Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-12-07

F1RBNNNs'NO
The News says that there is no doubt
that the government paid St0,0O0,0O0 for
the property and continues-'But who
The administration and Mr.. Taft do
not think it right that the people
should know
Really. this is so ludfcrous as to
make one feel little impatient al hav-
ing to answer it. The fact has been Of
ficialIy published again and again that
the government paid $40, 100000 and that
it paid this $40,000,O00 direct to the
French government. getting the re-
ceipt of the liquidator appointed by the
French government to receive the
same. The United States government
has not the slightest knowledge as t.
the particular individuals among whom
the French government distributed the
sum. This was the business of the
French government. The mere suppO-
sition that any American received from
the French government Rake
off is too absurd to be discussed. 1t is
an abnormal falsehood and 1t Is SLAM
der not against the American govern
ment, but against the French govern
ment.
1.-The News continues, saying that
The Presidents brother-in-law IS in
volved in the scandal but he has moth
ing to say The Presidents brother
in-law was involved in no scandal. Mr.
Eelavan Smith and the other people
who repeated this falsehood lied about
the Presidents brother-in-1aw; but
why the fact that Mr.. Smith lied
should be held to involve Mr.. Robinson
in a scandal is difficult to understand
The scandal affects no one but Mr..
Smith; and his conduct has been not
merely scandalous, but infamous. MIR.
Robinson had not the slightest connec-
ton of any kind, sort or description
at any time or under any circum-
stances with the Panama matter.
Neither did MIR. Charles Taft. The
News says that Mr.. Taft was mem
Der of the Syndicate So far as know
there was no syndicate; there certainly
that, to my knowledge, had any deal
ings with the government directly or
indirectly; and inasmuch as there was
no syndicate. Mr.. Taft naturally could
not belong to it.
''The News demands that Mr.. Taft
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, saved such as be-
cause of their technical character and
their usefulness in the current work
of the canal it has been found advis-
able to send to the isthmus. All of these
documents that possessed any i'm
pcrtance as illustrating any feature of
the transaction have already been
made public.
There remains great mass of doc
unents of little or no Importance which
the administration is entirely willing
t. have published, but which, because
OF their mass and pointlessness no
nody has ever cared to publish. ANY
reputable man can have full access to
these documents. If you or Mr.. Swift
or Mr.. Booth Harrington or Mr. George
AIDE; in short if any reputable man will
come cn here he shall have free access
t" 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 be done, l
suppose because to print such q mass
OF documents would be a great expense
and moreover an entirely useless eX-
pense, unless. which is not the case,
there was 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
7 n1nSt fra nly11r ada III lr
any good Will come from doing So Mr.
Delvan Smith is a conspicuous Offend
er 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
Mr.. Laffan of the New York Sun edi-
torials, 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
Indianapolis News. I never see an edi-
torial in any one of these or similar pa
pers 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 wilful and deliberate perversion
of the truth. For example. / have just
made public the following statement
concerning a tissue of false state
ments which appeared in Mr.. Laffan' S
paper, the Sun.
''As the New York Sun story entitled
Roosevelt and Prairie OIL has seemed
to deceive number of people, the fol-
lowing statement was made public
about it:
GAS soon as the story was brought
to President Roosevelt's attention he
not only called for reports concerning
the statements from the department Of
justice and the department of the in
terror but also communicated with ex-
Sec. Hitchcock so as to be sure that
the Presidents recollection was not at
fault The story is false in every par
ticular from beginning to end. Not on
ly is there nc such report in the de-
partment OF justice and never has been.
but no such report was ever made. In
granting the franchise of the Prairie
Oil and Gas Co. the President simply
approved the recommendation of Sec.
Hitchcock submitted to him precisely
as al other recommendations were
submitted. Moreover, in every case re-