The Daily Missoulian., 1912-08-24
BLACK ACCUSATION
AGAINST DEAD
Mr.. Bliss
CONTINUED From Page one)

after Mr.. Archbold claims he made the
contribution In question, Mr.. Archhold
never brought up any statement oi
this kind.
"Hs now says that Mr.. 0liss warned
him that hs was making . serious
mistake in not contributing the extra
amount Of us,nsy and that later On
when the administration began to deal
with the Standard Oil people, Mr.. Bliss
said u would havs been different II
they Rad done a. he asked them.
This Is an assertion that Mr.. Bliss
wan deliberately trying to blackna.l
the Standard Oil into contributing by
scarcely veiled threats az to what
would happen II they did not con-
tribute and Mr.. Bliss In effect told
them afterwards that II they had con-
tributed the administration would not
! have proceeded against them for vio-
lating the law for this was all the ad ;
ministration did.
"This 10 . wicked assault on . dead
man whose high standing and probity
was such that no human beinp who
was- himself honest would ever i'm {.
puts evil motives 70 him. Mr.. eiiss
was incapable Of conduct such a. Mr..
Archbold imputss TO him. And | can.
not too strongly dsnouncs the bass.
ness Of making such an attack on IN
honest man who now 10 dead and
whom Mr. Archbo!d never vsntursd to
assail whils living.
Moreover. Mr.. Archbold shows per-
fectly clearly, as published reports
say, that his corporation has con.
trf1attaa In
gift and that the gift was made with
the expectation of receiving a proper
consideration.
Il do not for one moment believe
that Mr.. Bliss made any such remarks
to Mr. Archbold. For example, Mr..
Archbo.d states that he and the lar.
II. II. Rogers visited me at the White
House and that l then remarked 10
them that there had been some crit
icisms about campaign contributions.
This is n falsehood Neither on that
occasion nor on any other occasion
was one word said either by me -
Mr.. Archbold or by Mr.. Archbold to
me about campaign contributions.
Why They Called.
"Mr Rogers and Mr.. Archbold called
on that occasion to protest against
any government action being taken
against the Standard OH company.
This was one Of a number OF calls
which Mr.. Archbold made on me to
try to prevent action against the
Standard Oil company by the bureau
of corporations. II Mr.. Archbold had
really believed that Mr.. Bliss had told
hin, fhnN I ~ 18th 10
by Standard OIL or had felt that he
was jeopardized by having refused to
make contribution. or was EMIT ed
to immunity for having made one. he
would certainly In one of those calls
have said as much. He never broached
the subject.
He merely said over and over again
that Mr.. Garfield and Mr.. II. X.
Smith were treating him unfairly and
he denied again and again that the
Standard OIL ever got any rebates or
ever did anything that was not alb
solutely proper. And he would keep
on with these denia,s even when !
would tell him that ! had In my pos.
session reports from the bureau Of
corporations and the secretary Of the
interior, which corclusivsly showed
that the Standard Oil had bssn TAX.
ing rebates on ths largest possible
scale.
''Inasmuch as Mr.. Archbold does not
tell the truth about his interview with
me, have no doubt that he does not
tell the truth about the man who Is
dead and whom living he never dared
to accuse as he now accuses him.
Mr.. Bliss never spoke to me about
asking or receiving a contribution
from anyone and he never, before or
after the election. said anything to me
about my conduct towards corpora :
tions except to say that he knew
would act fairly and justly toward all:
and | told him that 1 should never
dream of acting any other way.
Neither Mr.. Bliss nor any one else
ever suggested or hinted at In any
shape the idea that l should take ~
refrain from taking any action In
connection with any corporation be-
cause Of any contribution whatso-
ever. e
specifically. he never said one word
to me about any contribution from
the Standard Oil company and never
said one word to me- about proceeding
vt uOt VOcCeuiHK u&dluSL tue SIhuu
ard OIL corporation. + saw Mr.. Arch
bold again and again while the de-
partment Of Justice was contemplating
proceedings against him always a,
Mr. Archbold's request. OF cOurse)
listened to all he had to say and heard
him repeat the same statements oyeI
fa,d over again when | was entirel,
convinced they were false and directed
the attorney general to proceed onl
when 1t had become evident that Mr.
Archbold had nothing to tell me which
would give any warrant for directin.
the attorney general not to act
Throughout that time neither Mr.
Archbold nor anyone else ever hintet
to me that the Standard Oil peopl,
had contributed or that there was an,
expectation by any human heing tina
should show favor to the Standart
OIL. -r
"A Prsvieus Run.In.
Moreover let It be remembered
that long before the campaign OF 1904
had had sharp run-in with tn
STANDARD Oil and had shown them Jus
what they could expect from me. Thi
4 a.