
ident's brother-in-law is involved IN
the scandal but has nothing TO say
saThe presidents brother-in-law was
involved in no scandal Delavan smith
and the other people who repeated TINS
falsehood lied about the president
brother-in-law, but why the fact tnaI
Mr.. Smith lied should be held 10 m
xolve MIR. Robinson in a 'seanoaf Is
difficult to understand.
"The scandal affects no one out MT.
Smith. and his conduct has been not
merely scandalous but infamous.
ssIr. Robinson had not the slightest
connection of any kind, sort or deserip-
ton, at any time or under any CIR
curnstances with the Panama matter.
Neither did Charles Taft.
1.-THE News says Mr.. Taft was a Ineih-
Der of the syndicate
$50 far as | know there was no syn
dictate. There certainly was no syndi-
cate in the United States which, TO my
knowledge, had any dealings with the
government directly or indirectly; ana
inasmuch as there was no syndicate,
Mr.. Taft naturally did not belong to 1t.
1.-THE News demands that Mr.. Tart
appeal to evidence by which 1t means
what it calls the records'-that is the
mass OF papers which are stored IN the
war department, save such as, because
of their technical character and their
usefulness in the current work OF the
canal, it has been found advisable to
send to the isthmus.
A - q
sessed any importance as illustrating
any feature Of the transaction already
have been public.
Documents Unimportant
"There remains a great mass of doc
uments of little OF no Importance which
the administration is entirely willing
to have published, but which, because
of their mass and pointlessness, no
body has ever cared to publish.
ANY reputable man can have run
access to these documents. II you, or
Mr. Swift, or Booth Harrington, or
George Ade--in short, If any reputable
man will come on here he shall have
free access to the documents and can
look over everything for himself.
congress can have them all printed
If it wishes, but no congressman has
ever so far intimated any desire that
this should be done; suppose because
to print such a mass of documents
would be a great expense, and more
over, an entirely useless eXpense-un-
less, which is not the case, there We're
some object in printing them.
Now, my dear Mr.. Foulke, have
answered in detail your questions and
the statements of the News. You are
quite welcome to print my answer, but
/ must frankly add that 1 don't think
any good win come from doing So
"Delavan Smith is a conspicuous of
fender against the laws of honesty ana
truthfulness, but he does not stand
alone. He occupies, for instance, the
same evil eninence which such men as
Mr.. Laffan of the New York Sun, the
editorials of whose paper you or others
have from time to time called to my
attention, just as you have called to my
attention these editorials Of the In
dianapolis News.
II never see an editorial in any one
of these or similar papers unless for
some reason it is sent to me by You
or by someone else, and of the ed
itorials thus sent me, there is hardly
one which does not contain some willtul
and deliberate perversion of the truth.
For example, I have just made public
a statement concerning a tissue of ut
terly false statements which appeared
in Mr.. Laffan's paper, the Sun.
Another Paper Scored
las the New York Sun story en-
titled Roosevelt and Prairie on 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 Roosevelt's attention he not
only called for the report concerning
the statements of the department
Of justice and the department of the
interior, but also communicated with
Secretary Hitchcock so as to be sure
the presidents recollection was not at
fault.
'The story is false in every particu-
lar from beginning to end. Not only
is there no such report in the depart
ment of justice, and never has been,
but no such report was ever made.
I'm granting the franchise of the
Prairie OIL and Gas company the
president simply approved the recon-
mendation of Secretary Hitchcock sub
mitted to him precisely as all other rec
concentrations were submitted More
over, in every case referring to the
granting of franchises or the adoption
OF regulations as regards oil and gas
franchises in Oklahoma and the In
dian Territory, the president approved
the recommendation of Secretary
Hitchcock with the exception of one
small and unimportant grant to a Della
ware Indian to whom the Delaware
Indians, In recognition of eight years
of service to the tribe, had voted in
council feel of $4,000 which he had
declined to accept and who was given
twice the usual amount of land.
'The statement about the alleged
promise to a western senator is a
ridiculous falsehood, as is the story.
'The fact is, these particular news
papers habitually and continually as a
matter of business practice every form
rof mend4city known to man, from the
suppression of the truth and the sug-
gestion Of the false to the lie direct.
'eThose who write or procure Others
to write the articles are engaged in the
practice of mendacity for hire, and
surely there can be no lower form OF
gaining livelihood.
whether they are paid by outsiders
to say what Is false, or whether theiI
profit comes from the circulation oil
the falsehoods is a matter of small
consequence.
Impossible to Reply
TT is utterly impossible to answer
all OF their falsehoods. When any
repeat It and circulate another. i
they possessed in their makeup any
shred OF honesty 1t would be worth
while to set them right.
"But there Is no question at all as
to any smistake' or misunderstand-
ing on their part. They state what
they aither know to be untrue or could
by the slightest inquiry find out to be
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