Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-08-05

it no public duty Of mine to interpose
any objections. Sincerely yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Hon Charles ]. Bonaparte, Attorney
General
Agreed With His Chief.
"Mr. Bonaparte received this note in
about an hour, and that same morning
he came over to acknowledge its receipt
and said that my answer was the only
proper answer that could have been made,
having regarded both the law and the
needs of the situation. He stated that the
illegal situation had been in no way chang
ed and that no sufficient ground existed
for prosecuting the steel corporation. But
l wish it distinctly understood that act
ed purely on my own initiative and that
the responsibility for the act was solely
mine
Il was intimately acquainted with the
situation in New York. The word panic
means fear, unreasoning fear: to stop a
panic 1t Is necessary to restore conf
dence. and at the moment the so-caIled
Morgan interests were the only interests
which retained a full hold on the conf
dence of the people of New York, not only
the business people. but the immense
mass of men and women who owned
small investments or had small savings
In the bank and trust companies
Mr.. Morgan and his associates were OF
course hghting hard to prevent the loss
OF confidence and the panic distrust from
increasing to such a degree as to bring
any other big financial institutions down,
for this would probably have been follow
crash. The Knickerbocker Trust Com
pany had already failed and runs had be-
gun or were threatened as regards two
other big trust companies. These COM
panies were now on the fighting line and
1t was to the interest of everybody to
strengthen them. in order that the situa-
ton might be saved 1t was matter of
general knowledge and belief that they
or the individuals prominent in them held
the securities Of the Tennessee Coal and
Iron Company, which securities had no
market value. and were useless as q
source Of strength in the emergency. The
ateel corporation securities on the con-
trary were Immediately marketable their
over the world-as the event showed The
proposal OF MeSsrs. Frick and Gary was
that the steel corporation should at once
acquire the Tennessee Coal and Iron Com
pany and thereby substitute among the
assets of the threatened institutions
(Which by the way they did not name to
mel securities of great and immediate
value for securities which at the moment
were OF no value.
Prompt Action Demanded.
1T was necessary for me to decide
on the instant before the stock ex-
change opened. for the situation in
New York was such that any hour
might be vital, and failure to act for
even an hour might make all subse-
quent effort to act utterly useless.
From the best information at my dis
posal l believed (and believe) that
the addition Of the Tennessee Coal
and Iron property would only increase
the proportion of the steel company's
holdings by about 4 per cent. max
ing them about 81 per cent instead of
about 90 per cent of the total value in
the country, an addition which by it.
self. In my Judgment (concurred in. l
may add, not only by the Attorney
General. but by every competent law
yer with whom I talked), worked no
change in the legal status Of the steel
corporation.
Furthermore, ! believed that the &C
ton was emphatically for the general
good; that 1T offered the only chance
Tor arresting the panic. and that it
did. answered Messrs. Frick and
Gary. as set forth in my published let
ter, to the effect that l did not deem
, 1T my duty to interfere-that is, to for
bid the action which more than any
thing else in actual fact saved the
judgment The panic was stopped,
public confidence in the solvency Of
the threatened institution being at
once restored.
Incidentally. l may rention, I was in
Birmingham last sn-ihg. Every man /
met, without exceptina. who was
competent to testify informed me volun-
tarily that the results of the action
he
70 Birmingham, and therefore tn Ala
bama, the industry having profted to
an extraordinary degree, rot only Nom
! the standpoint Of the business. but from
the standpoint OF the community at
| large. and of the wage workers, by the
change in ownership. The results Of
the action l took were beneficial from
every standpoint. and the action itself
at the time when II was taken was
vitality necessary to the welfare Of the
people Of the United States
Matter of Public Duty.
In my Judgment, I would have been
| derelict in my duties I would have
shown myself timid and unworthy
public officer If in that extraordinary
| crisis ] had not acted as did act. In
| every such crisis the temptation to in
| decision, to non-action. is great. for ex-
| cuses can always be fuand for nom
action. and action means risk and the
certainty of blame to the man who acts.
| But IL the man Is worth his salt he will
| do his duty, he will give he people the
| benefit of the doubt. and act In any way
which their interests demand, and which
| Is not affirmatively prohibited by law.
unheeding the likelihood that he himself
| when the crisis is over and the DANGER
passed will be assailed for what he has
/ done.
Every step / took in the matter was
| open as the day. and was known in de-
| tail at the moment to all the people. The
press contained full accounts OF the " sit
to me of Messrs. Frick and Gary and
heralded widely and with reclamation the
results of that visit. At the time the re-
lief and rejoicing over what had been
done were we'll nigh universal. The dan
ger was too imminent and too appalling
for men to be willing to condemn those