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The Commoner.
8
VOLUME 0, .NUMBER 1
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SENATOR BULKBLEY of Connecticut, who is
also president of one or two insurance com
panies testified recently before a house commit
tee. Senator Bulkeloy said the insurance investi
gations instead of bettering conditions produced
a contrary effect. Ho said that instead of having
several great institutions as before controlled
by a divided responsibility, they have put the
entire business into the hands of one man. Rep-,
resentative De Around asked "Who is that
man?" Senator Bulkeley did not reply. Senator
Bulkeloy admitted that he had contributed $5,000
of the funds of this company to the McKinley
campaign of 189G. He added that it might as
well have been $20,000; that he would have been
justified in giving this amount, which was not a
"lea bite" to what he gave personally.
NOT SINCE ANTE-BELLUM days has excite
ment at the national capital gone so high
as during the contest for railway rate legislation.
It will be remembered that Senator Lodge, speak
ing for the president denounced as "a deliberate
and unqualified falsehood" certain statements
made on the floor by Senator Tillman for the,
authority of which the South Carolina senator
quoted former Senator Chandler. The Commoner
last week printed Senator Tillman's remarks, and
also the formal reply made by President Roose
velt. It is generaly admitted that the president's
formal reply was not nearly so vigorous as the
statement delivered on his authority by Senator
Lodge. In another column of this issue will be
found a letter written by former Senator Chand
ler and addressed to Senator Tillman. This is
Mr. Chandler's reply to the president. It will be
seen that Mr. Chandler fully corroborated every
statement made by Senator Tillman, and took a
vigorous issue with every material claim set
forth by Mr. Roosevelt.
TV TOT EVEN THE strongest supporter of the ad
1 ministration undertakes to deny the serious
ness of the situation, and it is admitted that
the controversy has created a profound political
sensation. The Washington correspondent for
the Philadelphia North American says: "Men oil
all political factions hesitate to express opinions
regarding It, and fear that the results may bo
disadvantageous to the policies the president had
advocated. It is the first time since he entered
the "White House that Mr. Roosevelt has been
shown to be clearly in the wrong, and that this
fact may destroy public confidence in the sincerity
of his convictions is feared by his friends and
hoped for by his enemies. More Important than
any question that has arisen between the presi
dent and his accredited representatives in deal
ing with the democrats, is the positive proof that
Mr. Roosevelt did enter into an agreement with
the democrats, and then, for reasons that have
not been satisfactorily explained threw his allies
aside and made terms not only with the men
who had been fighting him, but who had been
marked by him as the chief obstacles in the way
of the legislation he desired."
-
SENATOR LODGE of Massachusetts, although
a firm friend of Mr. Roosevelt is being cen-
lBUr?or,frenda f the aaministratton ?ot what
is termed by one correspondent, "Mr Lodee's
buttlnsky proclivities." The ground for' this cen
sure is described by the Washington corresSon
W tWlXTWW eaninSPth?s
waj. Every one in Washington is criticising
Senator Lodge. It was Lodge who rushed to thl
telephone and informed the president that Till
man upon the authority of former Senator Chand
ler had accused him of criticising as enemies
to rate regulation Senators Spooner, Knox and
IZfZ' T1!at thoy re and have been such ene
mies no one in or out of the senate has questioned,
ft Ev5mxoept Lodge thought the statement
made by Tillman concerning the president's views
respecting them reflected in the slightest degree
upon the president himself. But Lodge! who had
nothing to say respecting the more serious charge
that the president had broken faith with the den?
ocratc supporters of his policy, rushed in a ve?y
tumult of repressed emotion to the telephone to
ask immediate contradiction of the lesser accusa
tion. Just what this telephonic conversation was
no one knows; but Lodge, when he returned toThS
senate chamber, had in his hand a sheet
of paper, upon which he had written the
statement from the president he said he was au
thorized to make. Lodge's action in the matter
seems petty and unjustifiable. He has been
known as a personal friend of both Chandler and
the president, and to neither of them was his pro
ceeding fair. The president, called upon to an
swer a charge without knowledge of the connec
tion in which it was made, might easily have en
tered a denial without full realization of his ef
fect. A single paragraph taken from Tillman's
statement must necessarily place Chandler be
fore the president in the light of one who ha'd
made public private conversations, and, there
fore, aroused the indignation of the president to
a point where his reply to Lodge's inquiries would
not be well considered. It is, therefore, not un
likely that both the president and Chandler have
been injured by Lodge's sycophantic efforts to
shield Knox, Spooner and Foraker, and relieve
the president from the charge of having criticised
them."
WHILE THE PUBLIC interest In the Roosevelt-Chandler
controversy was at its
height, Senator Bailey of Texas rose to a ques
tion of privilege. The Washington correspondent
for the Chicago Tribune, and the Washington cor
respondent for the New York Tribune, both papers
being recognized as stalwart administration or
gans, charged that Senator Bailey had been the
stumbling block to an agreement among the dem
ocrats on rate legislation, .asserting that Senator
Tillman had told former Senator Chandler that
he was suspicious of Bailey and declaring that
Mr. Chandler had informed the White House and
vouched for the statement that Tillman believed
Bailey was treacherous and did not want a rate
bill passed.
