The Washington times., 1912-04-25
CUT AND DRIED
PLANS Of TAFT
LEADERS FAIL
Efforts to Put Roosevelt
"ln a Hole" Are
Futile.
Continued from First Page1


/ advisers to be retained by Taft
Further. It is noteworthy that the
Taft Administration, down to the pres
ent, has pursued the Roosevelt policy;
the investigation has been completed,
/ II is understood, but Taft has started
no suit for dissolution.
In the extremes Of political necessity,
| however, II has become necessary to
take shot at Roosevelt" and SO
the Administration seized upon the
Harvester case as the occasion.
CORRESPONDENCE AND RECORDS
In the mutter; neither would 1t do to
give out the matters that had trans
pired during the Taft Administration.
g. Used Only a aPrt.
What was wanted was to cut out a
particular part Of the record and give
It publicity, without the preceding and
subsequent parts.
! To this. end the Johnston resolution
was framed up, passed. and brought
a response so suddenly that II made
the Senate sit up in ama2ement. Sena-
tor. Bristow charged that there was
cSllmsion; and this charge started gos.
sip that brought forth, finally. the story
Of Crane. Johnston. and the Admins
tration.
The whole story. in all it's details. is
show Just how the Government records
were in part suppressed, and in part
used to serve the politi:a! purposes of
= tHt ldtt campaign. IL is, on
the. whole, one of the most sensational
incidents of the campaign.
Roosevelt Has No Fear.
Just how Colonel Roosevelt feels
about it is indicated by The Times
Oyster Raw dispatch today, which fol-
lows
OYSTER BAY, n. Y, April 25. II
have nothing to fear from my rela-
tions with the International Harves-
ter Company while l was in the
White House, for there was MOTH
ing secret"
This way the reply delivered today
by former President Theodore Roose-
velt to charges made in Washington
dispatches that he had forestalled
antitrust litigation against the cor
poration: Continuing, Colonel Roose-
welt said:
There Is no extended answer l
can make now, although I intend to
make longer and more definite
answer later: | am going over the
in my own mind just what did take
place between the Government and
the International Harvester Com
pany while | was President"
There was nothing more that l
could do than what l did. The ques-
ton of the corporations legality was
&. considered by the Cabinet. and it
was found that there was nothing
upon which to base prosecution.
Rather than risk the prestige of the
antitrust law and cause needless
expense, the case was not under
tawen.
II was informed bv the Commission
er Of Corporations that the Interna-
tionai Harvester Company was con-
busting its affairs openly and above
board, having courted Government
investigation for several years There
see seemed ned nothing else to do than what
The Colonel was riding horseback
along the highway leading from
SaSamore Hill. He said that he was
meditating upon his Harvester an
swer as he rode.
Asked as to politics. he responded:
In the words of Paul Jones, we
have not yet begun to fight"
Criticizes Wickersham.
lone of the most contemplate acts
that any man ever has been guilty of,
and one that shows that the man who
performed It has none of the semblances
of gentleman" is the way Senator
Bristow, the Kansas progressive, char
hcterized Attorney General Wickersham
today.
IT make this statement when / con-
slider that the Attorney General declined
to take summary action in pursuance
10 the Lea and Overman resolutions;
that, am advised, he requested ths
introduction by Johnston. of Alabama,
with which he complied, and that with
in two hours after the introduction of
the Johnston resolution. and before it
was printed he made public the private
and confidential correspondence of his
predecessor"
An examle of progressive sentiment on
the House side of the Capitol was given
Nebraska who thought that the Ad
ministratton was playing cheap poll
tics.
Amy sensible man ought to realize
after reading this correspondence
said Mr. Norris, today, that President
Roosevelt merely ordered the Harvester
Trust suit delayed until an adequate
Investigation had been made. Certainly
correspondence itself is the best evil
dence of the propriety of Colonel Roose-
Velt's course"
Extensive Correspondence
The correspondence sent to the SEN
ate is quite extensive. One letter from
oClonel Roosevelt to Mr.. Bonaparte
written at Oyster Bay on August 90,
1907, said that the colonel had had con-
ferences with George W. Perkins about
the companys affairs and directed Mr..
Bonaparte not to file the suit then, but
to go over the matter with Commission
er Smith and Mr.. Perkins.
A letter from Commissioner Smith to
the colonel on September q told of con-
ferences with Mr.. Perkins and stated
Commissioner Smith'S objection to a
prosecution at that time. The commits
sioner wrote that he thought the ques-
tion of the company's guilt or inno-
cence was merely technical question
and told Of a conference with Mr. Per-
kius on August "A.
Commissioner Smith wrote that Mir
Perkins concluded with great emphasis
"that after all the endeavors of this
company and the other Morgan inter-
oBts to uphold the policies of the adj
tministraton and to adopt their meth
ods OF modern publicity If this company
was now going to be attacked in a
purely technical case, the interest ne
represented "were going to fight"
Further on in the same letter Mr.
Smith wrote:
While the Administration has never
heSitRted TO grapple with any financial
interest, no matter how great, when II
is believed that Il substantial wrong is
being committed, neXel theless II is a
VeTY practical question whether il is
well 20 throw ayaw now the great in
fiuence OF the sG.called Morgan inter-
eSts which ND to this time have sup
ported the advanced policy or the Ad-
ministration both i'm general principles
and in the application thereof TO their