Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-25
|Mr. Taftin | lis Shirt Sleeves
Informal Sidelighfs From Reporters Notebook
"Mistakes Which Split A Party"
BY WILLIAM HOsTER.

I not little impulsiveness. He never look
! ed mournfully into the past.
That element Of fatality obtruded IT.
self once more, about year later. when
| the famous Norton letter was MADE
| public. In the interim Clifford Pinchot
chief forester. had been dismissed oy
Mr. Taft. Mr.. Pinchot was one OF Col
| Roosevelt's close personal friends. and
the Norton letter and the Pinchot
dismissal have equal rank with the
| Winona speech as important factors IN
the emeute of 1919. Mr.. TAFT descrpeo
! the Pinchot dismissal to me as "whoily
, q matter Of discipline" but 1t was re-
| Rarded by the Roosevelt element as the
| eliminating act In o series OF petty De-
| trayals Of the Roosevelt policies.
The Norton letter Is described by
| Lawrence Abbott in his Impressions OF
! Theodore Roosevelt" as one Of the con-
tributing causes to the Anal severance OF
relations between Col. Roosevelt and Mr..
| Taft, It was a letter supposed to nave
bsen written by Mr.. Taft to leading
| Progressive, in which the President said
| he would no longer make use OF Federal
patronage to combat the growing power
! Of the progressive element In the Repub-
lican party. the plain implication being
that Federal patronage nad Deen 10 useo
by the President for that purpose.
The letter took its name from the
| fact that 1t was issued for publication
| by Charles Dyer Norton, secretary to the
| President And thereby hangs an IN
| teresting story Of the large political con-
sequences which may follow incense
auential incidents. The ancient game OF
golf again figures In the narrative.
Given a. News Break"
News was scarce at Beverly, President
Taft's Summer home. that year, 1910
and the correspondents Of the evening
newspapers registered q protest one day
| with Secretary Norton against the
conspiracy" to favor the morning news
paper correspondents in the release Of
| such news as came to hand. Mr.. Nor
ton denied the existence Of conspiracy
but promised the evening men that he
| would break" the next bit OF news In
their favor. The next bit Of news was
the Norton letter.
Hurrying into the executive ofiice
that morning, the secretary hastily
handed out typewriter sheets to the
evening men and, with Here's break
for you," seized his golf KIT, leaped into
q motor and was of. Within an hour
the Norton letter was in every evening
newspaper In the United States and in
dignant protests were pouring into Bev-
erly against the Presidents admitted
use Of Federal patronage for factional
purposes
At / O'Clock I went to the executive
ONCE to request few minutes with the
President on the subject Of the letter
Mr.. Norton, In high excitement, was
fumbling at his desk with sheaf OF
the protests.
I'm going up to the house at once,
he said. Come along"
Mr.. Taft was in his library when We
arrived. Mr.. Norton frankly laid the
whole story before him rs he nervously
paced the floor.
Takes Responsibility.
"I have made bad break, Mr.. Presi-
dent" he said, handing the messages
to Mr.. Taft. II should have called OIL
that golf date with you this morning
and prepared a paraphrase OF the letter
instead of giving 1t in full to the press
Maybe shouldn't have given it out at
all. It's q serious mistake and has laid
you open TO severe criticism. The re-
sponsibility is squarely up to me-"
Mr.. Taft had no fair for politics. But
even the merest tyro in the game must
have seen the inevitable consequences OF
what had happened. The letter never
should have been written; but written, II
never should have been given out In Its
raw state. Without looking at the sheai
of protests the President tossed them
on the table, while he surveyed Mr.
Norton with calm, grave face. Then
after a minutes silence, he shrugged his
shoulder resignedly.
well, Norton" he said, don't worry
about it. If they hadn't this to criti-
CHE me about, they would find some
thing else"
(The next article, 'Taft's Break With
Roosevelt" will appear next Sunday.)
Copyright, 1880. by North American News
paper Alliance)