The Searchlight (Guthrie, Okla.), No. 545, Ed. 1 Friday, October 2, 1908 Page: 3 of 16
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Oklahoma Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Gateway to Oklahoma History by the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
THE SEARCHLIGHT
rv,w- iM—figy
BBBSlli MS
\
V
r
\
/
And Foraker Says a Few.
Cincinnati, Sept. 26.—In a long and
carefully prepared statement United
States Senator J. B. Foraker last
night took up recent charges made by
William R. Hearst and President
Roosevelt, explaining his temporary
connection with the Standard Oil
company and discussing the Browns-
ville incident and his connection with
the rate bill. The statement amplifies
the explanation of the senator made
at the time of publication of Archbold
letters read by Mr. Hearst and also
contains correspondence snowing that
in May, 1906, the senator refused bo
accept a retainer from the Standard
Oil company.
Senator Foraker then takes up Mr.
Taft's letter and President Roosevelt's
comments thereon. The senator says:
"If the president in publishing it
had not withheld the name of the man
to whom it was written, it might have
been easier for me to show that I had
no responsibility for that man's ac-
tion in writing to him. The man him-
self would have refuted the impression
the president apparently seeks to cre-
ate, that he wrote either at my in-
stance or in my interest. I have not
at any time, nor in any way sought
Mr. Taft's help for re-election to the
senate.
"When Mr. Taft's candidacy for the
presidency was first announced, I was
surprised to learn from the newspapers
that the program of those having it
in charge involved my 'elimination'
from public life.
"An open declaration of war, such
as the 'elimination' proposition in-
volved, naturally brought controversy
and strife when there shouid have
been only peace. Finally, Mr. Cex
announced a harmony proposition—
Taft for presiden1.; Harris lev govei-
nor and I for senator.
Tells About Gross Insult.
"He rlid thru <•« !»:•> own motii.n;
not only without any request from me,
but contrary to my desires. Neverthe-
less, I at once publicly announced that
if that expressed the wish of the Re-
publicans of Ohio, no one would sup-
port Judge Taft more cordially than I
would.
"Thereupon Mr. Burton gave out an
interview in which he stated that Mr.
Taft would not accept from the Re-
ubllcans of Ohio an endorsement for
the presidency if coupled with an en-
dorsement of me for the senatorship.
This appeared to be such a gross pub-
lic insult and so uncalled for that hos-
tilities were immediately resumed.
"They continued until Mr. Taft was
nominated. Then, so far as I was
concerned, they stopped insantly and
1 supposed from the character of Mr.
Taft's response to my note of congrat-
ulation, that they stopped, on his part;
at least I was so assured by his
friends and managers, and in that con-
nection I was also assured that Mr.
Burton had no authority to give out
his offensive interview.
"Much more of the same character
might be mentioned, but I have said
enough to show that Mr. Taft's let-
ter performs the very important of-
fice of exonerating Mr. Bryan from
the charge of having spoken without
authority and fixes responsibility for
•his offensive utterances where it be-
longs.
"Now, as to the letter itself. The
grounds of Mr. Taft's opposition to
me were twofold: The rate bill and
the Bronwsville matter.
"As to the rate bill, Mr. Taft says
of me in his letter enumerating the
reasons why he could not accept an
endorsement for the presidency if cou-
pled with an endorsement of me for
senator:
" 'He has opposed the vital policies
and principles cf the administration,'
and adds as another reason that I
would not vote for the rate bill, al-
though requested to do so by the Ohio
legislature.
"Mr. Taft knew I had never op-
posed the policy of supervising and
regulating interstate commerce and in-
terstate carriers. He knew that my
opposition to the rate bill was not be-
cause 1 was opposed to the policy of
regulation and supervision, but only
to some features of the methods it
was proposed by that measure.
"For instance, he knew that my ob-
jection was confined to certain clauses,
among them the rate-making clause
and the commodities clause."
Need of Common Sense.
Mr. Foraker declares that already
the scourge of events has shown the
wisdom of his objection to those
clauses of the rate bill. He continues:
"Without disparaging genuine mor-
ality, it can be truthfully said that less
imagination and less imaginary and
professional, 'righteousness of action,'
'and moral awakening, and more
common sense in the policies of the ad-
ministration would have been better
for the country and would have ex-
cited less of that opposition of which
Mr. Taft's letter complains.
