Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-11

the word undertaken and my use OF it.
Did / mean 10 conceal the fact that | was
anxious to buy some of this land: Not at
all. Did ! mean to attack Dorr as a
swindler when ! myself was engaged i'll a
dishonest and dshonorable transaction
That is what the President would have
the people believe.
His Private Affairs.
Can be justly charged with falsehood
when if | had told the Senate OF the en-
tire transaction it would have made no
difference whatever while | would have
been charged with intruding my private
affairs into a public discussion? Just
what la did I break What wrong did l
do or contemplate?
According to the report of the Attor-
ney General. in answer to the resolution
which | introduced and which passed the
senate. Hartman. the Presidents dear
friend. still holds in defiance of law up
ward of 100000 acres of the best lands
o. Oregon and California and refuses to
sell them at any price. | never expected,
and could not under the terms of the la
as construed ii. get more than seven
quarter sections for myself and family.
one for my private secretary one for Mr..
Lee. making nine iii all. This. in the ag-
Sregate. would mean that | would obtain
through my activity here as the Pres
idents charge is. nine quarter sections,
cost of S4.NO
"Nill the President undertake to say
,hat have lost my right TO buy land
because am senator? Can the Pres-
deht deny that my activity secured the
passage of the resolution inStrIcting the
Attorney General to bring suit for the
recovery of his lana for the use of actual
se'tIers If Hartman and others like
MN are made TO disGorse by reason of
'hese suits. Shall the fact that | was en-
n htIy 80. g tI,<,
iand be used as the basis of "a charge
Of being liar and corrupt senator-to
be disgraced?
10 sum up. this is a brief resume of
the entire transaction: While in Spo-
kane. Wash. in October 1907 I first
heard that there were timber lands in
oregon which were being bought through
Reeder 4 Watkins of Marshfied. Octo-
Der ; | wrote TO Feeder & Watkins, ask
Ing for information, telling them of my
desire to purchase some of the land if
possible Desiring to find out if the con-
ditions of the grant to the state of Ore
gon made it possible for purchasers and
not actual settlers to buy at $50 per
acre, l wired the librarian of the Senate
for copy of the act
Lee Exceeded Authority.
Finding that that part of the state
ment received from a gentleman in Spo-
Kane was correct. ] notified Reeder &
Watkins October 20 that Mr.. Lee. whom
had seen at Moscow. Idaho, in the
meantime and talked with on the subject.
would go to Marshfield and investigat tie
IN person / authorized Lee to draw on
me II lie found that the lands were what
they were represented TO be. Lees au-
thorlty as my agent never went beyond an
examination of the land and. if the ap-
pllcation was filed. to see that got good
'impered lands instead of ROCKS and
marshes.
lie wired me not to he in hurry.
as mere We're obstacles in the way In
the meantime I bad talked with lawyers
VINO were familiar with the military
road land grants. and they Informed me
that under decision of the circuit court
private parties were not permitted to sue
for these lands
Still doubling whether I could pur-
chase the land with any hope of sue
cessful litigation. | wrote to Senator
George Turner of Washington to get his
opinion and incidentally to make inquiry
about lands on the Columbia river in
that state. He gave the same opinion
that | had already received from the
other lawyers.
Realizing after l got to Washington.
ID. C.. in December that 1t was Il very
doubtful proposition. I let the matter drop
until Mr.. Lee showed me a letter from
Reeder 4 Watkins, which has been stolen
from my desk in my committee room
along with other papers in this case.
probab bly, by some of the secret service
sleuths. When they indicated their de-
sire that / should exert my influence in
the Senate. I wrote the letter Of February
Is. of which the President obtained q
Photographic copy.
I'm the meantime and before that let
ter was written. from my Investigations
and after a conference with the Attorney
General I introduced the two resolutions
of January 81, one calling on the At
torney General for information. and the
other (the joint resolution), which be-
came law. instructing him to institute
suits. My official activity then is shown
to have taken form in the Senate before
I knew anything about Reeder & Wat
kins' attitude or expectation and l was
in no way Influenced by them.
Lost Faith in Scheme.
II was still anxious to obtain some Of
the land if it could be done legally. and
wrote Reeder & Watkins to that effect
but my faith in them and in the whole
scheme died when ! received the cir
culars of Dorr. which came to me on
February II and Is from three different
directions. showing the widespread dis
tribution made of them. Also Mr. Lees
report to me had led me to believe that
Reeder & Watkins were not of the calfoer
and character to be employed in a mat
ter of such magnitude, except possibly
as to their familiarity with the local con-
ditions and their ability to locate quarter
sections which were we'll timbered, as
they were in the possession of a cruisers
map
"Dorr, of whom I had never heard be-
fore. was evidently pushing his scheme
of getting suckers to invest and using
my name, as have indicated. without
authority. because l had not paid any
fees to him or written to him or filed any
applications. ] therefore felt it incum-
bent on me to expose the swindle in the
Senate, which ! did on the 10th of Feb
ruary. and asked the post office authori
ties to issue fraud order.
Il pressed the passage of the joint reso-
luton in the Senate. and on April 30 it
became a law. March IS I was taken i'll,
and on May Is. after a partial recupera-
ton, l sailed for Europe. returning Octo-
Der u.
THE Presidents seuths. set to do the
dirty work of spying on a senator when
that senator had exposed a fraud which
was being perpetrated on the public. re-
ported to him on July -. / had nothing
whatever to do with the change i'm the
law of which the President complains in
regard to the secret service.
so the Presidents animus is not
against me on the same ground for which
he has attacked Messrs. Tawney Smith
and others in the House. but one of per-
sonal malice engendered by hatred be-
cause of my course in the Senate during
the last seven years.
II have not attemDted TO deceive any