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On September T, I answered this loiter,
lion).
saying:
" 'A I prooul Micro Is nothing for mo lo see you
nlioul, though Micro wore one or two points In my
letter of acceptance which I would Jiavo liked to
(liHi'iiMM wllh you before pulling II out.'
"On Oolober 10 I wrolo iiiiu:
"'In view of (he trouble over (ho .stale ticket
York, I should like lo have a few words
in
New
avIUi you. Do you lliink you. can got dowji here
within ii few days and lake ollhof lunch or dinner
with nieV
"The lrouhle I .spoke of had reference lo the
holt against Iligglns that i.s In reality against
Mr. Ilarrlman and Air. IIiutIiiiiiii'h friend, (!ov
ernor Odell. A reference lo the flics of the New
York papers at tluil lime will show that there
aviis a very extensive bolt against Mr. 1 1 lulus'
upon the ground (hat Governor Odell had nomi
nated him and that he had In some matters fav
ored Mr. irarrlman overmuch-neither ground In
my Judgment, holug tenable. Mr. Ilnrrlman's
backing of (Jovernor Odell and extreme willing
ness that he showe.l by scouring Iligglns' election,
Avas a matter of common notoriety and mentioned
in all the papers, notably In the New York Sun.
On October lli Mr. Ilarrlman wrote me:
" I am giving a very large part of my time to
correcting the trouble here and Intend to do so if
any effort on my part can accomplish It. I will
take occasion the lirsl of next week to run down
to see you and think by that time the conditions
will have improved.'
"I wrote Mr. ITarriman the following letter,
which I give in lull:
"'Personal: October PI, KKM. My Dear Mr.
irarrlman: A suggestion lias come to me In a
roundabout way that you do not think it wise to
come on to see me In these closing weeks of the
campaign, but ihat you are reluctant to refuse, in
asmuch as 1 have asked you. Now. my dear sir,
you and I are practical men and you are on the
ground and know the conditions belter than I do.
If you think there Is any danger of your visit to
me causing trouble, or if you think there Is nolh
'Ing special I should be informed about, or no mat
ter In which L could give aid, why, of course, give
up the visit for the time being and then, a few
Avoeks hence, before 1 Avrlto my message, I shall
get you to come down to discuss certain govern
ment matters not connected wiUi the campaign.
With great regard, sincerely yours.'
"You will see that this letter is absolutely in
compatible witli any theory that I was asking
Mr. Ilarrlman to come down lo see me In my own
Interest, or Intended to make any request of any
kind for help from him. On the contrary all I
was concerned with In seeing him was to know if
I could be of help In Insuring the election of
Mr. ILlgglns a man for whom I had the highest
respect, and who, I believed, would be, as In fact
he 1ms been, a most admirable governor.
"Moreover, the following letter will show that
Mr. Ilarrlman did not have In his mind any Idea
of my asking him to collect money, and that, on
the contrary, what he was concerned with in con
nection with my letter lo him was the allusion I
made to the t'act that I would like to see him
before 1 wrote my message to congress on certain
government matters not connected with the cam
paign. "Ills letter, which is of November HO, runs as
follows:
" 'Dear Mr. President: I have just had a tel
ephone talk with Mr. Loch and requested him to
give you a message for mo. I drew his attention
to the last paragraph of your letter to me of Octo
ber 14 last and explained that of course I did not
want to make a trip to Washington unless It
should be necessary; that the only matter 1 know
of and about which I had any apprehension and
which might he referred to in your coming message
. to congress is that regarding the Interstate com
merce commission and what the attitude of the
railroads should bo towards It.
" 'I have communications from many conserva
tive men In the west asking me to take the matter
- up, they having, which 1 have not, Information as
to what you propose to say In your message on
that subject, and 1 am very apprehensive about
it. Mr. Loeb stated he believed that that part of
the message could be sent to me, and 1 hope that
he will do so. I very sincerely believe it would
bo best for all Interests that no reference bo made
to the subject, and in any event if referred to in
such a way as not to bring about Increased agi
tation. It Is, as you well know, the conservative
element and the one on which wo all relv wiiini,
is the most seldom hoard from. Yours sincerely '
"This letter to mo was crossed by one from nio
which reads as follows: '
'"Strictly Personal. November 30, 1001 Mv
Dear Mr. Ilarriman: Mr. Loob tells me that vou
called me .up today on Mio telephone and recalled
The Commoner.
my letter lo you of October 14, In which I spoke
to you of a desire to see you before sending in my
message, as I wanted to go over with you .certain
governmental matters, and you answered that you
had heard that I had referred to the interstate
commerce commission; that you regretted this and
wished I had left It out. In writing to you I had
in view, especially, certain matter connected with
currency legislation, and had not thought of dis
cussing railroad matters with you. Llowever, if
it had occurred to me I should have been delighted
to do so, but if you remember when you Avere doAvn
here both you and 1 wore so Intere'sted in certain
of the New York political developments that I
hardly, if at all, touched on governmental matters.
