The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-02-26
ANDERSON ASSERTS
He IS VICTIM Of
WET" CONsP Tracy
His Attack on Raymond Fos-
dick Brings Sharp Retort
From John D. Rookie
Teller, Jr.


again declared he was the victim of
a wet" conspiracy and renewed his
attack on Raymond B. Fosdick, legal
representative of the Rockefellers, in
an address at the Trinity Methodist
Episcopal church today.
Intimat ting that Mr.. Fosdick had
influenced the Rockefellers against
him, Mr.. Anderson charged that Tam
many and wet republican machine
politicians" with criminal liquor in
terests," had combined to "get him"
and to disrupt the league. He also
intimated that Mr.. Fosdick had re-
vealed confidential information he
had impaired to tho latter.
I'm addition to these vicious in
fluences arrayed against me-" he
said, there are involved the wet fl
nancial interests who have used as q
de facto stool pigeon wet talking,
personally hostile employee of the
John D. Rockefellers, themselves
stanch friends of prohibition. The
power and scope of the influences in
terested in getting me are the best
proof of the effectiveness of my
work and the failure of ordinary
methods to eliminate me.
unfortunately for him" he said,
Raymond b. Fosdick, Rockefeller
representative, without his knowing
that. fact, was the only man, aside
from myself, in possession of certain
details which he asked for and l gave
him under supposed friendly conf
dence and which turned up for pub
lication before the district attorneys
inquiry began. in the possession of
the newspaper selected by the con-
spirators to lead off in the effort to
blast my reputation in advance.
Mr.. Fosdick had assured me-" he
continued. that anything said to him
as the representative of the Messrs.
Rockefellers could be received and
held in absolute confidence, yet facts
so given to him and to nobody else
were in the possession of those who
tried after the inquiry began to boil
ster up this clam6r by intimidating
employees of the Anti-Saloon league
into making false statements against
me. Facts constituting complete de-
tense against any charge of wrong
doing, and which only Mr.. Fosdick
had in. certain detail, were cunningly
flung out to the public as part of the
propaganda charges themselves, in
an effort so to deceive the public as
to weaken If not destroy their defen-
sive force in the public mind gener-
ally.
ct will be utterly impossible for
Mr.. Fosdick," he said, sin the face
of the facts, after his previous eff
forts to eliminate me, to convince the
anti saloon league constituency and
the fair-minded public that he has
not helped along a dastardly plot not
only to discredit me but also the
league board, representing the fed
Grated churches, whose members bore
the burden of this work when he was
at best but cynical sneerer on the
i - 1(.ffx n
any other than the fact that neither
the board nor l would submit to his
dictation, / leave him to suggest it,"
ROCKEFELLER REPLIES
NEW YORK, Feb. 25.--John D.
Rockefeller, Jr., when Informed to-
night over the long distance tele-
phone at his home in Ormond Beach,
Fla, of William H. Anderson's speech
In Albany today, authorized his New
York representative to issue the fol-
| lowing statement:
"I had hoped that 1t would not be
necessary for me or any Of my rep
resentatives to make any public COM
ment upon the inquiry into the ac-
tivities of the officers of the anti
saloon league. In view of Mr.. Ander-
sons speech today, however. it seems
desirable to state our position.
at is regrettable that Mr.. Ander-
son should imagine that there is any
conspiracy in which any representa-
tive of mine Is a party to discredit
him or his work. l especially regret
that in the heat of this situation he
has seen fit to associate Mr.. Ray
mond B. Fosdick with any wet con-
spiracy' to hamstring the anti-saloon
league.
stands BY Fosdick.
"Mr. Anderson is kind enough to-
credit me with being stanch
friend of prohibition as well as "a
consistent Christian l can only add
that if Mr.. Fosdick is guilty of par
ticipation in any wet conspiracy l
am guilty, too, for he has represented
me in this matter for two years, and
I have fully approved his every ac-
ton, and he has had and still re-
tains my complete confidence.
at will be mt st unfortunate if in
quiry should reveal any irregular
tiles or any improprieties on the part
of the officers or employees of the
anti saloon league. / earnestly hope
that nothing Of the kind will be de-
veloped by the pending investigation.
II may add that in so far as the
gifts of my father and myself to the
anti saloon league are concerned we
have ourselves furnished them on
several occasions. We are not in the
habit of giving to causes unless we
are willing to have our names at
tached to our gifts. By the same
| token we feel that the source of all
receipts of an organization as the
anti-saloon league she uld be made
known, and also that a full public ac-
counting should be made of the use
OF the money so contributed. Any
| organizations whose purpose is to in
| fluence public opinion can hardly af-
L 20 10, cial Secrets -