The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-08-27
ROOSEVELT INVITES
|. HEARST TO PUBLISH
CAMPAIGN LETTERS
Is Nettled Because He Was
Not Allowed to Appear
Before Committee
NOTHING TO HIDE,
COLONEL DECLARES
All Correspondence With Oil
Trust Will Be Produced, !.
Rough Rider Says
With Asperity

o1 SIER ball. august 20 II 81
Brother Hearst has any letters bears
Ing upon my acts. during my preei~
dency. toward the Standard Oil truss
let him produce them. l am willing
that any thing / ever wrote to any
body on that or any subject be made
public
That was Colonel Roosevelts reply
tonight to the challenge of William
Randolph Hearst that the ex-presi.
dent make a fair and frank acknowl~
edgement of his relation to the Stands
ard Oil in the 1904 presidential CAM
paign- .#
The ex-president read the cabled
statement of DIR. Hearst, from Lon
don in which Mr.. Hearst made 10
known that he would tell the TRUTH
about the Standard Oh and its cons
nection with the Roosevelt campaign
IL Mr.. Roosevelt, Mr.. Penrose, Mr.
Archbold end Mr.. Sibley, the stand.
ards financial agent do not.
Netslss the Colonel.
The intimation by Mr.. Hearst that
ii would be well for Colonel Roose-s
welt to confess to his part in tha
Standard Oil affair nettled the ex-
president.
Il have nothing to conceal. abso4
Iutely nothing" exclaimed the colo-
nell with spirit. IF any man has y
letter of mine relating to anything
pertaining to the Standard OH let him
produce ii. Everything / did was
as open as the day. / took a decided
stand against the Standard OILS con-
tributfon to my campaign, II have
made 1t plain that | stoutiy opposed
taking Standard Oil money. was
assured that none was taken"
Mr.. Hearts remark that MIR.
Roosevelt can boast of q belated hon.
esty.' caused Roosevelt to observe:
In the first place / haven't boast
ed of my honesty. In the second
place my honesty about Standard Oil
or anything else has not been be-
lated"
Roosevelt turned Suddenly To ask
If anyone knew what letters "Broth-
err Hearst. as he referred to him,
might have to spring in the Standard
Oil affair Nobody could inform him
Will Be Produced.
Well, my letters will be produced
all of them that bear upon this mat-
ter CALCULATED the ex-president. sIf
MIR. Hearst does not produce them
| Will | intend TO have everything
made public If / had been given
the opportunity to appear before the
senate investigating committee today,
I'd repeated everything. I'll deal with
il all now in my letter to Senator
Ciapp.'
The letter. the colonel said. would
proba bly, be ready tomorrow. He res
peated what he said last night, that
the letter would constitute a minute
recital of precisely what TRANSFERRED
regarding the Standard oil and it's ef-
fort to influence the Roosevelt adj
ministraitiou. The episode Of tbs
iao4 campaign contribution. he said
would be laid bare.
Getting back to the suggestion Of
Mr.. Hearst that Roosevelt make -
frank avowal OF his attitude toward
Standard Oil in 1904. the eX-presideud
dictated this:
Dictates Statement.
MY attitude to the Standard ON
company was precisely the same be-
fore election as after election. ~
any one can find out by turning to
the files OF the newspapers at the
time or the passage of the bureau q
corporations bill before / was Mons
mated or elected. when the Standard
Oil opposed the law and l got n
through by making public the telU~
grams of the Standard Oil people, or
posing the law and showing their ao4
tivity-
las for any connection of MINIS
with the Standard OH people beforo
or after election, any human being
is welcome to have anything publt0
about 1t OF any sort. kind or a..
scription, and IL / had appeared be-
fore the committee today I should
have testified to every feature OF g
which | had any recollection or
knowledge and submitted from ms
letter books any letters Of mine deal
ing in any shape or. way with tho
| matter. And | should have been a.
lightful TO have Mr.. Loeb. who han
been my private secretary, appear AM
give every partieal of information thnH
he has"
Dwelling upon the visits of John I'M
ArchboId and Henry Rogers to tn
White House during the 1904 caHn~
paign. as taken up by Mr.. Hearst -
his cabled statement. Mr.. Roosevef1
fastened to explain: s
Il told about the visits of Mr.. Arel.
bold and Mr.. Rogers in my statem0ue
the other day. They came to ma RI
ask that the prosecution confess
plated against the Standard OIL ~
abandoned. | told them we had e043
dence against~the Standard Oil cot
| pany for rebating and that we Dr.
/ posed To go ahead. &s
As to Those Letters.
Now. as to those letters the ~
president went on. returning OG
more to Mr.. Hearst's Challenges,
am delighted To have any Of t1o1
made public. And IL had any r.
OF any letter of mine referring n
Standard Oil I'd like to have Il r
duced now. / don't remember Wh4
err I ever wrote to any OF tho 8t4
ard Oil people, but IL did my
| ters were perfectly straight
| The president commented "a
advent OF William Loeb, Jr.. htn
mer secretary. into the OIL trust
MOL. saying that Loeb had gems
with him the documents relnf1& 3
correspondence that preceded Il.
.fMr l0Nh atanda ready -