New-York tribune., 1911-12-24
Both Say Republican treasurer
Took Initiative in Publishing
Letters About the Har-
riman Fund.
GIVE LIE TO NEWSPAPER
Sheldon Declares He Offered to
clear Matter, and Elk -Presi-
dent Accepted Suggestion
odell Silent Regarding
Stories About Him.

cert TpViVal or the question OF HOW OiO
ousrrir1an fund" in the 1904 campaign
uss raised. issued definite statement
Yesterday. which cleared the matter mp
nv disclosing that the initiative in the
nublicstion Of the letters on Thursday
morning was taken 10y Mr.. Sheldon.
The two statements were occasioned
nv an article in The Evening Post
vhic1 attempted 10 raise question ot
yeracity between Mr.. Roosevelt and Mr..
Sheldon. and which. according to Ny.
Roosevelt's later statement, quoted him
incorrectly by omitting thd first sentence
Of his remarks.
As soon as the article was called 20
tho attention Of the two men they got
IN touch with each other by telephone
and found that they both agreed on the
roiDr that Air. Sheldon broached the sub
,ect Of the Hartman campaign con
trihution. volunteered 10 make a state
n,ent public about IT which would cIea:
II up. and that Mr.. Roosevelt was sI"u
TO have him do so.
Incidentally. Mr. sheldon's attention
u called to the fact that stories ha0
5een coming from Newbure, the nome
Of BENJAMIN b. Oden, jr.. who was state
chairman in the 1904 campaign thae
sheldon's explanation Of the Hartman
contribution would not meet the fac'
that Oden was known to he close
friend of Hartman, and would therefore
more probably have gone direct 10 IN"
railroad master himself
The Nevburg stories it was explained
do not directly quote Mr. Odell, but seem
10 he made up Of what his friends say.
Has Odell said anything o. Mr.. Shell
don asked. with the accent on the last
word
No was the reply
well. that's sufficient" was Mr.. Shell
don's comment. Mr. Sheldon stated on
Friday that Mr. Odelrs version was
bound to agree with the story told IN
his letter TO Mr.. Roosevelt
Mr.. Roosevelt's statement in full was
as follows
"The Evenina Post" story is a charao-
,.ristic and peculiarly infamous false
hood. as any one looking at my state
msnt and comparing it with Mr.. Shel-
don's will see. "The Evening Post mas
nuoted me correctly except that x char,
scteristioaly omitted the beginning OF
my statement, which was that IN tne
essentials Mr. Sheldon had stated the
facts correctly. ! said. not one WorI
about Mr.. Sheldon or what he had ssld'
sSc.ntino "in the essentials Mr.. Sheldon
has stated the facts correctly. he asked
me vyhv the truth had not been stated
and very kindly volunteered to make the
statement told him ! much appre-
cisted his courtesy and would be q ad to
have him do So and It is simply m
famous to twist this into an attack on
Mr. Sheldon.
And Mr.. Sheldons statement was:
After seenq the article in THE Even
ino POST" called Mr.. Roosevelt on the
telephone. We agree entirely as to what
took place. His statement is absolutely
correct and does not differ in any way
from what / told the reporters. offered
him the correspondence for The Out
look" but he preferred that should give
il TO the press. The reporters asked me
whether Mr.. Roosevelt wished me to
publish mot write) the correspondence'
and ! said he did. Quite a different
statement of the case than THE Evening
POST would be glad TO invent
The article in The Evening Post
which brought out the two statements
given above. was headed with the words
Colonel Says It's False; the sub-head
read. "Contradicts Sheldon in the Harri-
man Matter" and below that was printed
q bank" which read: Says Republi-
csn National Committee Treasurer Not
He RoosevelO. Proposed Having the
Letter Written-They Were Given Out
Because Sheldon Saw Fit To DO It."
The article in full follows:
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt put George
r. sheldon, treasurer Of the National Re
publican Committee. I'm the Ananias CIun
to-day Sheldon, after the making puollc
ot correspondence about the old Hartman
Roosevelt campaign contribution contro-
Nersy, Ssid Yesterday that the initiative in
regard 10 the belated explanation had
rested with Roosevelt.
After he had been urged 20 comment
upon the statement Of Sheldon, the eX-
President said, at his editorial offices, In
"Mr sheldon asked me why the truth
had not been stated and very kindly vol
ynteered 10 make the statement. I told
hlm ] much appreciated his courtesy, and
woulo be glad 20 have him do So"
At the outset, before the eX-PTeSdeni
had answered the question definitely he
nso Deen asked why inc recent lcllcfS ndN
uten made public at this time. His answer
Tss that il had been because Mr.. Sheldon
hsd seen N 10 make them public.
The purport Of tho latest explanation Of
ne Hartman contributions IN 1904 as pub
lthed broadcast yesterday. was that T.
Odell. ir.. had sent word 10 the fnancier
about the need Of funds for the Republican
STATE ticket and that Sheldon had borne
the message. whereafter Hartman had
raised the fund. which went toward the
election Of Higgins 20 the Governors chair
rather than for helping Roosevelt IN the
PRESIDENTIAL campaign.
Mr.. Sheldon was asked then If nc
would say anything as TO the stories
which had been circulated since his let
ter 10 Mr. Roosevelt was published
which put forth the argument that he,
Sheldon, could not have given out the
letters ont Of friendship for Mr. Roose-
Welt, because he had not supported Mr.
koosevelts campaign for Henry i.
sumson for Governor last year.
The explanation Of that is simple,
Mr. Sheldon said. and IT is simply that
Keep my political and personal affairs
separate. ! can he against man In a
campaign and still be his friend, and
itrthsy' when a campaign is over / am
through with II. It's past and ended"
S
eOWS COINS ALONG THE WAY.
george W Da Cunha, a retired New
ioiK architect was the most popular mai
81 al