As regards wliul I have said in my message ahout
the interstate commerce commission, Avhlle I say
1 should have boon delighted to go OArer it with
you, I also must frankly say that my mind Avas
definitely made up. Certain revelations connected
Avlth the investigation of the beef trust caused me
to write the paragraph in question. I Avcnt avIUi
extreme care over the Information In possession of
the interstate commerce commission and of the
bureau of corporations before Avriting it. I then
Avont over the written paragraph again and again
Aviln Paul Morton, avIio is of all my cabinet Uig
man most familiar avIUi railroad matters, of
course, and Avith Root, Knox, Taft and Moody.
It is a matter I had boon carefully considering for
two years and had been gradually, though reluc
tantly, coining lo the conclusion Hint it Is uinvlso
and unsafe for mo to leave the question Of rebates
Avbore It iioav is, and fail to give the interstate
commerce commission additional power of an jf-,
feclivo kind In regulating those rates.
" 'Let me repeat that I did not have this ques
tion In mind Avhen I asked you to come doAvn, but
that I should most gladly have talked it over Avith
you if it had occurred to mo to do so, but as a
matter of fact, as you Avill remember, avIicu you
did come down to see me you and I Avere both so
engaged in the Noav York political situation that
avc talked of little else, and finally, that the posi
tion 1 have taken has not boon taken lightly, but
after thinking over the matter and looking at it
from different standpoints for at least two yeai'3,
and after the most careful consultation Avith Mor
ton, Taft, Moody, Knox and Koot, as to the exact
phraseology I should use.
" 'I do not send you a copy simply because they
have given no one a copy, not even the men above
mentioned. It is impossible if I give out copies
of any portion of my message to prevent the mes
sage being knoAvn in advance, and the throe press
associations who uoav have the ihessage are under
a heavy penalty not to disclose a Avord of it before
the appointed time. Sincerely yours.'
"On December 2 he Avrote me the folloAving let
tor on the same subject:
" 'December 2, 1004. Dear Mr. President:
Thank you for your favor of the 30th. It Avas
natural for me to suppose that railroad matters
avouUI he included in any discussion you and I
might have before writing your message. I am
of Uio opinion thai an effective Interstate com
merce commission could regulate the matter of
rebates and absolutely prevent the same AviUiout
any additional poAver of any kind, and, as you say,
Paul Morton Is more familiar with such matter
thnn anyone else in your cabinet, and I believe
he avIII agree Avith mo In this. I fear there has
been a lack of co-operation.
" 'During the enormous development of the last
four years the railroads have found it very ha'-d
to keep pace aviIIi the requirements imposed upon
them, and the socalled surplus oarnlhgs, as avoII
as additional capital, have boon devoted to provid
ing additional facilities and the bettering and en
larging of their properties, so as to give the in
creased and better service required of thorn.
This work of bollermont and enlargement must go
on, and is all-important for the proper development
of all sections of the country. There is little doubt,
that during the next decade every single track
railroad in the country will have lo be double
tracked and provide enlarged terminal and other
facilities, and any move that will tend to cripple
them financially would bo detrimental to all in
terests over the Avhole country.
" I bog that you avIII pardon my not signing
this personally, as I have to leave to catch my
train for Ardcn, and have asked my secretary to
sign It for me. "i ours.'
"I was unable to agree with Mr. Ilarriman's
views of the matter and loft my message un
changed as regards the interstate commerce law
"(The rough draft of this portion of the mes
sage was completed in October, before the elec
tion.) I had always discussed Avith freedom -ill
my proposed moves in the trust and labor mat
ters with the representatives of the big combina
tions or big railroads, as avoII as with the leaders
of the labor men, of the farmers' organizations
VOLUME 7, NUMBER 13
the 'shippers' organizations and the like that is,
I Juid as freely seen and communlGfedwith Mr.
