The evening world. Newspaper, November 5, 1904, Page 8

Ry THI WORLD: SETURDAY F EVENING; NOVEMBER 5, 1902, ut al GREAT MORAL ISSUE OF THE CAMPAIGN-~CORTELYOU AND CORRUPTION. . BY HAT ANSWER Will the People Make Next Tuesday to President Roosevelt's Answer to the Charges Made by Tudge Parker ?—Facts for Independent Voters to Consider. f (lthougti the verdict of the people will not fhe rendered until Tuesday, the Presidential cam- palgn of 1904 ends today, The evidence is all fn. The last of it will be summed up In the final © meetings this evening. What the verdict will be a bet fo still uncertain, partisan forecasts and postal- tard estimates to the contrary notwithstanding, The issues of the campaign have been many and various, but in the last days of the contest all other questions have been subordinated to the om moral issue of Cortelyou and Corrup- BOGE tts ropect thr bas ben 20 Ble 0 between the campaign of 1904 and of 1896. Eight years ago Mr. McKinley - jand his managers expected that the tariff would hi! ‘pe the chief issue. They soon realized their mis- take, The election was won on the issue of an honest dollar—on the question whether the) American Government and the American people, | “wnder the pretext of establishing a double stand-| of value, would repudiate 50 per cent, of thelr debts and obligations, Other questions, while playing an important part, were subordl- Mate to the great question of national honesty, The campaign of 1904, which began with more or less discussion of economic and con- Bitutional issues, has finally turned on another question of morals: Shall the Presidency be bought for Mr. Rocsevelt by the great corporations and the protected interests? Shall these interests, to use the words of Wudge Parker, be allowed “to purchase four FS: * (years more of profit by tariff taxation, or four _ lyears more of extortion from the public by ‘ means of monopoly?” The paramount and absorbing nature of this Mssue was hardly foreseen at the beginning of the campaign—before Mr. Roosevelt fiad sub- b an ey bi 4 dued' the trusts and corporations by surrender. ing to them, The significance of Mr. Cortel-| (you's varied activities was not then fully appre- ciated. The sinister meaning of his transfer from ‘the office of corporation inquisitor to collector of corporation tribute was not clearly understood, When the campaign began nobody knew pre- ‘tisely what the paramount issue would be, As fong ago as June 6 The World said: “It is be- yond the power of any man or any convention to define the leading issue in a political cam-| paign, except as this definition conforms to the ‘Popular mood.” The Republicans expected, and not without {Rood reason, that the financial issue would again ‘be at the front. Their expectations would have ‘been realized had it not been for Judge Parker's finging telegram to the St. Louis Convention) @eclaring the gold standard to be “irrevocably “established,” which followed The World's edi- torial “Shall Roosevelt Have a Walkover?” With the financial question out of the way, | a was apparent that the “strong, able, ambitious, , ~‘yesourceful, militant, passionate personality” of "Mr. Roosevelt would play a most conspicuous | aS in the campaign. And so it has. That per- Sonality has fully justified The World’s first Open Letter to the President, which appeared Yuly 30, and declared that “the paramount issue of this campaign is not, as you would have it, free trade or free silver, but you your | self, Theodore Roosevelt.” Even the Cortelyou atfair is a part of that personality and that per-| sonal issue. Ten Living Questions. This first Open Letter defined what were then the ten living questions of the campaign. Among them was the Cortelyou scandal, which has ince become the vital, burning question, the overwhelming moral issue of the contest. long a lease of power, as revealed In the half-disclosed postal frauds, be condoned and continued? 8. Shall the attitude of the United States toward other nations be that of the bully with the “Big Stick?” 9. Shall we continue the malevolent tn fluence upon our own institutions of a policy of Asiatic colonization in the Philip- pines? 10. Shall we revive the sectional tssue? In this letter The World told Mr, Roosevelt frankly that the transfer of Mr. Cortelyou from the Inquisitorship of corporations to the col lectorship of campaign tribute from these cor porations had ‘*all the appearance of delib- erate preparation for partisan blackmall.’* More than three months afterward, on Nov, 3, Judge Parker sald substantially the same thing in his speech at Hartford, In which he discussed the Anti-Trust and Department of Commerce acts of 1903 in these words: “We know full well how the opportunity for the use of that legislation has been availed of In this campaign. No statute could nave been better devised for the successful ‘financing’ of the can- didate of the Republican party or for its in definite perpetuation in power.” “What save a consuming ambition to be) elected President In your own right,” asked The World of Mr, Roosevelt, “could have led you} to shift your successful trust prosecutor to Quay’s place as a trust agent In the Senate, and to convert your confidential private secretary and trust Investigator into a campaign