Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-01-07


following, which / beg you to publish in
full, and my suggestions in regard there
to:
PLOTTING AGAINST FORAKER.
Certain Leaders United in Eqort to Defeat
Him for Reelection.
SneciaI Dispatch to The Star
CLEVELAND. Ohio, December aO-That
a coalition the object of which is to bar
Senator Foraker from returning to the
United States Senate, has been formed By
Gen. Charles Grosvenor, defeated a year
aSo for reelection to the national House
from the eleventh Ohio district; Harry NJ
Daugherty, leader for two years of the
anti-Foraker forces in the state. and once
asplrant for the governorship and George
3. Cox, all-powerful boss of Cincinnati
and Hamilton counties. with a few others
thrown in, is indicated by messages to
local practical politicians. These mes
sages are directing the fight in this county,
the hub of the first battle between the
Foraker and Taft forces.
The messages show that the three, each
OF Whom would be senator, are united in
an effort to wreck Senator Forakers pres
tige and are willing to fight out the sue
cession among themselves after Foraker is
eliminated. The three control Cox Ham
NUN diiu duJdCtIl COuntleS, drOSVenOr S
Athens, and two or three others of the
eleventh. and Daugherty's four or five
delegations. With them it is planned to
unite to help Taft get the Ohio presiden-
tlal delegation, with the distinct under
standing that Foraker shall not gain the
senatorship by an eleventh-hour agree
ment with Taft.
This suspected plan of the Cincinnati
senator to abandon his presidential fight
at the last moment to obtain assurance of
70 he ;, h,fl
would-be senators, and they purpose, mes
| sages shown indicate, to make use of
their combined strength to hold Secretary
OF war Taft to the position he already
has taken. when Senator Dick sought to
patch truce, Nothing savoring of a
deal can be made. l cannot agree to the
Endorsement of myself for the presidency
and of Senator Foraker for reelection. -
Already down-state politicians are being
lined up quietly for one or the other OF
the three senatorial aspirants, while Rep
resentative Theodore E. Burton, closest to
Taft, Is Waging his own campaign quietly
1t is understood that Cox is to withdra W
in favor of GrOSvenOr
First, l have not seen Hon. Harry NJ
Daugherty but once, and that at dis
lance, for more than four years; have not
spoken to him one word on the subject of
politics for ten years; have not received
any letter from him of a political char
acter, nor of any other character, for
many years.
Second, 1 have not seen Mr.. George B.
Cox for five years, except to pass him on
the street; have not spoken a word about
politics to him during all that time; l
never received letter from him in my
life, l never wrote a letter to him in my
lie. nor has any message passed between
him and me and Daugherty, or between
Daugherty and him and me, whatever I'M
der any circumstances.
l have entered into no cOrn hi n tjOp or
conspiracy in regard to the contest be-
tween Taft and Foraker, nor have / COM
mitted myself to any proposition that
Foraker shall not be reelected senator.
There are no such messages as your cor
respondent speaks of, and there never
were. and there isn't a man in Ohio who
thinks that there is any such thing.
From the top to the bottom, except the
date. there is not one word of truth in the
entire publicati ton, and there is not 4 cir
cumstance occurring in Ohio at this time,
nor has there been, that justified any sus-
picion on the part of anybody's mind that
there is a word of truth in any part of
this publication
Furthermore, 1 am not, and never have
been. a candidate for the United States
Senate, and have never gone further than
to say that the office was very great
honor. and if offered to me- as a matter of
course. / would accept it. This l have
said more in the way of a joke than in
any other way. and now l will say just
this much: If l were handed two COM
missions for the term of senator, begin
ming at the close of Senator Foraker's
present term. and one of them was a COM
mission to myself for the office and the
other was a commission to Senator For
aker for his reelection to the Office, /
would return mine and hand his to him.
That is the way l feel about the senator
ship. c. II. GROSVENOR.,
Athens Ohio, January 6, 1905.