Ilarriman, Mr. Morgan, Mr. Hill and other rail
road men as I had seen and communicated Avith
Mr. Gompors, Mr. Keefe, Mr. Morrlsscy, Mr. Mor
rison and other labor leaders. , ,
"Mr. Ilarriman had, like most of ; the big rail
road men, ahvays Avritten me very strongly pro
testing against my proposed course as regards the
supervision and control over big combinations and
especially over the big railroitds. In a Tetter of
his of August 19, 1902, for instance, he expressed
the fear Unit a panic Avotild folloAV my proposed
action.
"It will be seen that the above correspondence
is entirely incompatible Avith what Mr. Harriman
now, as you inform me, alleges as to my having
asked him to secure money or to subscribe monov
for tfio presidential campaign. As for the DepoAv
matter, he professed throughout to 'be acting in
the interest of Governor Odell, and though Gov
ernor Odell had been anxious that Mr. -DepcAV
should be nominated as ambassador -to Franco at
a time when he Avas supporting Governor Black
for senator, he had changed his mind shortly after
the last letter to mo, above quoted, from Mr. Har-
riman, and on December 10 he wrote me the let
ter I enclose, Avhich reads in part as follows:
"'My Dear Mi. President: A great many of
your friends here in NeAV York would be very much
delighted and pleased if you could find it possible
to appoint Mr. James II. Hyde as minister to
France. Largo business interests have given to
him splendid executive ability and his association
with so many prominent business men would be
fitting recognition of the effective work done hv
them in the last campaign.
" 'In addition to this he has behind him, I am
sure, the approval of Senator Piatt and Senator
DepeAV, and so far as I cau speak for the organi
zation, I belieA'e his appointment AVould bo, Avith
out question, more satisfactory than any that
could be made from New York at the present time.
Personally, I should appreciate your favorable con
sideration of this suggestion almost beyond any
thing else you could do for me. If you so desire,' I
shnll bo glad to come to Washington and talk
with you about it, but L believe there are other
Avhonre close to you and who feel just as I do and
I thought therefore that this letter' would' be suf-
ficient as showing the attitude of -the organizations'
and myself personally upon tills important appoint
ment.' "As j'ou know, I wns obliged to refuse the re
quest of the NeAV York financiers and of the re
publican organizations of the state and city, not
deeming it proper to appoint Mr. Hyde to the po
sition he sought.
"So much for what Mr. Harriman said about
me personally. Far more important are the ad
ditional remarks he made to you, as you inform
me, you avIio asked him if he thought it Avas well
to see 'Hcarstisnr and the like triumphant over'
the republican party.' You inform me that ho told
you that he did not care In the least, because those
people Avere crooks and ho could buy them that
whenever ho wanted legislation from a state leg
islature he could buy it; 'that he could buy con
gress,' and if necessary he 'could buy the -judiciary
This was doubtless said partly m
boastful cynicism and partly in a mere
burst of bad temper of ills objection to the intnr
stato commerce law, and to my actions as presi
dent. But It shows a cynicism and deep-seated
corruption which make the man uttering such sen
timents, and boasting, no matter Iioav falsely of
this power to perform such crimes, at least as un
desirable a citizen as Debs, or Moyer or IlavAvood
It is because we have capitalists capable of litter
ing such sentiments and capable of acting ou
them that there is strength behind sinister agi
tators of the Hearst typo. The wealthy corrihV
tionlsts and the demagogue who excites in the
press or on the stump, in office or out of office
class against class, and appeals lo the basest pas
sions of the human soul, are fundamentally alike
and are equally enemies of the republic. I was
horrified, as AA-as Root, when you told us tod'iv
what Harriman had said to you. As I sav'if
you meet him you are entirely welcome to show
him this letter, although, of course, it must not
be made public unless required by some reason
of. public policy and then only after my consent
has first been obtained. Sincerely yours
"THEODORE ROOSEVELT."
x, a5 I,Io,1 ,7, S' Snci'm. St. .Tames Building,
Noav York." '
K, se?,l(! leKor t0 Mr' Shorman is as follows:
.nnplh?rWiIt0 Wllillfft011, OctOUQ 12,
1900. My Dear Mr. Sherman: I would like to
make an addenda to my loiter to you of the other
day. Both Mr. Cortolyou and Mr. Bliss, as soon
as they heard that Hyde's name had been sug-
I 'I,:
