Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-08-17
speciat to T,mee-Republicnn.

! Speciaf to Times Republican,.
New York. Aug. l7.-Ex-PrestdenS
Roosevelt has an article on "The StoSo
] Corporation and the Panic uf 1897" In
| the Outlook appearing today. M.
Roosevelt discusses his recent appear.
ance before the congressional commits
tee investigating the steel corporations
repeating the written statement he then
presented and dealing with somc oe
| He says:
"On Saturday. Aug. 5. in compliance
! with tho request OF the chairman OF tho
congressional committee investigating
tho absorption OF the Tennessee Coat
and Iron Company by the steel corpor-
a,!on. ] appeared before that body.
| had nothing new to which to testify.
| There was not n fact OF the sliEhtese
| Importance or OF tho. slightest bearing
| upon my action which was not already
| known. and which had no, been known
from the time 1 acted: and incidentally
| may mention that this Is also true 40
regards Panama. the dealings OF MY
| administration with the sugar truss
or any other trust. and as to any o;hee
action OF my administration Nobody
| need feel either Concern or hope as to
| whether anything done by my ad-
| ministration Will be discovered" for
the excellent reason. that there Is
I nothing that was hidden
Didn't uosstion Justice.
I made to the committee tlr, state
ment which follows Several questions
were then asked by different members
| OF the committee. Most OF these ques-
| tions dealt with matters not or sur.
| ncient moment TO warrant allusion to
them here Many Of them were as to
what my belief was concerning the mo-
\ tives of tho steel corporation people in
acquiring tho Tennessee Coal and Iron
Company's property: to which. OF
course. my answer was that II was not
my business. and neither wAs II IN my
power. to search the hidden domain Of
motive. and that my action was con-
ditioned. not upon what l believed to
| be the motives actuating the steel cor.
| poraton but upon my belief that tho
action which they proposed taking
would be enormously TO the benefit OF
| the community at large at that particu-
| lar moment. Whether tho chief motive
| for their action was n desire to absorb
| TIE Tennessee Coal and Iron Company.
| or whether their chief motive was to
| save the threatened New York firm
from failure. and thereby stop the
panic, was OF no concern to me.
That both motives were In their
minds I thought possible. and now
think possible. What was the pre-
| dominant motive was OF no conse-
| quence. My concern was that tho ac-
ton should be taken and the situation
saved in the interests of the people oe
the United States. Most individuals
have short memories. and the events
in question took place nearly four
years ago but II any one will look
back and think tho matter over seri-
0usly and In good faith. he will un-
derstand that II was not n question oe
saving any bank or trust company
from failure; tho question was oe
saving the plain people. the common
people. in nil parts OF the United
states from dreadful misery and SUI
fering; and this was what my action
did.
Action Did Stop Panic.
"one OF the questions put to ne In
dicatcd disbelief. or. to be more ac-
curnte. perhaps should say that it
was meant To be understood as indi-
eating disbelief. that the action taken
was really efficient in stopping the
panic At the time. and for somo
months after the panic had been
stopped. no man would have ventured
To express such disbelief unless pre-
pared to be greeted with derision by
every human being who knew any
thing whatever OF the actual facts.
The question Is not to be treated ser.-
ously for IT can not be so treated. The
action taken was. In my Judgment. tho
only action that could stop the panic,
and IT most certainly was of enormous,
and in all human probability of de-
cisive influence In actually stopping
II.
Certain other questions related to
the alleged fact that during the past
four years the ore lands formerly
owned by the Tennessee Coal and Iron
Company have been developed until
they are of such enormous Importance
as to give to the steel corpora alton
nearly complete control OF the steel
business. thru control OF the sources OF
the raw material Whether or not this
Is so has no bearing upon the actor
taken four years ago, The purchase as
made did not by itself, one way or the
other affect the status OF the steel cor
poration so far as the Sherman law
was concerned: and this statement iS
not affected by consideration OF what
may not be a totally different stHte of
affairs four years later. I dealt with
facts as they we're. not with facts as
they might or might not afterwards
become believe that this covers overy
} point OF any consequence raised In the
questions put to me after had n,do
my statement