Evening star., 1932-01-31
BAKERS STAND ON LEAGUE
VOICED TO ASSURE FRIENDS
Makes Views ON L. s. Adherence Public
as Token of Sincerity in Becoming
Available for Presidency.

scandal, in which the charge Of Negro
blood was elaborated and Mrs Hard
ing was charged with sins that are
ordinarily unmentionabln except in
books Of Slandsr about / iGcnt. And
Mr. Baker has seen. in the case Of
Harding, a book circulated after the
President was dead and after his wife
also had gone to muCh-needed peace,
in which the innuenGO was that the
wife had murdered the husband. For
that matter, Mr. Baker has seen in the
case Of Washington, 13O years after
his death. SCaVengcrs dig up and eX-
plot in books ancient scandals about
the President who was first in more
senses than the literal.
MI Baker has seen, in the case Of
Theodore Roosevelt while President,
widespread publication Of charge that
his brOtherin-laW, as well as relatives
of the Secretary Of War william H.
Taft had profted financially. TO i'm
mense figures. by ROOseyelt's purchase
cf the Panama Canal rights from the
old French syndicate that controlled
them He has seen Roosevelt so out
ragged that he began suits for libel
/ against The New York World" and an
other paper only to discover that while
a President. as an administrator of the
/ Government, may seem TO have the
same rights of defense against S!ander
as a private citizen, it is not so as
practical matter, with the S>Quel that
the suits started by Roosevelt had to
be dropped.
Mr.. Baker has seen Theodore Roose-
welt. when President, made the subject
of Slanders about insanity and hab.tual
drunkenness. Roosevelt, waiting in this
( case until he was out Of the presidency
and in private life in order to clear his
record and safeguard his family and
. descendants and fOrcStal future SLAM
1erers in history. was obliged 10 bring
suit for libel, to bear the immense eX-
. pense Of it, to summon his friends as
witnesses and go on the witness stand
himself and challenge -eXamlna-
tion about exactly how much and on
precisely what occasions he had taken
drinks containing alcohol.
Mr. Baker has seen, in the case Of
William Mckinley, charges of improper
favor to wealthy friends in business so
/ persistently repeated by chain Of
newspapers that many persons believed
these false charges to have been the in
Citement which caused a fanatic to
murder the President. This splendid
American" so Mr.. Horace McPhee has
written recently had been reelected
by his fellow citizens despite the yjru-
lent opposition, personal abuse and
libelOuS statements OF an opposition
press, chief among which were the self
same publications. owned and con-
trOued by the same men. which are
now deyOting so much space to the
task of holding President Hoover up to
public ScOrn and ObNqulty William
Mckinley was depicted by the publi-
cations referred to as an enemy Of the
public welfare. Naturally any one who
believed this TO be true would consider
it a public service to remove President
Mckinley. Al least one poor moron SO
believed, and he provided himself with
a gun and aSsaSSinated the President.
Roosevelt Answers Letter.
Mr.. Baker has seen trivial episodes in
the private lives Of Presidents dis
tOrted. and even more invented, epi-
sodeS of a sort that occasion no f9int-
est interest if a man remains in private
life, but which are made the basis Of
gossip, malicious in eXaggeration or
utterly false, once a man becomes
President or a candidate for the office.
When William H, Taft was a candl-
date, an unctuouS person in Ohio who
described himself as a friend WrOte
Mr. Taft calling on him to deny the
stories that Mr.. Taft was a Unitarian
and some of his relatives Catholics.
The letter was answered. not by Mr..
Taft. but by Theodore Roosevelt, then
President who took advantage Of the
opportunity to write one Of the best
of his philippics, a denunCiation of
unique example of bigotry combined
with falSehoOd.
fright row. incidentally. a word Of
mouth story is going the rounds to the
effect that MI Baker is a Hebrew.
That is significant When a man gets
so far that stories are invented and
listened to about his racial and re-
( lgiOus affiliations. it's a sign that he is
formidable. Mr. Baker had better
watch out; they'll throw a net over
him and drag hm into the White
House yet)
Mr.. Baker, in short. has seen enough
in his own lifetime without gong
back to the odious ISLANDERS about
Lincoln and Grant, to understand the
sentiment of a fellow OhiOan, Ruther-
ford B HAYES, who, while he was in
the White House confded to his diary
the sad reflection:
To think that any man should seek
this Office