Imperial Valley press., 1912-11-01
ROOSEVELT, MORGAN AND STEEL TRUST
CHARGES AS SEEN BY c. P. CONNOLLY
BY G. =. CONNOLLY
Author of big Business and the Bench" ctc.I

Out of all the things that Theodore
Roosevelt did during his seven years
at the White House, his political op-
ponents have picked out the one
charge, as the only one they can make
stick that Roosevelt allowed the
steel trust, in defiance of the law, to
acquire the Tennessee Coal and Iron
Company. We come now to the ques-
ton, was Roosevelt a tool of the steel
trust in this? Was he deceived? Or
did he act the part of a patriot or
a pigmy? Let us forget on the one
side that he has been charged with
partiality to Mr.. Morgan, and let us
forget also that in the. face of this
charge MIR. Roosevelt brought practic-
ally the first prosecution under the
sherman law during his administration
against Mr.. Morgan's Northern Secur-
tiles Company, which sought the con-
solidation of the Great Northern, the
Northern Pacific and the Burlington
railroads; and let us also forget that
he brought during the last years of his
administration the suit against Mr.
Morgan's New York New Haven and
Hartford railroad and steamship trust,
missed during the first month of Mr..
Taft's administration. l say, let us
forget these things because we want
to consider this transaction solely and
dispassionately on its merits
There was a panic in Wall street.
Banks were suspending. Long lines of
excited citizens stretched up and down
the streets in the banking district. Wall
street was a powder magazine. Every
bank that failed added to the flame of
public excitement. Throughout the
country at large bankers were so pan
ic stricken that they refused to pay
out cash. They gave you cashiers
certificate saying YOU had so much
money in the bank, and that you trad
ed for the necessities of life with such
merchants as were willing TO accept it.
No one had any cash, and no one was
willing to buy anything but the ac-
tual necessities of life.
It makes no difference now who or
what started that panic-the undisput-
ed fact was that it was upon us,
threatening wide havoc and destruc-
ton.
stock of the Tennessee Coal and Iron
Company. They were on the brink of
dissolution. There is no question about
that. 1t was admitted. The steel trust
wanted that stock. No one else did
No one else was willing to buy. Agents
Of the steel trust went to Mr.. Roose-
welt, laid the facts before him; told
him, as he knew, that it was a vio-
lation of the law, but under the cir
cumstances would he consent? II
makes no difference now what their
motive was-their plea was unanswer-
| able, and Mr. Roosevelt answered it
He said that under the circumstances
if the sale would help stay the fright
and panic of the people, and prevent
further destruction of property and
values, he would not object if his at
torney- did not
Was it the act of a faithless ser
want? When San Francisco was burn
ing down, the first thing the firemen
dld was to get together all the dyna-
mite in San Francisco and telegraph
to nearby cities for more. They blew
up the buildings in the path of the
! flames which had not yet caught fire
Why? Because they wanted to stop the
feed of the flames and save that part
of the city that lay beyond. Were
they patriots or criminals? And yet
the very act they did during the fire.
for which they were praised, done
when there was no fire, would have
branded them as criminals and made
them liable to a term in the peni-
tentiary.
Mr.. Roosevelt did what any man
Of saneness and sense would have done
under the circumstances. No one at
the time thought of criticizing him for
it. 1t was only four years later, when
the panic had been forgotten, and he
was again candidate for office, that
the transaction was brought out from
the closet, dressed in new habiIaments
and made to do service as a political
argument. The flame and fire, the
smoke and CRIME of the time, were
gone-and here stood a deed that con.
victed Mr.. Roosevelt of inconsistency