The Washington herald., 1913-02-23
S|bLEY DENIES
HELPING BAILEY
Rumor Of His Financing For
mer Senator Explained to
Clapp Committee.
HEARINGS ARE ENDED
All Testimony Of Franklin pa
Man Made Public BY the
Committee.
HEARINGS ARE ENDED

~VmDA1s8USs
With the conclusion Of the testimony OF
former Representative Joseph c. Sibley.
taken by a special commissioner at MI.
Sibley's home, he being unable to come
to Washington, the Senate committee In
vestigating campaign funds has conclud-
ed its work. Mr.. Sibley's testimony was
made public yesterday by the commit
tee. The most interesting feature Of
il is his comment on a letter written
by John ID. Archbold. on October 20.
1901. in which Mr.. Archbold expressed
a desire to have a talk with Senator
Bailey Of Texas at the Standard Oil
offices. in New York. at as early a date
as possible. Mr.. Sibley admitted that
he had probably received the letter. but
said:
II want to say in justice to Senator
Bailey that he never did go with me.
nor did ! ever arrange an interview
with him there at any time. or in any
place in my life, to meet Mr.. Archbold.
or any other Official. But Senator Bailey
made this remark when I made the re-
quest. and II has impressed me strongly:
Joseph. there is not a man on the
face of this earth that has got any in
terest which is liable to be jeopardfzed
by action Of Congress that I am unwil!-
ing to meet He can come to me in
my committee room, he can come to me
in the lobby OF this Senate, and I will
talk to him: and II 1t is right and proper
and square, as to my idea of propriety,
will hear him and then determine: but
there is no man. however rich or power
full. that would deal with unjustly, and
there is no man so poor or humble that
he cannot get an audience. I would re-
ceive John d. Archbold precisely the
same as I would meet the poorest man
in the world
Never Financed Bailey.
According to common rumor." con-
tinued Mr.. Sibley. some very harsh
things have been said about Senator
Bailey. crediting me with having financed
him in his very successful land opera
tions in Texas. l never gave him a dol
lar. l merely advised him. when he
laid the proposition before me, to buy
1t, and he came to me the next day and
said:
Were you talking politics. or were
you talking business?
For your politics. said the Senator,
have no respect; for your business
Judgment I have profound respect"
Mr.. Sibley explained that Senator
Bailey invested in certain cotton lands
70
and that he had cleared $4,000. after
retaining a third OF the land.
Mr.. Sibley expressed regret that some
Of the correspondence passing between
himself and John H.. Archbold had not
been published. because II would make
the matter clear TO the public.
IT take II that whoever secured these
letters. picked those that they thought
were the most damaging" said Mr.. Sib-
ley. THE very things that I wrote to
Mr.. Archbold in commenting upon pub
lie events were in the same tone and
form of expression as those / uttered
when a group gathered back in the
smoking room of the House or the Sem
ate and talked them over with the
greatest freedom"
Explains Reference to Roosevelt.
In a letter written to Chairman Clapp
by Mr.. Sibley and acknowledged before
a notary public. he makes a general
statement of his intimate personal re-
lations with John D. Archbold. In this
letter Mr.. Sibley explains a postscript
in which he has intimated that he had
brought President Roosevelt and Mr..
Archbold into pleasanter relations by re-
ferring to the fact that Archbold had
been reading some of Roosevelts books.
This paragraph in Mr.. Sibley's letter is
as follows:
Il am told that some newspapers re-
gard the postscript in one of the letters
to Mr.. Archbold as something i'm the ma
ture Of gold brick handed to President
Roosevelt In that postscript, as a mere
matter of pleasantly. with Mr.. Arch
bold as the victim, i advised that be-
fore he came over he had better read
at least the titles of the various books
in his library written by Mr.. Roosevelt.
This was no deception. In my conversa-
tion with Mr.. AIchbold at luncheon I
asked him the question: What is the
trouble between the Standard OIL Com
pany and the PRESIDENT
He told me there was no trouble. i
assured him that the President believed
the Standard Oil Company antagonistic.
He said: No: I have always been an
admirer of President Roosevelt and have
read every book he ever wrote. and have
them, In the best editions and best bind
ings in my library I asked him IL he
objected to my mentioning this fact to
the President. His answer was None at
all, il you wish to do So 1 believed
that this would assure the President
that there was no spirit OF antagonism
existing at Is Broadway, and my remark
to an intimate friend about bringing
down the game at the first shot was but
an expression both of pleasantly and
pride that I had been instrumental In
bringing two of my friends to a clearer