"At any rate, in the presence of the
decision on the commodities clause
and the unfortunate consequences re-
sulting from the enforcement of law
at least the papers so announced, when
traveling from Hot Springs to Toledo,
on his way to Middle Bass, yet never-
theless he rode in the private car of
one of the officers of the road of which
also Messrs. Doyle & Lewis are attor-
neys. What a series of unpardonable
crimes. There did not seem to be any
such righteous dislike of these Stand-
ard Oil and other trust representatives
rankling in the bosom of Mr. Taft on j
the occasions to which I refer. Oni
the other hand, he acted like a good, j
square, sensible, honest-minded man I
who really enjoyed the company he j
was keeping and the entertainment he j
was receiving and who recognized, as
tlje late Senator Hanna was accustom-
ed to say, that there are 'good trusts
as well as bad ones,' and even decent
people in the employment of the Stand-
ard Oil company as well as objection-
able people and all that is to his credit.
"It is also highly to his credit that
when three years ago the president
had occasion to appoint a United
States district judge for the northern
as to foreign commerce. I do not : district of Ohio, Mr. Taft, knowing the
think I need make any apology for
voting against the rate bill certainly I
do not think it was an offense of such
a heinous character that I should be
read cut of the party on account of
it as Judge Taft's letter practically
proposed.
"I have in mind not the stopping
indefinitely of'adequate railroad con-
struction at a time when it is so badly
needed. Nor the losses, amounting to
$5,000,000,000 of dollars, wihich has
been sustained on account of the
shrinkage in values of all kinds of
securities, but the empty dinner pails
and suffering families of unemployed
wage earners, and the humbler classes
of people to be found by thousands in
every section of the Union.
Dinner Pails Kicked Over.
"Responsibility for such conditions
is serious. It is the first time we
have had anything like it under a Re-
publican administration. Who caused
all this? Not Providence. He has
been generously indulgent. All our
natural conditions are favorable to a
resumption of the fullest prosperity,
and yet it does not come. A million
brimful dinner pails have been kicked
over. We know that the policies of
the Republican party filled them, j
Whose policies emptied them? I am
at least thankful, profoundly so, that i
no one has ever charged—not even my
bitterest enemy—that any dinner pail j
has ever been emptied or that any .
abilities and high character of John H.
Doyle, of the Standard Oil firm of
Doyle & Lewis, did not hesitate to
recommend him to the president in
strong language for appointment to
that judgeship.
"The Standard Oil relation to Judge
Doyle, then well known to Mr. Taft,
did not prevent him from recognizing
his high character and general fitness
for such a sacred trust, and I happen
to know, as did Mr. Justice Moody,
who was then attorney general, that
the president, on the recommendation
of Judge Taft, was intending to appoint
Judge Doyle, and would have done so,
no doubt, except that, for reasons
which did not reflect on Judge Doyie,
he finally appointed Judge Robert W.
Taylor.
"But if the Standard Oil company
was in good enough repute only three
years ago to warrant Judge Taft in
recommending Judge Doyle and Presi-
dent Roosevelt in appointing him to a
judgeship, much more was it insuffici-
ently in good repute six or seven years
earlier, before any of the recent viru-
lent attacks were made on it, to war-
rant me in accepting employment of
the character mentioned.
"What a pity it is that Judge Taft's
letter was not allowed to continue its
slumber until after the election.
"As to the Brownsville matter, Mr.
Taft says, speaking of me:
" 'He has seized upon and magnified
wage worker has ever lost a day's an unimportant and incidental matter
wages by reason of my act or speech
cr vote of mine. It was because I
thought I foresaw all these disasters
that I would not be stood up by the
president shoulder to shoulder with
the Democratic senators to vote in sup-
pert of policies that they rightfully, as
I thought, claimed as their own.
"But what manner of man is Judge
Taft? I have known him for a great
many years, and I thought intimately,
and yet at times I feel as though I
did not know him at all.
"July 20, 1907, when he wrote the
letter the president publishes, he was
so devoted to the trust-smashing pol-
icies of the administration that he had
not consented to be made president if
as a part of the same movement I was
to be honored with a re-election to the
senate, because of my opposition to
that special feature of my policies and
now since the Standard matter, there
is manifestly the most unusual indigna-
tion.
"Apparently every man who has any
relation to the company is to be driven
to embarrass the administration, using
in this without scruple a blind race
prejudice to accomplish his main pur-
pese.'
"I have no way of proving what was
in my mind except by referring to the
record. Anyone who reads that will
fail to find a sentence, or a word to
justify any such statement as Mr.
Taft makes.
Rubbing the Old Sore.
"In view of Judge Taft's statement,
I trust I may be allowed to repeat
what I have said a number of times
that in tiiis whole matter I had no
revenges to seek or personal ends to
serve, but was anxious to see that com-
mon justice was done to the represen-
tatives of a noble and loyal race, every
one of whom by nature is a Republican.
The colored voters are known to be
more or less displeased with the action
of the Republican party in. not passing
some relief measure for these soldiers,
I and many of them have signified a
j purpose to vote against Judge Taft
j because of his official relation to the
out of public life. If so, I shall prob- ; matter. Much work has been done to
ably have a great deal of company.
