Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1912-05-01
SAYS ROQSEvELT'S
MEMORY FAULTY
Taft Issues Statement on Har-
veSter Trust" Controversy.
NOT CONSIDERED BY CABINET
President Quotes Root and Wilson to
Corroborate His Claim That
Prosecution Was Not Dis
cussed in 1907.

Washington, April 29.-The follow
ing personal statement of the presi-
dent was issued from the White
House:
Mr.. Roosevelt, in his speech at Wor-
cester, as reported by the public press,
referring to the harvester trust, said:
LAS matter Of fact, Mr.. Taft was
member of my cabinet when this
Identical case was fully discussed be-
fore the cabinet, and he cordially ap-
proved the action taken; and, indeed,
as a matter of fact, my memory is
that he himself made the motion that
there should be no prosecution Of the
harvester trust pending the investiga-
ton into the trust by the bureau OF
corporations"
Says RooseveIt's Mer:ory Faulty.
Mr.. Roosevelt's memory is very
much at fault. 1 am authorized to
say by Mr. Root and Mr.. Wilson, both
of whom were members Of the cabi-
net at that time, that they have no rec
objection whatever Of ever hearing the
prosecution of the harvester matter
discussed in the cabinet. And Mr.
Root is very certain that he never
saw or heard of Mr.. Herbert Knox
Smiths letter to Mr.. Roosevelt under
date of September Fl, 1907, OH the
subject.
am able to say the same thing. So
far as my recollection goes, | never
heard the harvester trust matter men,
toned in any cabinet meeting that |
attended, and | cannot be mistaken in
the statement that l never saw or
knew of Mr. Herbert Knox Smiths let
ter of September Fl to the president
until after my administration had be-
gun and the time when the question
of the prosecution came up in 1910 or
1911. And l never saw or read the
latter letter until about two months
ago.
Was Absent From Capital.
This correspondence shows that the
subject matter of the prosecution OF
the International Harvester company
came before President Roosevelt on
August %, 1907, which is the date of
his letter to Attorney General Bona
parte; that Mr.. Herbert Knox Smiths
letter discussing the question and ad-
vising against a suit was dated Sep
TENDER 21. 1907, and that Mr.. Smiths
letter was forwarded, by direction OF
President Roosevelt under date OF
September "a, to the attorney general
with directions to the attorney gen.
eral to bring the letter to the president
that week to talk over the matter.
Quoting from official records, Presi-
dent Taft shows that Colonel Roose-
Welt was absent from Washington from
June, 1907, until October %, except
between September "A and 20, and that
he (TafO was away from the capital
from June until December 80, except
two days in August.
Quotes Smith Letter.
Continuing, the statement says:
| have a letter from Mr.. Herbert
Knox Smith, commissioner Of the bu-
reau of corporations, written at my re-
quest, in which he uses the following
language:
ION November 2, 1901, which date
find from my personal diary, | tele-
phoned Mr. Perkins, at the presidents
order, that the president took the view
that the bureaus investigation should
come before the suit"
This indicated with certainty the
time when the matter was decided,
and shows that If the matter did come
before the cabinet at all it must have
been after September "a, and on or
before November 2, 1907, period
when ] was out of the country and
could not have been present, and GER
tainly could not have made a motion
or suggestion in the cabinet that no
suit be prosecuted until after the in
vestigation.
Replies to Colonel's Question.
Mr.. Roosevelt asks why suit has not
teen brought in this administration
| against the harvester trust. A report
made to me by the attorney general
shows that shortly after the decision
| by the Supreme court OF the Standard
| Oil and tobacco cases the attorney
| general was about to begin suit against
| the International Harvester company
when it's representatives requested an
| opportunity, in apparent good faith, to
submit a reasonable plan of reorgani-
zation or dissolution, which would
meet the cause of complaint. With
my approval, the attorney general de-
layed bringing suit, pending the
consideration of this proposition and
| during negotiations which ensued look
| ing to the accomplishment Of such re-
| suit. These negotiations were delayed,
first by reason of the time required to
make an examination Of the books OF
| the Harvester company, and second,
because of delay in completing the re-
| port of the examiners, due 0 the fact
that they were obliged to suspend
work on it il order to complete their
work on the steel trust investigation.
These negotiations had continued until