Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-01-15

rect, and that it continues TO stand. ard
will stand, as an available ppTopriation
for such purposes as those for which Il
was intended, uuntil entirely exhausted,
the question remains whether such pay
ments as are now under consideration are
legitimate and proper to be made from
IL. 1t would seem that granting all 1
have indicated, they are yet, nevertheless,
clearly illegal and in flat vioiaticu of the
statutory provision.
Speaking of the use of private detectives
in investigating the Brownsville affair
Mr.. Foraker. declared that ut is impossi-
BILE to find language with which to Mt
tingly characterize such a procedure as
this detective business has been from its
incipiency down to the monstrous stages
it has reached 1t is atraciOus, revolving.
shocking to every sense of fairness. JUS
tice and even common decency'
Takes Roosevelt to Task.
Mr.. Foraker reviewed the statements
made by the president in his message to
congress on the Brownsville affair, 1T
will be noted" he said. that the guilt
of these soldiers, as charged by the pres
ident, was, according to the, president,
'conclusively' established by the testimo-
ny first submitted. He took occasion to
rpeat this in his. first message over and
over again. Why he should so often re-
peat 1t is inexplicable except upon the
theory that he is, after all. like all other
men, and that, Notwithstanding al ne had
said. he had some doubt about the sum-
cheney of the testimony upon which he
had acted, for, if he had no doubt, there
could have been no necessity for such
unusual repetition of the statement OF
that fact. 1t should at least appear 10
the ordinary mind that after the weak
ness and insufficiency of this testimony
was pointed out, he recognized the ne
cessity for strengthening his case. and
thereupon dispatched Mr.. Purdy and Ma
jor BIocksom to Brownsville to secure
the evidence reported by them.
ROosevelt's Message.
"when he submitted these affidavits to
the senate. he again, as in his former
message. affirmed that it 'conclusively
and overwhelmingly established the guilt
of the men, as charged by him, and went
so far as to say that there was. no room
left for any honest difference of opinion,
and to intimate that men who PROGRESSED
TO have doubt had some unworthy motive
prompting that doubt, or that they mere
lyi pretended to have doubt In order that
they might acCOihpiSh SSN 10 -
purpose.
"In the message he sent to the senate
after the report of the committee on
military affairs, he reiterated that the
facts o-wsmed by him had been by that
testimony thoroughly established.
Hence it was that when the committee
reported, everybody apparently supposed
the investigation was ended, and If any
one had thought about 1t at all, he surely
would have supposed that the president
who had formally. in his messages to
the senate over and over again, more
than a dozen times, asserted that the
testimony overwhelmingly and 'conclu-
sively' and beyond any doubt, and so
thoroughly as TO admit Of no honest diff
ference Of opinion about it, established
the guilt of the soldiers. would be content
to rest upon the testimony that had in
these numerous ways been gathered to-
gether.
Speaking Of the reply of the presi-
dent and of the secretary of war to a
senate resolution calling for information
on the detectives Investigations into the
Brownsville afrair, Mr.. Foraker said:
"This message of the president with
its exhibits and this report Of the sec
retary of war present a new and most
serious feature of this unhappy bust
ness. They not only disclose deter
mined effort on the part OF the president
to again bolster up the case against
these men which he has heretofore, on
numerous occasions, both officially and
unoficially characterized as conclusive
and overwhelming but that he has re-
sorted to a method in his effort to Sc
cure such testimony that cannot be Mt
tingly characterized without the use of
language which if employed might APP
pear to be disrespeotful to the chief ex-
ecutive. And worst of ALL in this en-
deavor to secure such testimony the
president has, himself, committed the
serious offense-condemned by every
court that administers the common law.
that has ever had occasion TO speak
on the subject-of holding out to these
men an inducement. or a reward, for
giving such testimony, in the form of
re-enlistment, with fun pay. and rein
statement to all their rights as soldiers.
Public's Money.
ut does not lessen the gravity of his
offense that it appears to be impercepti-
BILE to him; or. IL not so. that he has
become utterly ObliviOus to all the re-
straints of law. deeency. and propriety
in his mad pursuit of these helpless vic
tins of his ill-considered action. More
over. l shall be able 10 show, I think,
that all this has been done without au-
thority Of law and with public money that
has been fIched from the public treasury
in fat defiance of the constitution and
a statute in full force and effect.
II do not hesitate TO say that in my