Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (May 3, 1912)
11 MAY 3, 1912 The Commoner. correspondence was communicated to the colonel he said he would have nothing to say on the subject at that time. Whatever comment he might make would have to he deferred until the entire subject matter was available for his perusal, he declared. The report from Washington that President Taft had decided, at a meeting with his cabinet last night, on a severe attack on Colonel Roose velt to be made in Massachusetts to morrow was taken to Colonel Roose velt. "Frightful, frightful," was the only comment he would make. He declined to discuss his defeat in New Hampshire or the day's de velopments in the political situation. MR. ROOSEVELT'S STATEMENT Mr. Roosevelt made a statement replying to the harvester charges in which statement he says: "As regards the harvester trust matter, the following statement sent to me by Mr. Bonaparte, my attor ney general at the time, and Mr. Herbert Knox Smith, then and now commissioner of corporations, ex plain themselves. "Mr. Bonaparte wrote: " 'When I became attorney gen eral I found a number of complaints on file about the harvester trust, and some of these were so serious and specific that I directed an investi gation, appointing B. D. Townsend, then assistant United States attor ney in one of the Dakotas, as special counsel on the subject. He worked very slowly, and while we were awaiting his report I received infor mation from other quarters and also an elaborate brief and argument (submitted by Cravath, if I remem ber rightly) in defense of the trust, and made up my mind that a suit ought to b.e instituted for its dis solution.' "You never gave mo instructions of any kind about the suit. I have an indistinct recollection that you asked me to see somebody who wished to talk with me about it or on l5ehalf of the trust, and think it probable this was Cravath, as I know he gave me his brief and other papers. Of course you had nothing to do with preventing the institution of the suit except insofar as you ac quiesced in the view taken by the cabinet to the effect that in conse quence of the provisions of the bu reau or corporations act delay was demanded by comity towards the senate. "Mr. Smith writes me in two com munications. In the first he recites that on August 24, 1907, he met me at New York, where he said that Mr. Perkins protested against any suit which he (Mr. Perkins) then under stood to be pending being brought against the harvester trust while the investigation by the bureau was still ponding; that on August 2G he called on me at Oyster Bay and advocated my carrying out the policy of seeing that the bureau's investigation was finished before my suit was started, on the ground that the investigation would be far more effective for re form than a suit; that the suit, being a civil one and not a criminal pro ceeding, no statute of limitation ap plied, and, consequently haste was not essential, and finally, that if the corporation was a substantial of fender the suit would have vastly more chance of successful prosecu tion after the bureau got through its work. "Mr. Smith states that I gave him no instructions except to go and see the attorney general, Mr. Bonaparte, at once, which he did the next day. He adds that on September 21 he wrote me a long memorandum set ting forth the facts and giving his views on the general subject, and that on November 7 he notified Mr. Perkins verbally in accordance with my instructions that tho bureau's In vestigation would come first." Tho letter continues: "I submitted all tho papers handed to me by Mr. Perkins to tho attorney general, and asked Commissioner Smith to see tho attorney general himself, and I asked the attorney general not to take up tho cast until he had seen me. This was tho re quest I invariably made in every case of the kind. While I was hero I ex pected each of my cabinet officers to keep me in touch with every impor tant matter in his office and 1 as sumed full responsibility for what was done. "In many scores of cases, men of every description trust magnates, labor leaders, public officials, pri vate citizens came to mo when action either had been taken or tho possibility of taking it was pending in cases in which tljey were in terested, and asked that I look into the case personally before permitting tho action to' go on. In all such cases, unless I was already thorough ly familiar with the facts, I wrote to whatever department it concerned or verbally notified its head to bring the case before me, and not to come to a decision upon the matter until after