SENATOR BAILEY intimated that the news
paper articles referred to were inspired in
the White House. Senator Tillman had the sec
retary of the senate read these newspaper articles
and then the Texas senator said: "I had taken
no part in the question of veracity which had been
raised by the president between him and ex-Senator
Chandler; I had not; even given any public
expression of my opinion as to the question of
good faith which the senator from South Carolina
(Mr. Tillman) raised with the president because
personally I knew nothing about either transac
tion. I had never conferred with the president
directly nor had I conferred with him through
ex-Senator Chandler. It was, therefore, a matter
of surprise this morning when a senator called
my attention to the communication in the Chi
cago Tribune of yesterday. That communication
it is understood, was sent by a correspondent who
is close to the White House and who is pre
sumed to speak with some degree of authority
concerning transactions there. I do not know
this to be true; but, sir, I denounce that state
ment as anvunqualiiied, deliberate and malicious
lie; I denounce that correspondent as an unquali
fied, deliberate and malicious liar; I denounce
the man who furnished him that information and
who inspired its publication as an unqualified
and deliberate and malicious liar, whoever he
may be, and however high the office which he
holds.
QENATOR TILLMAN, referring to the same
O newspaper articles to which Senator Bailey
directed attention, said: "The points to which I
wish to address myself in this remarkable article
are only two: Coleridge tells us:
'I counted two-and-seventy stenches.
I counted two-and-seventy stenches.'
This correspondent is undoubtedly a muck-rake
Into what house the handle goes or what hand
holds the handle I shall not say, but in the brief
time I have had to examine the article I counted
eight distinct and absolute falsehoods in reeard
to myself. But the one more particularly t at
is necessary to mention is that I ever lost faith
in the integrity and honor and fair dealing and
purpose of the senator from Texas (Mr. Bailev)
There never has been the slightest disagreement
S!!wn ? UVrm Sing of the railroad rate
debate in the senate, and I have never at anytime
or anywhere indicated a suspicion, i haCnever
said that there were conferences between the
senator from Rhode Island (Mr. Aldrich) and tho
senator from Texas (Mr. Bailey) and myself, also,
looking to an agreement between the democrats
and the railroad senators on the other side, which
we declined to have anything to do with. But
there has never been the slightest suspicion on
my part of the good faith of the senator from
Texas. Therefore, this story which is concocted
now, and is being sent abroad by the cuckoos and
hirelings of the republican machine, to endeavor
to muddy the waters and cloud the situation, is
only indicative of the desperate straits to which
some people have brought themselves."
THE NEWSPAPER correspondents who were
criticised by Senator Bailey replied to tho
senator's remarks re-affirming in effect their
charges. Senator Bailey, again speaking on a
question of privilege, caused to be read a letter
written by former Senator Chandler and ad
dressed to the Texas senator. The letter was as
follows: "I have your letter of today, and I en
close to you a copy of a memorandum sent by,
me to the White House on the morning of Wed
nesday, April 11. I think the memorandum was
not dated, by my retained copy is dated April 11.
I did not therein give the president any assur
ances as to your attitude relative to the so-called
game, because I had not seen you and did not
feel authorized by anything Mr. Tillman had said
to give any assurance in your name. At 9:15
p. m. I saw Mr. Tillman and talked with him
fully, and he told me that neither he nor yourself
were entering into games with the railroad sen
ators, and at 9:30 I saw the president and told
him what Mr. Tillman had said and that he need
have no apprehension on the subject. I enclose
to you copies from my diary; April 13 I saw Mr.
Moody, and. again on the 14th and arranged with
him to see Mr. Tillman and yourself on) the -next
day, Sunday, the 15th."
POINTING OUT HOW the Chandler memoran
dum had been misquoted and misconstrued
by these administration newspapers, Senator Bai
ley said: "The president did not consider this
memoranda an impeachment of my good faith.
The proof of that is that with the memoranda
before him within three days he asked me to con
fer with his attorney general on this vital ques
tion. It is inconceivable that the president, with
a suspicion of my integrity in his mind, would per
mit his attorney general to transmit to me an
amendment intended to be incorporated in this
great measure. I have no words to express my
opinion of those who would treat with those
whom they suspect of treachery, and only traitors
would do it. My statement does not seem to have
disturbed the correspondent of that paper, because
he says he was overlooked in my attack on the
president. Perhaps he regards it as being over
looked to be called an -unqualified, malicious liar.
He says he has not the Chandler memoranda be
fore him but he attempts to quote from it.. Now,
where did he see it? I did not show it to him.
Ex-Senator Chandler did not show it to him. It
is addressed to Mr. Loeb the president's secre
tary. I will leave it to the country and to the
senate to say who furnished him his information
concerning it." The Texas senator spoke of his
own faults admitting that he has at times justly
been called arbitrary, dictatorial, intemperate in
speech and rash, but he declared that he had
never intentionally done a man an injustice and
;lj. had ?ever done a wrong without making
tSi w ne?e faUlt Was called to hi no
nnfii ? eJ d ?at, no man vei' before had im
puted to -him a lack of candor; no man had ever
charged him with -double dealing "and could not
do so now and escape his denunciation. "Across
the brow of such a man," he said, "he would nut
:ss so that ai1 men may -
MANY PEOPLE are wondering how ex-Senator
Chandler came to be. mixed up in the
present interesting situation concerning the rate
bill. A little explanation will suffice to make it
clear. It will be remembered that when Prince
Henry was entertained at the White House by
President Roosevelt, the invitation sent to Sen
ator Tillman was recalled because, of a personal
altercation on the floor of the senate. Senator
vit
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