The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1912-03-05

Coionel's request
The text Of the letter fully Substantial tcs
the statements contained in these dee =
patches that Col. Roosevelt assn, cd
Secretaries Meyer and Stimson that he
would not be a candidate and that he
would take no part for or against any
candidate. The lrtter shows also that
Col Roosevelt as carlv as June had made
IN his mind not to inhorse Mr.. Taft 70,
another term and was highly incensed at
published reports that he would support t
the President for denomination
The letter was called forth by an As
sociated Press despatch which repro
sented MIR Roosevelt IA having pledged
himself to Taft The publication of this
despatch followed a meeting between
Roosevelt and Tart in Baltimore, and il
tnmediately drcw u spirited denial from
the Colonel col Roosevelt in the letter
made public to-day ,characterizes this
published report as deliberate in
vention"
The publication of the Roosevelt letter
is sonly ono of several developments
within the last day or Two tn at indicate
that the campaign between Presi dent
Taft and his predecessor and political
sponsor is going to be extremely bitter.
The Taft campaign managers gave out
. statement tonight for the first time
In which they brought in the names of
George W. Perkins. the steel trust and
the International Harvester Company
IN connection with the activity of the
Roosevelt boomers. Perkins is men
toned rs contributor to the Roosevelt
campaign.
Here is the text of Col. Roosevelt's S
jetter to Mr. Van Valkenburg:
June 27. 1911.
sMr DEAR Mn. VAN vALKENBuRo:-I
am really Obliged to you Now will you
. not give Mr. McClatchy from me a copy Of
this letter that am writing TO you. and
also send a copy OF the letter to Mr.. Frank
B.Ncyes? Mr.. McClatchy states that Mr..
Noyes informed him. anent the story sent
out by the Associated Press. that MIR.
Roosevelt had pledged himself to support
Mr.. Taft for a second term that he (Mr.
Noyes) had the same information from
sources entirely independent of ,thoss
from which the Associated Press received
the story. Mr.. Soyes states that he under
stood that ] did SO express myself to a
number OF the Cabinet. and also to an
insurgent Senator. and says that he
believes that President Taft thinks that
he has assurances of support from me
Mr.. Noyes adds that he explains my denial
On the theory that | had explained my
attitude Confidentially and felt entitled
to deny IL when 1t was given publicity.
will you tell Mr.. McClatchy and Mr.
Moves from me Tor send them copies of
this letter. that Mr.. Noyes Is absolutely
and completely misinformed. and that
there is not one particle OF truth III the
statements made to him which he thus
repeated to Mr.. McClatchyy The only
two me mbers Of the Cabinet to whom 1
have recently spoken are Messrs. Meyer
and Stimson. The former wrote me- and
the latter informed me verbally. what IN
each case l knew already. that neither
Of them had made any such statement
to Mr.. Taft. or to any one else. and that
both Of them understood perfectly clearly
that was not going TO support any man
Tor the nomination in 1912. nenher MIR.
Taft nor any one else. The insurgent
Senator of whom Mr. Noyes speaks Is as
wholly mythical a character as the Cabinet
Minister OF whom he speaks. He cannot
give the name of that insurgent senator.
or find II out. for h VII find thar
his informant will not give il. |
made no such statement to any insurgent
Senator or to any Cabinet Minister or 10
any other human being. Inc simple
fact il that these stories are not mis-
understandings: they are deliberate in
ventions. MIR. Noyes is entirely in error in
stating thas President Taft thinks ne has
assurances of support from me. MIR.
Tart thinks nothing OF the ind. He
, knows he has no assurances OF support
from me and neither Nj .Noyes nor anyone
else has one least little particle OF ground
Tor the opinion thus expressed | at
first thought that the story in question
was given out from the White House. nut
Am now assured tina, It was gott en- up and
given out by the Associated Press repre-
sentatives at the White Ho use AMI from
. Mr.. Noyes s statemeut1 should gather that
this was true. wish Mir Moves as presi-
dent of the Associated Press to hnuw that
"a mi f..Is-f fln ~
was not based upon transformation but
was a deliberate invent ION. mayte out of
whole cloth without one particle of basis
beyond the imagination of the man who
made il. | have expressed myself per-
fectly freely to large number Of men
In this matter. always To the same effect
telling you Tor instance. personally and
those who We're with you at lunch at my
house. and telling Clifford Pnchot. Jim
Garfield and Congressman Madison and
Billy Loeb and Secretary Meyer and
Secretary Stimson. all alike. Just exactly
what have said. always that ! would not
be Q candidate in 1912 myself. and that
had no intention of taking any,part in the
nom mination for or against any candidate.
Sincerely yours.
"THEoDoRE ROOSEVELT"
There We're plenty of evidences to- -day
that Secretaries Meyer and Stimson find
themselves in an extremely embarrassing 2
situation as a result OF the controversy
tnat mas arisen over what the Colonel :
attitude was before he made his public an =
nouncement that he wound accept "A nom
ination. There is absolutely no doubt
that both Secretary Meyer and Secretary
Stimson were firmly of the impression that
Roosevelt would not be Il candidate and
they informed PresidentTaft 10 hat effect
La Follette's supporters contend that
the publication of the Roosevelt letter
shows that the Wisconsin Senator has
ample ground TO take u mbrag ge at Roose-
welt. The La Toilette masiagers have
been declaring that Roosevelt encourag ged
La Follette to enter the fight and then i'm
mediately began TO cut the ground from
under his feet, The La Toilette people
were the ones who were chiefly conc cerned
over the publication in June of the Asso-
ciated Press despatch. and there is an inn
preston that the Roosevelt letter was
written partly because of the insiste ence O,
the La Toilette people for information as
TO just where the Colonel stood. La Fol
lette and his managers declined to make
any statement tonight, but it is known
that they regard the Roosevelt letter as
sufficient proof OF their contention that
assurances had been given La Toilette
that Roosevelt would not run. The
Philadelphia North American was at that
time supporting La Toilette for President
In the statement issued bv the Taf,
campaign bureau to-day it is pointed
out that Senator Dixon, manager of ths
Roosevelt campaign has his Offices ir
the Munsey building. which is ownec
by Frank A. Munsey. Mr.. Munsey il