Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-11-21


gram from one Of the special corre-
spondents accompanying Mr.. Roosevelt
on his return from Africa. 1t was sent
when the coloners party reached Ma
b,es and contained the statement that
Colonel Roosevelt no longer looked with
favor upon Mr.. Taft and was returning
to America with a firm determination |
not to support the President for a. sec |
ond term. Mr. Taft poohpoohed this des- |
patch; said IL was absolutely without
foundation, and that 1t must have beon |
written by some person whose design was |
to create trouble where no trouble OK |
listed.
After Colonel Roosevelt had reached
America the President learned upon d.
rect information that II was true-the
old friendship was broken, so far as
the Roosevelt end OF II was concerned
To say that Mr.. Taft was surprised and
panied Is to put the case mildly. 1t was
to him q great, a sincere grief. He at
once began searching his memory to see
| II he could find wherein he had been at
| fault. He was not able to recall any
cause Of offence which In his opinion war
ranted a moments consideration
Moreover the President asked mu-
| tual friends to go to the colonel and
endeavor to learn directly and precisely
| the cause Of the trouble. with a view to
| offering amends If amends on his part
seemed called for by the facts
These mutual friends were not able
| to report definite and satisfactory prog
ress Colonel Roosevelt was loath to en-
ter upon a full and frank explanation or
upon anything which savored of an at
tempt at negotiating reconciliation. AS
nearly as these representatives of the
President could make out from their con-
versations with the colonel his grievances
were three in number, as follows:
"First-The petty affairs. such as al
legged remarks about social reforma-
ton at the White House: some feminine
misunderst andings and antipathies; the
fact that the president elect had for
brief season occupied the Boardman
house at Washington and there consult
I'd public men while arranging the general
outlines Of his administrative policy. All
these President Taft considered as too
trivial to receive a moments attention
at the hands of serious man; and his
respect for Colonel Roosevelt was 30 high
he could not believe that gentleman had
permitted such fimsy incidents to inter-
rupt long standing friendship
"Second-The fact that Mr. Taft be-
fore his inauguration did not come up
earlier from his winter resort at Au-
gusta, Ca. to Washington. to help Pres
dent Roosevelt in his struggle against
the Cannon forces over the secret SER
vice appropriations. Mr.. Taft explains
that he had no request from President
Roosevelt for his help and that he had
| If he al
ability to take care of himself In this
affair. as he had in many similar wars
before.
FULL LETTER NEVER PUBLISHED
"Third-The next to my brother
Charles letter sent by President Taft
TO Colonel Roosevelt at the steamer on
which he was sailing for Africa. This
letter has never been published the
context Of 1t has not been fully or cor
rectly quoted; the full letter would soften
the expression which Colonel Roosevelt
so bitterly resented. If Mr. Taft had 1t
to do over again 1t is probable he would
employ more tactful phrase But the
whole purpose of the m!ssive was an
Expression of gratitude and friendship
II the one phrase was slip. read alone.
it should be interpreted In the light of
the fact that William H. Taft has always
felt the keenest sense Of gratitude to his
half-brother Charles In writing this let
ter and that Objectionable phrase, he did
not have in mind merely the events of the
previous year. the presid entail campaign
ss apparently Colonel Roosevelt had. but
his entire career In public life, large
. part Of which had been made possible
by his brother Charles.
When the mutual friends made this
report to Mr.. Taft tho President felt
there had been revealed no true and
just cause for quarrel; his own feelings
| were az friendly and grateful as before.
And he consented to Senator Lodse $
J plan to bring about . meeting between
, the two principals at the senator's home
l in NahAnt with view to a frank talk
> over differences and II possible a rees-
adjustment OF the old relations At the
, meeting the President went more than
, half way toward peace; but he was no,
4 met in a like spirit of Cancellation by
4 Colonel Roosevelt, The colonel was
, scrupulously polite. outwardly friendly
but gave unmistakable indication that ht
t did not care for private or intimate
. talk Hence nothing happened: the recon
z Citation program was failure.
? I'm conversation with his intimat Il
h friends President Taft has reviewed the
incidents which happened between cleo.
{ ton and inauguration. ana ne mas beer
r unable to find any justification for tbs
claim that his attitude toward Colons
n Roosevelt was other than irreproacha BILE
' AT the conferences President Roose.
. welt said again and again to Mr.. Taft
4 You will have to work out your owr
o salvation. You start in with a clean
a slate You inherit my general policies
a to Africa for a year 40 that every one
4 can see I am not trying to interfere with
: you in any way
|! zone of the great questions that con.
= fronted the new administration was how
= 10 get results from Congress. The Re-
publican party In the national Legisla'
v ture was split into two factions. Mr.,
1 Taft stood pledged before the country to
n n program Of tariff revision. and he
wanted to put the House in order to
secure results. SO he took q leaf out OF
!. the book Of his astuts predecessor and
. sousht 10 make terms with the opposi-
r ton. II opposition it could b called. to
bring the factions together for the sake
= OF action.
A "As to cabinet appointments here gain
there was no misunderstanding: or no
a | misunderstanding due to lack OF sin
/, eeritv and openness on Mr., Taft's part.
II doubtless is true that In the early days
after tho election. when President Roose-
III