consultation with me. "I saw various labor leaders at the time of the proceedings against Moyer and Haywood; again and again I saw men in cases that were pending or that were about to be be gun in the department of the interior in the treasury department, and in the attorney general's office. In this harvester trust I acted precisely as I acted in all other cases and as under like circumstances, I shall al ways act, and any other action would have been grossly improper." "In this case -the attorney gen eral brought the papers out for dis- .cussion and final settlement at a cabinet meeting. Mr. Taft was one of the members present on the oc casion. "The letter of Mr. Smith, and a letter indicating the approval of Mr. Smith's position by Secretary Straus and by Mr. Lawrence Murray were put before the cabinet, and Mr. Bona parte stated what had been done in the attorney general's office. There was a full discussion of the matter in which every member of the cabi net who was a lawyer took part, and one or two members who were not lawyers. It was unanimously agreed that as the investigation was being conducted by the commissioner of corporations under a resolution of the senate, the question of bringing a suit should not be decided until the invqstigation was finished. I assume full responsibility for this decision, but the entire cabinet, in cluding Mr. Taft, heartily concurred in it. "The talk about the suppression of the report is nonsense. The bu reau of corporations has never made a report on the subject. "Let me sum up: "(1) I took precisely the action in the harvester trust case that I took in all similar cases. "(2) I am entirely responsible for the action taken, but it was taken with the full approval of tho entire cabinet, including Mr. Taft, who was then a member of the cabinet. "(3) There remained at the time less than a year and a half of my administration. During this time, for the reasons given by Mr. Smith, he was not able to furnish the re port ordered by the senate. During this period, as Mr. Smith writes me, the only instructions I gave him in regard to the report were orders in tended to facilitate its preparation and publication. "(4) Three years have elapsed since Mr. Taft became president. During his entire time the letter of Mr. Smith has been in the office of the attorney general, and Mr. Taft can not have forgotten tho debate about it in tho cabinet meetings when he was a member of tho cabi net and in which he took part. Dur ing these threo years Mr. Taft could at any timo have ordered the attor ney general to proceed against tho harvester trust without regard to tho report, or have requested tho com missioner of corporations either to hurry up the report or to give him the reasons why it was impossible to hurry it up. "(5) Not only did I not suppross any papers connected with the case but I left every paper on file either in the department of justice or in the bureau of corporations, and if anything wrong had been done, either in tho way of omission or commis sion, the administration had three years and two months in which to correct the wrong. "(G) Mr. Taft has been over three years in the white house. Dur ing that period he has had ample timo either to publish tho facts or to tako action against the harvester trust. Ho has taken no action ex cept that now taken, five days be fore tho Massachusetts primary. "(7) This matter was brought up in tho senate "on the motion of Senator Johnston, who, as a member of both committees to investigate Mr. Lorimer, has been his earnest sup porter and advocate. The circum stances under which it was passed and responded to give ground for the belief that tho pre-arranged pur pose was to show that some improper reason had favored the harvester trust and the Morgan interests." Canada Leads World in investment Profits Up In Saskatoon, I'rlnco Hupert, Cal gury, Edmonton and other now western Canadian town, which have Mprung up almost over night, the rle in valueM of lot bought heforo tho railroad came. In had been HlunnndoiiH. To una who ban not actually been in touch with condi tions In Canada it He emu like a fairy tale to read that $160 to 3600 loin havo often advanced to $1,600, $6,000, $10,000 and, in ionic ennett, to $60,000 but tho facts are there ready for proof for any one who Investigates. The bltftfeut thin? now going on In Canada Ih the building of tho great new Grand Trunk Pacific railway, whirl) Im rapidly Mtrctchinc out over an Immensely wealthy territory. In a commanding position In tho center of Brltlnh Columbia and directly on tho registered right of way of this new railroad Im