The St. Joseph observer., 1920-05-29

Il feel. under the circumstances,
that | am entitled to clear state-
ment from you as to the time and
place when you claim I made the
statement above set out and the cir
cumstanccs under which it was made.
If you made the charge, then you
must certainly be able to give the in
formation ask Immediately. I.
therefore, request an answer by
bearer.
GAS. A. Reed.
Refused to Answer Letter Then
This letter was delivered TO Mr..
Curlee by Gen. Emmett Newton In
the presence Of newspaper reprcsen-
tatives. These newspaper men went
along in order 20 hear and to make
public any explanation Mr.. Curlce
might desire to make.
Mr.. Curlee admitted having made
the charge, bat refused to state when
or where he claimed l had made the
statement attributed to me. He also
refused at that time to answer my
letter, as had requested.
Il submit TO every candid man that
IL Mr.. Curlee had ever heard me con-
done the sinking of the Lusitania, he
would have without hesitation stated
the time, the place and the circum-
stances. His failure to do so and his
refusal to make any statement shows
that he dares not state the time, the
place or the circumstances, and that
he knew there was not a word of
truth in the charge.
Why He Wouldn't Give Facts
II was anxious to have Mr.. Curlee
state the time and place, because
had never had a private conversation
with him about the Lusitanla in my
life. He, by no possibility, ever heard
me speak Of the Lusitania except
when others were present and he well
knew if he fixed the time and place
that l would confront him with over
whelmins evidence Of the falsity of
his charge.
This being the situation, nothing
remains for me to do except TO pre-
sent the evidence that on numerous
occasions, extending over a period of
more than three years, I have re-
peatedly and bitterly denounced the
sinking Of the Lusitania. have done
so in more than a hundred public
speeches, for there was scarcely a
speech made by me in the campaign
Of 1916 in which / did not speak Of
this frightful atrocity and condemn it
in unmistakable terms.
Says Records Uphold Him
II also have in numerous public
addresses outside the senate, both be-
fore and after the campaign, spoken
to the same effect.
Fortunately for me. with men OF
! the Curlee type running at large,
many of my public utterances were
recorded in the Congressional Record.
as well as frequently printed in the
public press. They demonstrate that
from the first l have bitterly and re-
peatedly denounced the sinking of the
Lusitania. I can give many quota
tions, but a few will suffice.
Let me recall the fact that the
Lusnania was sunk May 7, 1915. At
that time and for months afterwards
the country was generally responding
to the injunction of the president that
we should remain neutral in thought
/ as well as in deed and that nothing
/ should be done to interfere with the
| foreign policies of the administration
/ or to aggravate the already delicate
and strained relations existing be-
tween the United States and Europe.
self and nearly all the members of
congress to the extent that we re-
Trained from public denunciation of
the sinking of the Lusitania and 9TH
er American ships. although we were
smarting under the restraint imposed
by the president.
Asked to Speak al Milwaukee
However in the late fal of 1916
the president had sharply called Ger
many to account Against the Presi-
dents action, bitter protest arose in
/ Milwaukee. At that time Milwaukee
was frankly pro-German. The presi-
dent was being constantly denounced
for his insistence that Germany
should cease her Outrages. Under
these circumstances, | was requested
by Senator Paul Hastings of Wis.
consin to address a meeting at Mil,
waukee. He told me candidly thai
the audience would be antagonistic
and that there was some question a,
to whether the meeting would not b,
seriously disturbed by those whC
sym ma thiZad with Garrnanv