Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1909-01-12
MAKES A
LAME EXCUSE
continued from Page I, Column -

lfnllltlttN
da al Mr.. Dorr was according 70
~" ronort Of the Inspector, a wantoh
~ made to cover up Senator TN
'aon,s own transactions
.vo such statement was made by
!. insnnctor. In fact so earnestly m
an convicting Senator Tfllman IL
NJ ~, president, he actually committed
se1f 10 this proposition, to-wit;
n"nn,ap voluntarily and without any
Naaonnlslon from any source and WIN
,'hrnq 70 conceal brought out a mat
IN the senate which he need not
80 done TO up transactions
.,oh we're absolutely unknown to any
,vcept himself and his correspond
- Feeder and Watkins, and were
n,iraly honorable and clean. Such
aaoenre closed up the swindlers'
norr. when his NAH was NOT deliver
:, retired from the land business y
haoome a fruit grower as reported by
no inspcctors. The swindlers a Sc
nod ! good many thousands OF dot
-. before the exposure in the senate
sannea neople from being duped and
- theodore Roosevelt, who poses as
10 only remaining honest man in
n,hlic life. in the face of these facts
hos felt called upon to attack the
,arocter of a man whose integrity has
euor before been questioned and
those official position is second only
to his own
~, doing this he makes a falst
aeclaration. for the inspectors now
noro do not say any such thing as
ahove quoted. which can be proved by
an examination of their report.
.Now about the lying: My letter
If February Is. Of which the president
had secured a photograph copy ante
dated By four days my statement
Il, tha senate that | had not bought
any land or undertaken to buy any
md the president considers this posi-
live proof Of falsehood. | did not
saw | had not considered the purchase
If land. | did not say I had not con-
templated the purchase of land; be-
cause had done both.
.In my conversation with the at
torney general in regard to the reso-
htion which | introduced. ana which
he himself prepared, after we had
talked over the whole land situation,
I distinctly remember telling him that
nv interest in the matter had been
first aroused by my desire to purchase
some Of the timber land and that my
coming to him was due to the fact
that | discovered upon investigation
that | could not buy it through any
agency whatsoever; that | could not
buv il even by lawsuit because ! was
advised by very able lawyers in the
west, mons them the Hon. George
Turner, of Washington, that in at
lacking the holders of those land
grants no one would have any stand
ing in court except the grantor, the
government itself. | was perhaps dis
Ingenious. but a moments thought
viii convince any honest minded man
that as | had not signed any papers,
had not paid any money, and taken
nobody's receipt, the usual processes
by which one undertakes to buy land
| was speaking accurately and not
falsely. Everything hinges on the
meaning of the word undertakes and
my use of ii. Did / mean to conceal
the fact that | was anxious TO buy
rome of the land? Not at all. Did !
mean to attack Dorr as a sWindler
when | myself was engaged in a dis.
honest and dishonorablc transaction?
That is what the president would have
people believe. Can | be Justly charg.
ed with falsehcod when. if ] had told
the senate of the entire transaction it
would have made no difference what.
ever, while | would have been charged
with Introducing my private affairs
into a public discussion. Just what
law did I break? What wrong do |
do or contemplate? According to tn.
report Of the attorney general in an
swer 10 the resolution which | intro
duced and passed the senate, Harri-
man. the presidents dear friend, still
holds in defiance of law upwards of
Two millions of acres of the best lands
OF oregon and California and refuses
10 sell them at any price. | never
expected and could not under the
terms OF the law as | construed il, get
more than seven quarter sections for
myself and family, one for my private
secretary and one for Mr.. Lee, max
ing nine in all. This in the aggregate
would mean that | would obtain
through my activity here, us the prest'
dent charges. nino quarter sections. or
fourteen hundred and forty acres at
a cost Of $4,000. VIII the president
undertake to say that ! have lost my
ilsht To buy land because | am a SEN
a'ors Can the president deny tna'
NY activity secured the passage of the
resolution. instrueting the attorney
general to bring suit for the recovery
VI TINS land for the use of ac.ual set
ters2 If Mr.. Hartman and others
IKE MN are made to disgorge by rea
s'h OF these suits. shall the fact that
was ~endeavoring to buy a little pit
lance of land be used as the basis of a
enarge OF being a liar and a corrupt
senator to he disgraced?"
sen1or Tiiman then told how his
s'tention had been brought to this
ana while at Spokane, Wash. in o.
w"er' 1907. He wrote to Reeder an
Watkins, asking for information ami
"'ihg them of his desire to purchase
IN OF the land if possible. Desi =
,"s 10 md out If the conditions of tn
1"o grant to the state of OregJl
"auf IL possible for purchasers and
""' actual settlers" to buy at $3.50
acre, he wired to the librarian o.
senate for a copy Of the act II
,v Mr. Lee al Moscoy. idaho. and
.H'ked with him on the subject. arr
,n'Nhs that he would go to Marsh
AAfAl HnA .-