trust fat- fryer in place of Mark Hanna, deceased?” “We appeal,” It continued, “to all honest men, | whether in the annals of our Government there was ever a grosser abuse of power, a greater public scandal or a more unprincipled defiance of decent public opinion than {s this transfer of an official investigator and curber of great cor- porations to be a collector of campaign funds from them?" The World’s protest against this scandal was received by the Administration in dead silence, although the President was quick to deny through Secretary Loeb an unfounded report that J. Pler- pont Morgan had twice visited him at Sagamore Hill. The Issue of the ‘' Big Stick,” On Aug. 23 The World addressed a second Open Letter to President Roosevelt, in which it) presented in his own words the amazing record of his imperialistic tendencies, his glorification of war, his love of fighting, his contempt for peace- ful industry and his detestation of the orderly principles upon which the Republic was founded. In this second letter was discussed that ex- traordinary letter which Mr. Roosevelt sent to Mr. Root at the Cuban anniversary dinner, in which the President said: “If a nation shows that it knows how to act with decency in industrial and polltical matters, if it KEEPS ORDER and PAYS Its obligations, THEN it need fear no Interference from the United States. Brutal wrong-doing or an Im- potence which results In a general loosen. ing of the tles of civilized society may finally require Intervention by some civilized nations, and in the WESTERN HEMISPHERE the United States cannot ignore this duty, but it remains true that our interests and those of our southern neighbors are {n reality Identical. All that we ask |s that they shall govern thomseives well and be prosperous and orderly. Where this is the case they will find only helpfulness from us." Of the language used In this instance and in nearly thirty others in which the President's own It may be worth while to repeat these ques-| words were cited, The World asked: tions in substance: 4, Shall the people of the United States have for the next four years a personal or a constitutional government ¢ 2. Shall the tariff never be revised except * by the friends of its abuses, extortions and discriminations ? 3. Shall monopolies like the Beef Trust, which control universal necessaries of life, enjoy longer indulgence by the non-en- forcement of anti-trust laws through con- - tributions to party campaign funds? _ 4, Shall Mr. Roosevelt's submission and © Surrender to corporate power, as shown by . $, the removal of Mr. Knox to the Senate and ‘the appointment of Mr. Metealf and Mr Morton to the Cabinet, be approved by the people? > 5. Shall the nile of corrupting corpora. *) politics be further enlarged by con- in power a party closely allied with | 2 hse agi of reckless in government, as shown by feof $2,500,000,000 in the " bred of too pra rie. the world before?” jism, extravagance, militarism and tariff re.| “Was there ever language so intemperate, ‘so intolerant, so extravagant, so unprecedented, so| | undignified, so inflammatory, so warlike and so} | dangerous to the people and to their peace de-| livered by any President or Chief Magistrate of | the United States or any civilized country of! As the campaign progressed evidence accumu. lated to prove that however important, however essential the issues of constitutionalism, imperiat-| | form might be in themselves, they were dwarfed in comparison with the moral issue of money in politics. Fhe Cortelyou scandal had be-| gun to smell to heaven, The alliance between| the Administration and the corporate interests had become notorious, One after another the great] corporation rulers who had been opposed to Mr,| | and as secretly as the Russian police. But evi- | dence of his work was everywhere at hand—in | the swollen campaign chests of the Republican National Committee, in the changed attitude of Wall street toward Mr, Roosevelt's candidacy, in the enthusiasmowith which the masters of mil were the President whose po! Iitieal fife they had threatened only a few short months before, Mr. Roosevelt’s Surrender to the Corporations, On Oct. 1 The World addressed to Mr. Roose- velt a third Open Letter, In which It discussed in his own words his record as a corporation curber, This record showed: 1, How Mr. Roosevelt had clamored tong and stridently for “publicity in the Interests of the public” ts to the afar of the great corporations, 2. How Congress finally yielded to his de- mands by creating a Department of Commerce with a Bureau of Corporations, by amending the Interstate Commerce laws to forbid rebates, by making a special appropriation of $500,000 to prosecute violators of the Anti-Trust laws, and by providing for the advancement of these cases | in the United States courts, 3. How, after breaking the Northern Securl- tles merger and securing temporary injunctions | against the Beef Trust and certain Southern rail- toads, the enforcement of the Anti-Trust laws suddenly ceased, although only $26,000 of the $500,000 had been expended. 