Taft's Oil Affiliations.
"Only one month ago, when Mr. Taft
| overcome this trouble and to induce
the colored Republican voters of the
country to stand by the party with
visited Middle Bass island and Toledo which they have always affiliated. And
he was the guest of C. T. Lewis of
the law firm of Doyle & Lewis, who
have been the attorneys of the Stand-
ard Oil for many years, standing next case.
now comes the president and publishes
Judge Taft's letter containing his un-
fortunate reference to this unfortunate
in these closing days of the campaiJ
Judge Taft's belittling of their ch|
grievance by mentioning it as 'an
cidental matter,' which has been 'selzl
upon and magnified, using in this wlf
out scruple a blind race prcjudic|
and then adding the charge that
this is done only to 'embarrass ti
administration* of President Roosevef
Can it be possible that the preside
wants to defeat Judge Taft? That cl
not be, and yet he could hardly do a|
other one thing better calculated
lose him votes, for no self-respecti|
negro, reading what Judge Taft sa
in this letter and adding it to all th
has gone before, can vote for 111
without feeling that he is making]
greater sacrifice than most men,
which others are willing to make,
any event the president's action al
comments are wrong toward the H
publican arty, for they amount tcj
charge against the party at a critif
hour of the campaign of an unwortj
purpose in connection wifh a matJ
that every colored man who has a|
pride cf race holds of highest val|
and in deepest appreciation. \V1
Judge Taft says in his letter, is ti
equivalent of an assertion that the c|
ored people of the country who ha
been grieved by what was done in ti
Brownsville matter have simply bel
hoodwinked by designing selfishne|
This is bad enough, but the preside
makes it worse when he says:
" 'The entire agitation over Browd
ville was in large part not a genuil
1 agitation on behalf of the colored m|
i at all, but merely one phase of-the
fort by the representatives cf certrl
law defying corporations to bring d|
credit upon the administration becaif
j it was seeking to cut off the evils ct|
nected not only with the corrupt,
j cf wealth, but especially with the cl
nipt alliance between certain busind
men of large fortunes and certain
! ticians of great office.'
"In other words, the Brownsvil
proceeding was not only all Judge Ta
said it was, but in addition to bell
designing and selfish it was prompt!
by the representatives of law-defyfl
corporations to bring discredit upl
the administration of its policy wf
respect to them. This is worse than t|
president's claim that the panic of
tcber was initiated by a lot of rU
men in Wall street who wanted
bankrupt themselves and the whd
country that they might discredit 111
and worse even than the story tlJ
these same men raised a fund of til
million dollars with which to prevef
him from naming "Tils chosen succe.1
or. I happen to know better ta!
| anybody else can know, that there [
not the slightest ground for such I
charge. It is invention pure and simJ
and, judging by the frequency wfl
which the president is bringing ti
matter to the front, born of that ill
quiet which comes to the conslenl
when there is consciousness of havij
done a great wrong.
"Except only the Brownsville mattl
the rate bill and joint statehood,!
voted for all the measures the prel
dent enumerated among the achleiT
ments of his administration and soil
of them was in charge of on the flo|
of the senate when they passed.
"In making this defense, if I hal
said anything that will work the sligl
est injury to the Republican party!
shall regret it but I shall always fJ
that those who have no consideratil
for me, my family or good name, bl
woukl gloatingly rejoice if they coif
accomplish that shame and humiliatil
they have attempted are not entitlj
to any consideration at my hands ai
my duty to the party should be sil
ordinated to duty to the family and ti
good name I have striven to make thl
I may leave it to them as their herl
age, more priceless in their estinf
tion than anything within my powj
to give them."
in rank in that relation to Virgil P.
Kline, and when Mr. Taft had occasion
to pass back and forth between Mid-
dle Bass and Toledo, where I had the
pleasure of meeting him, he traveled
on the yacht of Mr. Richardson, a
prominent magnate of the glass trust,
and while he doubtless paid the fare,
"What does he mean? Does anybody
imagine that the president is unable
to see that he is rubbing a sore when
he should have brought a plaster?
Does he imagine, or can anybody sup-
pose that the Republican colored vot-
ers of this country can be brought to
the support of Judge Taft by parading
"You didn't use my manuscript}
said the visitor severely.
"It was not adapted to our purpose
We couldn't use it."
"How about the stamp that was ij
closed?"
'"Oh, that was all right. We us«
It."—Philadelphia Public LeJger.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
The Searchlight (Guthrie, Okla.), No. 545, Ed. 1 Friday, October 2, 1908, newspaper, October 2, 1908; Guthrie, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc285610/m1/3/: accessed April 19, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.