The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-11
No Personal Interest.

"Neither I nor my law firm, nor any l one connected with me, ever owned, 1 directly or indirectly any share of l stock in the New Panama Canal com
 pany, or any of the obligations or se-
 curities of the Old Panama Canal 1 company. nor ever bought or sold any
 of the shares of securities of any of
 said companies, nor were directly or ! indirectly interested in them.
 i q am also positive that not man
 in public life in America, or in or out
 of the Congress ever had the least
 pecuniary interest in the Panama canal
 q do not know and never have known of any American citizen who
 has ever dealt in any shares of the New Panama Canal company or the shares or bonds of the old company. 1 "A further instance of the unwar- ranted attitude of the Indianapolis 1 News and of other journals repeating
 the statements is furnished with re-
 spect to MT. c. P Taft and MT. Douglas | Robinson. In the same issue of the | World October 8, 1908), l said The
 mention of the names of MT, Taft and l MT. Douglas Robinson is another evil
 dence that this is a fake story. No
 member of the Taft family or MT
 Douglas Robinson ever had the re- l motest connection with. Panama canal 1 matters, directly or indirectly, and l
 never saw one of them on this subject
 before the United States acquired the
 canal I never saw MT. Douglas Rob
 inson in my life.
 Doing the Impossible.
 "The names of Caesar and Napoleon might as well have been used for it
 could not be more impossible. All this, | except the dragging in of new names, was threshed out before the United States Senate committee by the late Senator Morgan. Out of respect for the dead, refrain from comment upon that proceeding, but I feel warranted in saying that it was pursued with un-
 paralleled energy and skill. It was, however, completely exploded and re- futed by the facts in the case, and ended in complete discontinue. There is not word of truth in it, and would not notice it at this time If 1t did not concern others.
 "The introduction of these gentle , men in the Panama affair is like the
 creation of a character in a work of fiction. They did not exist in the sense of having any relation to the canal natter Neither of them ever had the least pecuniary intrest in the business. It is a matter of public his | tory that the President-elect never had any official connection with the canal until months after it had been acquired by this government. He was in the Philippines as governor during all the years in question.
 "Equally perverted is the statement concerning the records and accounts
 of the two companies. They were not tdelivered to the United States because they were records of the company's transactions with which the United States had no concern. But, as mat
 ter of fact, the records and files of the liquidation of the old company are in the hands of the liquidator at 50 Rue Etienne Marcel, Paris and those of
 the new company were, on the final
 payment in June 1908, deposited with
 the Credit Lyonnaise, Boulevard des
 Italiens, to. be preserved. in accordance
 with French custom for period of 20
 years That corporation has the GUS
 today of the records as is well known
 to all parties in interest,""