4, How Mr. Roosevelt rearranged his Cabl- net to placate the corporations, Mr. Knox being removed to the Senate, while Mr. Metcalf, the | political agent of the Southern Pacific, was made Secretary of Commerce, and Mr. Morton, a Vice- President of the Santa Fe, was made Secretary of the Navy. 5. How Mr. Cortelyou, who had learned “by diligent Investigation” the secrets of the great corporations, was made Chairman of the Re- publican National Committee and collector of the campaign fund, 6. How, with no publicity as to the affalrs of these corporations after 583 days of supposed investigation, and a trust-curbing fund of $474, 000 lying Idle in the Natlonal Treasury, the cor- poration managers had fallen Into line for Mr, Roosevelt, This record could not very well he dodged, Mr. Cortelyou had been Mr. Roosevelt's private secretary, He had been made Secretary of Com- merce and Labor when the new department was created, One of the duties of his Bureau of Corporations was to “make diligent Investiga- tion” into the “organization, conduct and man- agement” of corporations engaged in interstate commerce, The results of these Investigations were to be made public by direction of the Presklent. Mr. Cortelyou himself had sald In his first annual report that there should be no “con- fidential files.” “They are often the resort of the blackguard and the blackmailer,” he declared, “Only those files should be held confidential as the law requires or public considerations de- mand,” Yet there had been no publicity, All files ap- parently were held confidential, and after Mr, Cortelyou had been at the head of the Depart ment of Commerce for sixteen months, learning to collect the Presidential campaign fund. How well he ¢ :cceeded was obvious, Contrl- butions were more than generous, as evidenced by the committee's expenditures, In its third Open Letter The World asked this question of Mr. Roosevelt : «Do not thecorporations that are pouring money into your campaign chests assume that they are buying Protection, buying Privilege, buy- ing Immunity?" How Much Have the Trusts Paid? It asked the President for information as to: “1, How muoh has the Beef Trust contrib uted to Mr, Cortelyou? | “2. How much has the Paper Trust contrib. uted to Mr, Cortelyou? “3. How much has the Coal Trust contrib uted to Mr, Cortelyou? “4, How much has the Sugar Trust contrib: uted to Mr, Cortelyou? “6. How much has the Oil Trust contrib. uted to Mr. Cortelyou? “6. How mugh haa the Tobacco Trust con tributed to Mr. Cortelyout “7. How much has the Steel Trust contrib uted to Mr. Cortelyout “8. How much has the Insurance Trust contributed to Mr, Cortelyou? “9, How much have the national banka com tributed to Mr, Cortelyou? “10, How much have the elx great railroad trusts contributed to Mr. Cortelyout” It urged him to prove the sincerity of his de-) Roosevelt's nomination came out in support of| mand for publicity by addressing to the Chair-| | his candidacy, Mr. Cortelyou moved as silently| man of his Campaign Committee a letter framed | in these general terms: message to Congress that the ‘first essential In determining how to deal with the affairs of the & & by “diligent investigation” the secrets of the great! corporations, he was appointed by Mr. Roosevelt | corporations than how much they are contribut- ing to party campaign funds for Special Prive leges, Special Protection and Special Immunity. If these corporations are trying to buy legislation Or executive Indulgences through the agency of campaign committees, the people have a right to know it “I direct you, therefore, for the honor of my Administration and for my personal honor, to make public all the Information you have as to tums of money contributed to my campalgn fund by public-service corporations, by corporations having business relations with the Government and by corporations that might be affected by the énforcement of the Anti-Trust or Interstate Com- merce law, You will also make public any agree- ments, however Indirect or Implied, that you have entered into with them in regard to the future poy of my Administration toward thelr in- THEODORE ROOSEVELT.” "If such a letter were written In good faith,” asked The World, “and the Information re- quested were made public in good faith— “Would !t not fully explain why after $83 days there has been no official publicity as to the affairs of the corporations whose business has “been {n- vestigated by Mr. Cortelyou and his successor? “Would {t not explain why the corporations that opposed you In March are supporting you now? “Would ft not explain the rearrangement of your Cabinet? “Would {t not explain the extraordinary change in your attitude toward the relations of Govern- ment to corporate wealth? “Would tt not explain the princely contributions to your campaign fund which are pouring In from every corner of the country? “Would !t not explain why all the kings of finance who were clamoring for your political life now believe that the best interests of the country will be served by your election? “Would it not be the most instructive, the most Mllumtnating plece of Information that could ever be made public as to the relations of the Govern ment with the great corporations? “Would it not reveal to the American people how preposterous is your pretext of danger to the Republic from foreign enemies and how real |s the danger to the Republic from its enemies at home?” It Is unnecessary to say that the letter sug- ministration, How Cortelyou and Corruption Be- came tho Great Issue, scandal of the campaign. Mr, Cleveland referred to It delicately in his Carnegie Hall speech when he mentioned the fact that “the threats and anl- people of Its trust-destroying prociivities,” consider best for their private Interests,” charges made by his opponent, ker’s general arraignment of the Administration’ out an not been elucidated in the campaign text-book. poveremige venntay ce tE | gested above has never been written, Not one of the questions has ever been answered elther! by the President or by any member of his Ad-| Other newspapers have discussed this great) mosity of many powerful trust magnates have betn displaced by their approval and substantial | support of the party which seeks te convince the Judge Parker took up the Issue In his speech at) Esopus the following Monday. He charged ex-| plicitly that the trusts and protected industries had joined forces “to perpetuate the present Ad- ministration,” He declared that they had planned | “to purchase four years more of profit by tariff taxation, or four years more of extortion from the public by means of monopoly,” He asserted that “debasing and corrupt methods” were threat. ening us with “a government whose officers are| practically chosen by a handful of corporation managers, who levy upon the assets of the stock- {holders whom they represent such sums of, money as they deem requisite to place the con-' duct of the Government in such hands as they) When Judge Parker undertook to smoke out the Administration on thé iss2 of Cortelyou and Corruption it was expected that the cynical 648 days of supposed investigation there has Foi.cy of “addition, division and silence” would) heen not a single word of that “publicity in the be abandoned, and that a pretense would be made interests of the public’ for which the law pro- of meeting the charges. The President had | vided, shown himself very sensitive as to the other| Secretary Taft had been sent out to answer , It was reported that Mr, Roosevelt would make Thea he uch answer the by It was reported that Mr. Cortelyou would Ge-| was confronted: with an equally wittiering tri fend himself, but this report was denied. Mr.) ment, Knox gave out a statement after an interview with the President in which he sald that “Judge Parker Is describing precisely and exactly the sources which give Tammany Hall Its strength;” but except for a general denial no attempt was made to answer the charge that the corporations were buying Protection and Privilege from Mr. Roosevelt's personal political agent. No offer was made to open the books, although De Lancey Nicoll offered to make public the contributions to the Democratic campaign fund If the Repub- licans would do the same, Senator Lodge tried to dismiss the indictment by calling the charges “unsustained” and “slanderous.” No Answer to the Ten Questions. But these charges, as Judge Parker remarked in his Jersey City speech, cannot be met in that fashion. Mr. Knox, Mr. Root and Senator Fair banks are lawyers. They know how little value is attached In a court of justice to hearsay evi dence, which was the only kind they could pre sent, ‘There are only two persons who can Interest the people on this subject,’’ as Judge Parker well said, “If they have anything to say the people would like to have It said promptly.” “Weeks have passed,” he continued, “since the New York World, the New York Times and the Brooklyn Eagle made charges covering fully this the most vital question before the people— charges thal were reproduced In every part of the courtry--the former propounding ten questions beginning with ‘How much has the Beef Trust contributed to Mr. Cor telyou?’ “There has been plenty of time to answer these questions, but they have not been answered, and THEY WILL NOT BE, “It is for the people now to say whether the trusts of this country shall be permitted to control its national elections in order that their power to levy tribute may be continued.” of Cortelyou and Corruption until the campaign was entering upon Its last fortnight. The Republican orators and campalgn mana- gers could sneer at newspaper charges, but | when the opposing candidate for President, un- til lately Chief-Judge of the Court of Appeals, drove the issue home, cynicism changed to con- sternation, From the hour that Judge Parker put the) real paramount issue to the front the Demo- cratic campaign took on new hope and confi- dence. While the Republican newspapers were clamoring for Judge Parker to “prove his charges,” the voters were considering the amazing array of evidence presented to sub- stantiate those charges, In every speech in ‘home, his presentation of the Cortelyou indict- It Is the one Issue of the campaign that has touched the public conscience, | have been able to make to other issues, here is a vital Issue that they have not been able to dis. pose of, cannot deny that the law commanded him to make “diligent investigation” Into the “organiza- tion, conduct and management” of corporations engaged in interstate commerce, They cannot deny that $474,000 of a corpora» tlon-curbing fund Is lying idle in the Treasury, They cannot deny that after Mr. Cortelyou Judge Parker’s charge that the Philippines had had been Secretary of Commerce for sixteen cost the people of the United States $670,000,000,| months Mr. Roosevelt made him Chairman uf Governor-General Wright had been appealed to by cable and had replied to Judge Parker's charges relative to the economic condition of the turn to the Cabinet as Postmaster-General and Filipinos and the character of the insular gov- | make important contracts with railroad com- ernment. Acting Secretary Taylor of the Treas- panies which have contributed to the Republican ury had put forth statements contradicting Judge campaign fund, Parker's charges of extravagance and his charges | as to the condition of the Treasury, Mr. Knox) that were opposed to Mr. Roosevelt are now sup- had been drafted to answer Judge Parker's ar-) porting his candidacy and contributing vast sums gument as to the efficacy of the common law in| of money to further his election, the regulation of trusts and monopolies. Mr,| Root had entered a blanket denial of Judge Par-| lieve they are thereby purchasing Protection, | © | his Campaign Committee, They cannot deny that these corporations bee 's, Privilege and Immunity, policies, Secretary Hay had replied to criticisms| Their frantic protests against the interpretation of the Panama affair, But the charge that Mr. put upon the events which began with Mr, Roose- “My Dear Mr. Cortelyou: 1 said In my first | Cortelyou was extorting campaign tribute from velt’s demand for “publicity in the interests of the corporations found the Administration with- the public” and ended with the transfer of his Ttecoandgscabers, |e caste tal Go Ys asnlon ome em tax collector “| Me, 1 Judge Parker did not take up this murai issue | which the Democratic candidate drove this issue ment was received with the wildest enthusiasm, Whatever rejoinder the Republican orators They cannot deny that Mr. Cortelyou has | been Secretary of Commerce and Labor, They They cannot deny that after what Is now They cannot deny that the financial Interests Lincoln sald: “We cannot absolutely know case we find It Impossible not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and Roger arid James all understood one another from the beginning, and all worked upon a common plan or draft, drawa up before the first blow was struck.” Why Mr. Roosevelt Should Be Defeated, The World belleves that the fssue of Im. Derialism and militarism alone should be enough to defeat Mr. Roosevelt, It believes that the Issue of constitutional government as against personal impulse should be enough to defeat him, It believes that the issue of the “Big Stick” and the insolent and perilous pretense of overs lordship in (la adaphore dould bo ennugh te defeat him, It believes that the Issue of Philippine ‘ile dence should be enough to defeat him, It believes that the Issue of wanton extrava gance should be enough to defeat him, It believes that his usurpation of powers as illustrated In Pension Order No, 78 should be enough to defeat him. It belleves that his submission and surrender to corporation power should be enough to de feat him, But when to these fs added the moral Issue of Cortelyou and Corruption—the brazen sb tempt of the corporations to buy the Presi- dency for Mr. Roosevelt in return for im- plied promises of Protection and Privilege the Independent voter who places of the nation above partisan advantage, There | 1s only one cholce open to the Republican who recognizes the fact that the Republic Is more precious than a political party, There Is only one cholce open to the citizen who re gards the honor of the Presidency as a sacred thing, which must not be stained by the unclean hands of plutocracy. As an Independent newspaper The World makes its appeal to these independents, It proved Its Independence by opposing the candi date of its party for President on a question of principle and honor. It has supported Indepen- dent candidates in local and State campaigns sole. ly for the public welfare, Its eyes are not blinded by the glare of party aggrandizement, It strikes to the very heart of American Institue tions, It lifts the power of money above all other Influences in our national life, No rebuke could be too stinging, no defeat too humiliating, for the party that has forced this issue to the front. To repeat what The World has already salda “Not for the Democratic party, but for demo» cratic institutions Is this written. Not against the Republican party, but for the Republic.” What will be the answer of the American people om Tuesday to the question: Shall the Presi dency be bought ?” Mr Roosevelt Replies. They cannot deny that Mr. Cortelyou Is to r=) POSTSCRIPT,—Shortly before midnight teat night Mr, Roosevelt issued a personal reply in which he entered what ts termed in law ¢ general denial to what he called the “unqualifiedly and atroclously false” charges madeby Judge Parker, Mr. Roosevelt denies that there have been any pledgas or promises or understanding as to tm» munities, but does not attempt to explain the extraordinary activity of the great trusts and corporations in his behalf. He does not explain the extraordinary changes in hls Cabinet In thiely interests. He does not explain the 618 days of secrecy in the Bureau of Publicity. He does nok He eu The issue of Cortelyou and Corruption is vita,