Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-28
BRYAN STIRS
ROOSEVELT TO
LONG ANSWER
PRESIDENT MAKES RESPONSE
WITH MUCH DETAIL
IN CHARACTERISTIC STATEMENT
HE DEFENDS ACTS
Democratic Candidates Strong Argu.
ments Bring Letter Which Asserts
Republican Deeds Are Free
from Wronedone
rBy Associated Press.1

NV ASHINGTON, sept. N.-fTesi-
w dent Roosevelt late tonight
" made reply to William j. Bry-
ans recent speech, in which he main
tained that the Democratic party and
platform were not getting a square
deal in the campaign. The presidents
reply deals particularly with Mr.. Bry-
ans assertion that the administration
had been neither sincere nor enectlYe
in the prosecution of trusts.
Mr.. Roosevelt combats this charge
with characteristic emphasis and sets
forth in detail what has been done un-
der his direction toward curbing the
tendency of capital to centralize with
view to destroying competition. The
presidents letter follows:
"Dear Sir-I have seen your letter
published in this mornings papers. AS
to most of what you say about mo
personally 1 do not regard any answer
as necessary. When you say that l
am unfair to your platform you rett-
crate certain opinions as to which
had quoted, with my hearty approval,
Governor Hughes in my first letter;
and these, therefore, it is also unnnec-
essary to answer. You have not an
swered the Hughes speech. and In my
Judgment you do well not to make the
attempt. You say that your PLATFORM
declares in favor of vigorous enforce
ment of the law against guilty trust
magnates and officials and that the
platform upon which Mr.. Taft stands
makes no such declaration. It was
not necessary. That platform approved
| the policies of this administration ana
promised to continue them, and here,
| as usual, I have only to compare your
words with the deeds Of the admins
| tration and of Mr.. Taft. You merely
| lott
| tend to do just what this administra-
| tiorf has actually done and is doing.
| ITO show the difference between deeds
| and words I will compare the RECORDS
of this administration with the record
of one of your most prominent sup
porters at the moment, Mr.. Olney, at
| torney general under the last Demo-
cratic administration. While Mr.. Olney
was attorney general no cases what
! ever were brough under the anti-trust
law against combinations of capital.
the only new cases which he brought
being directed against combinations OF
worlxingmen. During the entire aomlnx
istration the only cases brought against
combinations of capital under the anti
trust act were four in number, two or
which were unsuccessful, one or the
other two being the case which was
decided by Judge Taft in favor of the
| government.
Defends Administration
"Under this administration a mass or
such cases have been brought, inciud-
| ing the case against the Nothern Sc
| curities company, against the peeI
| packers, against the Federal Salt COM
pany. against the General Paper COM
! pany, against the Otis and other eleva-
| tor companies, against the American
| Tobacco company, against the powder
trust. against the Virginia. Carolina
Chemical company, against the stand
ard Oil company and others.
"In a number of these cases the gov
ernment has already succeeded by IN
functions and otherwise. Some OF the
| cases are now pending. In hardly any
important case against great law
breaking corporations has the govern
ment yet suffered final defeat.
'As regards suits to suppress rail-
way abuses, under the last Democratic
administration, there were no indict-
ments against shippers for regular re-
bates or secret rates. Under my ad-
ministrations there have been forty
nine indictments for secret reDates, re-
suIting in eighteen convictions; and III
only four cases have these indictments
failed. The other twenty-seven cases
are still pending, Among the railroads
which have been convicted are the
Chicago & Alton, Chicago, Burlington
& Quincy, the New York Central, the
Chicago Rock Island & Pacific and the
Chicago, Milwaukee & st. Paul; Whle
scores of cases are still penang against
| other leading railroads.
Among the shippers that have been
convicted are some of the greatest cor
porations In the United States as, for
instance, the American Sugar company,
the aggregate fine actually paid being
more than $150,0OO; Swift q Co.. the
i Armour Packing company, Cudany
Packing company, Nelson Morris & Co.,
each of whom was fined $4,000, and
the cases have now been carried to the
supreme court. The Standard Oil COM
1 pany case is still pending. This is q
record of actual achievement, and pe-
side it mere promises are empty IN
deed and they would not be made ROW
with any possibility of performance
resulting If 1t were not for the achieve
ment above recited.
Roosevelt Was Cognlzant
"You state that the Steel company.
with my express consent, purchased
one of its largest rivals and thus OBJ
tanned control of over 80 per cent or
the total output. This action of the
Stee company, which increased Its
share of the total output by only about
4 per cent and in no way altered the
standing of the company under the
law, may have been a violation of your
plan, the absurdity of which has been
exposed by Governor Hughes. But
there was no violation of the law.
was cognizant of the entire transac-
tion. It was entered into by the steel
! corporation of its own desire, but
solely at the urgent request of the
L corporation purchased and OF the big
banks holding that corporations se-
curities, in order to enable them to
prevent crash, which would nave
turned the panic of last fall into most
widespread disaster. would indeed
have been derelict in my duty If had
not SO acted and efficiently used all
the power of the government where
II could be legally and properly used
Gas it was in this case) to see that the
panic was kept within the smallest
possible radius and the damage caused
as slight as possible. You would better
understand the principle on which (
acted If you would rid yourself of the
idea that I am trying to discriminate
for or against any man or corporation
~ mah