Norwich bulletin., 1912-05-06
"FAKE PROSECUTIONS"
Roosevelt So Characterizss Recent
 Prosecutions of Trusts.

OySLeT bay, \. l., May O.-COiOuel Theodore Roosevelt issued a statement tonight in reply to President Taft's speech in Baltimore last night. The colonel read MT. Taft's speech care fully and prepared his answer with equal care, writing out with pencil in- stead of dictating it to his secretary.
 He stands guilty of approving and encouraging fraud which deprives the people of their right to express their will as to who shall be nominated" wrote Colonel Roosevelt of the presi- dent.
 The colonel returned this morning from his Maryland tour. He said he expected to remain in Oyster Bay for a week before starting on his Ohio cam paign.
 Taft Useless to People.
 Colonel Roosevelt in his statement said in part;
 With MT. Tafts personal opinion about me l have no concern beyond pointing out the sufficiently obvious fact that he never discovered that was dangerous to the people until had been obliged to come to the con- clusiOn that he was useless to the peo- pie. But his specific statements as to the trusts, the cr0okedness in selecting delegates and the LOrimer incident l shall OnCe3 again answer, although have already answered them specifical- ly in Massachusetts and although MT. Taft's repetition of them now is in compatible with sincerity of purpose or l conviction on his part.
 Knew All About Harvester Decision,
 MT, Taft knew all the facts about the Harvester trust decision and he ! h | they were all discussed and at that cabinet meeting and also in private | conversation with me he repeatedly and emphatically approved the course l actually taken, just as he repeatedly 1 and emphatically approved the course l taken as regards the Tennessee Coal | and Iron company. He was absent l from the country when MT Smith was reporting to me and consulting with | MT, BOnaparte, but after his return in | January the matter came up again and 1 1t appeared that Mir. Bonaparte had not understood that my judgment was that the course advocated by MT. l Smith was the proper one to follow.
 Bonaparte Wanted Suit Continued.
 Accordingly the matter was gone over at length in the cabinet meeting | MT. Bonaparte was the only member who was inclined to believe that the suit should be continued without re- i gard to MT. Smiths investigation. MT 1 Taft emphatically took the opposite ground, and it is utterly impossible 1 that he should now have forgotten | that he did thus, as a member of my | cabinet, take the opposite ground
 "Of course, as a member of my cab- ! met, who at that time I was SUD- 1 foV d. 1, ! and could not avOiI knowing every thing of any importance that went on It IS impossible to reconcile his present position with any standard of honor | able conduct, whether we accept the view that he then approved what he believed to be wrong or whether we accept the only alternative. which is ] that he now denies what he cannot possibly help remembering.
 His Position Toward Anti Trust Law
 MT. Taft says I have changed my mind about the antitrust law. H. well knows that the position I taI1r now is precisely the position I tool again and again in speeches and mes
 saSes to congress while I was presi.
 dent. He was then in my cabinet ana repeatedly. expressed his approval 0
 what I thus said.
 MT Taft says l have said that tn,
 antitrust law ought to be repealed
 Mir. Taft well knows that this is no
 true.
 "Mr. Taft says that I criticize hin
 because he prosecuted the Standard Oi
 and Tobacco companies to the suprem
 court and got decisions there. On tn
 contrary. MT. Taft knows well that
 criticized him not for having thus con
 tinued the prosecution of the suits tha
 l had begun but because after he hau
 gotten these decisions he then permit
 ted the department of justice to S shape matters that the result was
 complete notification of all the goo results of his suit
 Taft Prosecutions Fake Prosecution. His conduct in this respect is quit
 incompatible with any sincere purpos , really to enforce the antitrust law As @ result of his action the stocks q
 the corporations in question ros
 greatly in value, the rise in Standar Oil stocks being over $200, 900. 000, Nil
 Taft can hardly have failed to notf, , that, following his Institution of a sul against the Harvester trust, HarVeste stock went up two points.
 l Evidently Wall street has made u it's mind that Mir, Taft's prosecution 3 are fake prosecutions, whereas the bit 5 ter hostility Of Wall street to m 3 shows how lively is its memory of th fact that my prosecutions were real