Fort Praser, a towntdto wonderfully hlcHXcd with opportunity. The railroad Ih scheduled to reach Fort F rawer this summer and then tho rise In lot values Is sure to begin. Think of what this will mean to Inves tors who get In now before the tracks are laid. You can net Fort Fraser lots now at $200 and up on easy terms of 10 per cent down and 6 per cent per month (no Interest or taxes until fully paid), with titles guaranteed by tho British, Columbia Government Itself. Write to Spence, Jordan & Co., Dept. AS, Maniuctte Bldg., Chicago, who will glvo you olllcial information about this opportunity. They will also toll you about 10-acro tracts of best selected garden land near Fort Frasor to bo had on easy terms. MT. TAFT STRIKES I JACK Following is a United Tress dis patch: Springfield, Mass., April 25. Flushing with anger at times, President Taft launched straight into an attack on Theodore Roosevelt with his first words here today while a crowd of seven thousand cheered. Forgetting the "judicial tempera ment" completely and throwing to the winds his long maintained atti tude of refusing to indulge in per sonalities, the president called Theo dore Roosevelt a deceiver in so many words and answered scornfully the many charges the colonel has made against his administration. "By his recent utterances ho has misled a great many honest people to believe his charges aga'inst me and my administration," said Presi dent Taft. "But because I represent that element in the republican party who believes in tho sanctity of the constitution and in wise progress, made under tho guarantees of the constitution, I am entitled to have my defense." The attack on Roosevelt seemed to burst from the president's lips al most against his will. It was under stood that he had half promised Sec retary Hilles that he would not go into personalities in the three after noon meetings today, but would re serve his heavy guns for the mass meeting at tho arena in Boston to night. Taft, however, from his fir3t words showed that ho has been filled with the subject of Theodore Roosdvelt by the many conferences he has had with his advisers in Washington for tho past ten days and was in no mood to handle vague generalities. "I come to Massachusetts at this time most reluctantly," were the president's opening words. "Gener ally I am delighted to visit the state from which all my ancestors come, but this time I haye come here only from the sense of highest duty. "In 1900, Theodore Roosevelt suc ceeded President McKinley, who had died. "In 1904, Theodore Roosevelt was himself triumphantly elected and he said that he would not accept an other nomination. In 1908 ho rec ommended to the people of the ggML&pE????gsPspy! No Lice, No MIIh. U't us toll you how wo escape tljom. A Card will lirlnjr our xpocl.il offer. Nutiouul F:rch Company . ltox I, llHHliiiKB, Nob. PATENTS iViitnoH I?. Coleman) I'nteut Jjiwycr.WuahliiBton, D.C. Advice and lookn free. Rates rcuaouablc. II Uihc.it references. Jicst Her vices. T A H1 177 7VrP 1 kkcuicjbm ojifjsb M. yJL Jl Mil IV J. J KKTIJJCNKO. Frco report im to I'atcntuliHItv Jllntnitod Ouldo lltmU. and List of Invention Wanted, t,ont iron. VICJTOIt J. KVAM Hi CO., Washington. D.O. It Ih the best policy holder' com pany In the United States. ASSETS, $5,100,000 Twenty-five year old. "Write The O.EcS Line Bankers Life .Lincoln, JVcbrttHkn The American Messenger, An Illustrated religious monthly for all tho family. Founded In 3 813, it has since been the favorite religious paper of hundreds of thousands of American Christian families. It brings each month a message of Inspiration, com fort and good cheer. It is interdeno minational, devoted to tho upbuilding of a sturdy Christian character and tho promotion of good citizenship. "Wo will send tho American Messen ger from now to December 31, 1912, to gether with a copy of tho beautiful picture, "Christ Blessing Little Chil dren," by the celebrated artist, B. Plockhorst, size cf picture 18x22 Inches, all ready for framing, for only Thirty CcntH (tiOe.) Address, The American McHwcngcr, 150 Nassau St., New York City. Learn How Oklahoma makes Bank Deposi- tors Safe Our New Booklet now being mailed on request Friends or this reform can materally aid In Its perioral adoption as woll as secure themselves from all possible Joss by opening an account with tho Guaranty State Bank-. 4 per cent Interests on Time Deposits and Savings Accounts. M, G, Haskell, Pres. H. E, Davis, Ass't Cash. Muskogee, Okla. n nFour years successful operation, j U 3idftJdb2 lJmuJL. ItlS&jS j .'-- ' ,-ium jt!vu:wmvrvi",r awuftasaWLfcTJi' JMgfc.Jliarya: