Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1910-09-30
MIR. RooseveLrss pEeT TO THE
RAILROADS

MIR. RoosEvELT's DEBT TO THE
RAILROADS
Mr.. JohnH Devine, heavy stock
holder in the Penn. Ry., has written
Mr.. Jas. McCrae, president of that sys-
tenn the following letter:
Philadelphia, Sept. %, 1910.
Mr.. James Mc(yrea, President Penn
sylvania Ry., Philadelphia.
Dear Sir-As a stakeholder of the
Pennsylvania Ry. / have been greatly
surprised to learn there is an account,
long overdue, for transportation fur
nished by it to Theodore Roosevelt. II
is matter of quite general knowledge,
SO learn, that this account amounts
to more than $1,000
Whether the person owing such &C
count be President or former Pres
dent, or whoever he may be, the inter.
e its of the Pennsylvania Railroad, il
seems to me, demand that there be q
settlement. Will you advise me if ]
am correctly informed, and if SO is
there any reason why this debt should
not be paid Will you also kindly in.
form me what steps have been taken,
if any, in behalf of the company tC
collect the amount due, and what pros.
p 'ct thete is, If any. of its settlement.
Very truly yours,
JOHN H. DEVINE. Z
1t is we'll known that Mr.. Roosevelt
travelled great deal during his presi.
dency. 1t is well known that he trav.
eled at the expense of the railroads.
He travelled at their expense when he
was candidate for vice-president and
when he became president he made
no complaint of the s.peculiar facili-
ties" afforded him, nor of the fact
that corporations had aided in his as
well as Mr.. McKinley's election. He
was their candidate and they owed
him at least clean deal, SO possibly
he and his friends argued. We have
before stated the following facts, but
we venture to repeat them here.
In the campaign of 1900 when Mr..
Roosevelt was the trimming mate" OF
Mr.. Mckinley, VIM. ]. Bryan was
the opposing presidential candidate. 1t
was a subject of common notoriety
that Mr.. Bryan could hardly get trans
portation through some of the States
and West Virginia was one them
sufficient to meet his engagements.
No especial trains" could be furnished
him. There was some excuse. The
cars were not available, or something
of the kind. He was treated by them
shamefully. On the other hand the
Republican candidates had every tacil-
ity shown them, and Mr.. Roosevelt
was one of the candidates.
On one occasion during that cam
paign Mr.. Roosevelt spoke at Hinton,
W. Va. On the evening of the speak
ing-he had spoken in the afternoon
we were at Ronceverte, station about
40 miles east of Hinton, waiting to
take tain No. 2, for our home here.
The train was reported late. We stood
with many others awaiting our train.
On the time our train should have
reached that station, train was heard
coming. In few moments the whistle
of passenger locomotive was heard,
in moment or two more the rays of
an electric headlight flashed around
the curve mile distant, and in mo-
ment more train sped up to the sta
ton and halted to take water. 1t was
a magnificent train of three cars-a
baggage car and two Pulimans. They
were not C. & U. cars, but special cars
that had come from another road.
They were drawn by one of the hand
soonest and swiftest of the G. & o. pas
senger engines, and the train had a
royal air about it as if the king him.
self were aboard. It at once became
known that this was the "Roosevelt
Special The next speech was to be
made at some far eastern point. Vir-
ginia was not noticed. The train
would go all night through that State
but the State was not to be honored
with speech. Note here that the re .
ular No.2 was sidetracked for this spec
ial. ALI the passengers were made to
wait for the Royal Train to pass, at
the expense of missing connections and
other Inconvenience, the public was
literally "be damned. Who paid for
this train will never be known. 1t,
too, was possibly charged up to tad
vertising," as was all of Mr.. Roosevelt's
presidential travel.
At that same moment MI. Bryan
was struggling to get from point to
point on local trains, and it is charged
in many cases, that SO soon as it was
known he was aboard, something de-
layed the train to make him miss his
appointments, or interfere in other
ways with his arrangements. This
was how corporations treated one and
how they treated the other. If Mr..
Roosevelt should put crimp in the
ut ure plans of railroads, or interfere
with their highhanded Methods it will
be only just and merited. They helped
him to become powerful, and if his
power hurts them now or hereafter,
the fault is theirs. 1t must, however,
seem laughable that those who ire
now calling O. him for his railroad
fare should have waited SO long.
SEEKING NoTERlETy
Mrs. Bellamy Storer, whose hus-
band was in the diplomatic service at