Arizona republican., 1911-01-13
The Question of Quoting the President

| Il
dispatch from Washington:
| Postmaster General Hitchcock to
day. when informed that he had been
| quoted as having said that President
| Taft would not approve the Arizona
| constitution, said he had never said
/ anything to President Taft about the
constitution"
Chairman Albert Sames of the re-
publican territorial committee was in
Washington recently. where he had a
conference with the postmaster gen.
eral, and upon. Mr.. Sames' way home
Douglas. he was quoted as stating
positively two things:
l. That President Taft had said he
would not approve Arizona's consti-
tuition
,. That the information came from
Postmaster General Hitchcock
The publication of Mr. Sames' re-
marks caused General Hitchcock to
make the foregoing explanation to the
Associated Press. undoubtedly
We are bound to conclude that
Chairman Sames has been injudicious
i'm undertaking to quote the postmaster
general on the question of Mr. Tafts
utterances relative to the constitution.
II is an unwritten law that nobody
shall quote the president of the United
States. for publication. without his
express authority. One may safely say
that he knows" the president will do
lsibility he chooses for making such
statement, but he is not permitted to
say for publication. The President
says So and So" This is a rule which
is inviolable. if the confidants of the
president wish to avoid gross discour-
tesy to him. on the other hand. there
is no rule inhibiting a friend of the
president from telling others. for their
private information. what the president
has said provided the president has
laid no restriction upon repetition. But
the president must never he quoted in
categorical terms-"for publication"
Governor Sloan. on his recent return
to the territor from Washington, kept
strictly within the bounds of propriety
when he declined to quote the presi-
dent concerning Arizona's constitution.
but contented himself with saying
and saying with emphasis know
the pending constitution will not be
approved in its present form
1t will be recalled that. following the
publication of the governors state
ment, many ignorant people. including
some newspaper editors. rushed into
print with the momentous discovery
that Governor Sloan had failed to
quote anything the president had said
on the subject" They drew the silly
inference, and laid stress thereon, that
the governor was stating an unwar-
ranted conclusion. He was even
charged with trying to deceive the
people of Arizona because he had
failed to quote the president"
1t was. of course. obvious to every
sensible person that Governor Sloan
would not dare to make such a mo-
mentous statement as he had made
unless he was sure of his facts-it was
clear that the governor would subject
himself to severe reprimand. if not
dismissal from office. should he under
take to state without permission that
he knew
We have no doubt that Postmaster
General Hitchcock talked freely to
Chairman Sames in Washington. The
mistake made by Mr.. Sames was in
using the name of the presidents cabi-
net minister i'm undertaking to quote
the president. Anything that the post
master general stated to Chairman
Sames was not for publication-as
general or the president
General Hitchcock. in his talks with
his friends in the territory prior to the
late election. talked freely of his be
lief as to the fate of statehood in
the event that certain things went into
the constitution. but he was always
careful to make it plain that his remarks
were not for publication. and that he
must not be quoted. If the republicans
who had thus been apprised of the
situation had been permitted to pub
Iish General Hitchcock's statements, |
the result at the polls might have been |
no public answer could |
be made to the frequent statement |
from the other side to the effect that |
the people could safely go ahead be
cause there was nothing authentic to !
indicate presidential opposition to the
measures. 1t is true that at |
least one newspaper editor-a Phoenix
man-who was conspicuous in shout
ing There Is no danger" had had
private conference with General Hitch
cock. But because of the very re-