Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1916-01-24
TUMULTY REPLY
HITS ASSERTION

I was talking to someone else and did
not hear it..
Mr. Whittier resides in East Orange.
He was seen at his office in New York
today. but refused to make any COM
ment.
- have no DESIRE" he said, Ito mix
up in this very unfortunate matter
NO one deprecates more than I the
deplorable path the controversy has
taken. 1 am overwhelmed. I haT
no comment whatever to make
Spoke for Itself.
Mr.. Pratt, at his office in New York
today, said his letter to Mr.. Tumulty
spoke for itself. lie refused to give
Mr. Tumulty's language in full, but
said he would be glad to do so If Mr..
Tumulty asked for it.
THE whole thing was a great sur
prise 10 me- he said. TT was the
last thing in the world that any Of
us expected. There was no restriction
about Mr.. sTumulty's statement. It
was not confidential.
THE more I thought of it the more
indignant I became. l am sure if Mr..
Tumulty thought the matter over he
would realize the mistake he had
made.
ITO quote his language would be too
much, I think. unless, of course. he
asked for It. In that event I would
be very glad to do SO.
I'VE went down there in Mr.
Armitage's behalf. Mr. Tumulty
listened to all we had TO say in favor
OF our man without Offering any OBJ
lection. lie remarked that we should
have brought down the names of
more than one candidate. We had
nothing to say against Sinnott.
"To or great surprise, at the end
of the interview, he sprang the state
ment that l have referred to in my
letter. There was no comment by
any of us and no argument of any
kind. lie had made no attempt to
convince us we were wrong in our
support on any grounds. The whole
thing was very informal
"Tumulty said he wanted to favor
a man of his own faith who had the
nerve to Withstand pressure in his
church"
When asked what he thought Mr..
meant, Mr.. Pratt said he did
not know unless he meant that Mr..
Sinnott had taken a position against
certain officials in the Catholic
church on matters in which Mr.. Tu-
multy was in sympathy.
Mr. Pratt was asked If he did not
think Mr.. Tumulty was comparing
Mr.. Sinnot to Wilsonites of the
same faith. lie said that might have
been SO.
The Letter.
Mr.. Pratt began his letter TO Mr..
by stating he had read the
that Mr.. Tumulty had
written to Theodore S. Fettinger. OF
this city, last week, to the effect that
the nomination of Mr.. Sinnott had
been signed by the president. The
Pratt letter goes on:
81 have known Mr.. Sinnott in a
casual way for a number Of years,
and wish il to he understood at the
outset that in what | am going to
say | do not wish TO reflect upon Mr..
5innott in any way, but | do desire
10 enter my most emphatic protest
against the compelling reason you
advanced iii my presence for exert
ng the early, persistent and potent
influence which YOU have exercised
IN securing the appointment of Mr..
"When the delegation made up of
Thomas i" burning, A. +. Laddy.
John l.. Cox, Edmund A. Whittier and
myself talked with you in the White
House offices January 3, you listened
TO what we had to say in the Newark
poStnflice matter. and then, without
advancing u single argument against
he candidate for whom VIC spoke, eX-
acpt the suggestion that we should
have come down with more than one
candidate, stating that your real
reason for favoring John #. Sinnott
was that You wished to favor mem
Der of your religious faith, who had
taken a position with regard to GER
tain officials Of your cnurcn with
which you were I'm sympathy. Imme-
diately following this remarkable
statement YOU closed the thirty min
ute interview.
Il have hoped ever since that sober
second thought would remind you that
no matter what were MIR. Sinnott'S
qualifications the only reason you
gave to men working for another can
didate for trying to bring about the
Sinnott appointment had to do solely
with his church aftiliations-some-
thing which true Americans of every
church and every party firmly believe
should under no circumstances be al
lowed to enter to the slightest degree
into any political question or contest
From time to time | have heard
you charged by those unfriendly to
the present administration with doing
this thing. | have Indignantly denied
the charge. Now, in this Newark
postodice matter, | have heard from
your own lips words which show that
your critics have been right, and |
have been wrong.
Il know YOU may say that YOU in
tended the statement you made to our
delegation to be regarded as contiden-
tial. 1t might have been had you
us the private conference Mr..
burning asked for but the astounding
YOU made to us five men.
two of whom happen to belong to your
own faith. was made in a public office
where half a dozen or more persons
were waiting to see you, and all of
whom, for all ! know, may have heard
most or all of what you said.
"Now that il appears that you have
deliberately gone ahead and thrown
the weight of your influence where
you said You would throw it, ! do not
propose to remain silent. but will de-
nounce openly Il policy with regard to
which is already, as many
believe, ieopardizing the political flu
ture of President Wilson, for whose
wise and courageous handling of the