The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-07
UGLY WORDS USEU
 BY ROOSEVELT
CONTINUED FROM FACE 1.D

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1l nobody has ever cared to publish. Any reputable man can have full access 10 these documents. If you or MT. Swift or MT. 45ooth Tarkngton or MT. 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 inti-
 mated any desire that this should be done; I suppose because to print such
 mass of documents would be a great expense and moreover, an entirely use~ less expense, unless. which is not the
 case, there was some object in printing
 them.
 Conspicuous Offender
 Now, my dear MT. Foulke, I have
 answered in detail your questions and the
 statements of the News You are quite welcome to print my answer; but I must frankly add that don't think any good
 will come from doing so. MT. Delavan Smith is a conspicuous offender against the laws of honesty and truthfulness; but he does not stand alone. He occupies for instance, the same, evil eminence with such men as Mir. Laffan of the New
 
 or others have from time to time called to my attention, just as you have called
 to my attention these editorials of the Indianapolis News. I never see an ed itorial in any one of these or similar papers unless for some reason it is sent to me by you or by some one else; and of the editorials thus sent me there is
 hardly one which does not contain some willful and deliberate peryersion of the truth For example, I have just made public the following statement concern ing a tissue of utterly false statements which appeared in MT Laffan's paper, | the Sum
 Prairie Oil Matter.
 "As the New York Sun story entitled l Roosevelt and Prairie Oil' has seemed
 to deceive a number of people, the fol- | lowing statement was made public 1 about it:
 |" As soon as the story was brought
 to President Roosevelts attention he not only called for reports concerning the statements from the department of justice
 and the department of the interior. but
 also communicated with ex-Secretary | Hitchcock so as to be sure that the | Presidents recollection was not at fault.
 The story is false in every detail from 1 beginnng to end. Not only is there no
 such report In the department of jus l tice and never has been, but no such
 report was ever made. Tn granting the | franchise of the Prairie Oil and Gas 1 company the President simply approved
 the recommendation of Secretary Hitch
 cock submitted to him precisely as all l other recommendations were submitted.
 Moreover in every case referring to the 1 granting of franchises or the adoption 1 of regulations as regards oil and gas
 franchises in Oklahoma and the Indian Territory the President approved the | ff11,a n11z ! with the exception of one small and un- important grant to a Delaware Indian, | to whom the Delaware Indians, tn recog-
 milton of eight years of service to the | tribe, had voted in council a fee of $50,000
 which he had declined to accept, and 1 who was given twice the usual amount
 of land. The statement about the a1- 1 legged promise to a western senator is as ridiculous a falsehood as the rest of the story
 "The fact is that these particular news l papers habitually and continually and as
 a matter of business practice every form | the suppression of the truth and the sug- 1 gestion of the false to the lie direct. 1 Those who write or procure others to
 write these articles are engaged in the
 practice of mendacay 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
 their profit comes from the circulation of l the falsehoods is a matter of small con-
 sequence. It Is utterly impossible to
 answer all of these falsehoods. When
 any given falsehood is exposed they sim | ply repeat 1t and circulate another. If | they were mistaken in the facts, if they l possessed in their makeup any shred of honesty, it would be worth while to set l them right. But there Is no question at
 all as to any mistake or 'misunderstand- ! ing on their part. They state what they 1 either know to be untrue or could by the
 slightest inquiry find out to be untrue { q doubt if they themselves remember | their own falsehoods for more than a very brief period; and I doubt still more
 whether anybody else does. Under these l circumstances 1t seems hardly worth
 while to single out for special mention one or two given falsehoods or one par l ticular paper the moral standard of which is as low as but no lower than 1 that of certain other papers. Of course, 1 now and then I am willing to denounce | given falsehood, as, for instance as re- ] gards this case of the Indianapolis News, | or the case I have quoted of the New
 York Sun, simply because it appears that | some worthy people are mis1ed or puzzled | by the direct shamelessness of the un- | truth. But ordinarily I do not and can l not pay heed to these falsehoods. If 1 did I would not be able to do my work l My plan has been to go ahead to do the | work, and to let these people and those l like them yell and then to trust with abiding confidence to the good sense of | the American people in the assured con
 viction that the yells will die out. the falsehoods be forgotten and the work re- main.
 Therefore, as far as I am concerned, I would rather make no answer whatever
 in this case. but I have much confidence