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Show H A LETTER TO HIS MOTHER. ' I H i Jfy Dear brother. You icr'ite that there arc many things about H I the present political situation that are hazy to you, and you ask nie H several questions about them. Perhaps I might as well plunge in H and answer the first. I H You are troubled, you say, about the reports of "Roosevelt's "in- jj H veracity" which is your gentle way of putting the usual charge. H ThiB charge, I believe, originated in this way: It is understood Hl in .Washington that a President is never interviewed. If he has a HI statement to make his secretary gives it out. The reason is that so 1 H I much importanco is attached to what a President says that it would 3 H I be dangerous to permit casual conversations to bo reported in print. H There would be too many chances for misunderstanding. Therefore I H it is a rule at the "White House that the President will deny any in- w H ! tervinw in which ho is miotcd. Hl While "Roosevelt was President he talked freely to thousands of I visitora at the White House. Some of them quoted him publicly and were incensed when their statements were denied. From my ex- H perience as a newspaper man I long ago became convinced of the iu- H accuracy of the average person's report of conversations or events, H and I believe in the necessity of the White House regulation, which Hl is in force under President Taft just as it was under President Roose- H LetAme give you an illustration. While the income tax was un- H der drscussion in Congress three years ago I had a talk with Presi- H I dent Taft in which he said that he favored an income tax, but be- lieved such a law would be held unconstitutional again. The next H day I met two senators of the highest type, who had just returned H from a conference at the White House. They said that the President H was heartily jn favor of an income tax bill. I hustled down to the j White House aod by good fortune got a minute with Mr. Taft and H asked him whether he had changed his views. He said he had not. H When he heard the account of his conversation that these senators H were giving he remarked that experience had convinced him that if H a man came to the White House with a pet project, uulcss the Presi- B dent took him by the scruff of the neck and threw him out, he would B go away and tell everybody that the President was heartily for it. H . This inoident will show hoAv misunderstandings can easily arise c which Jeod to charges of "inveracity." Hj But all this is inconsequential. Of every public man you hear H that he is a liar. They are telling such stories all through the East H I about Wilflon, I could cjte you several in detail. I The average person has no means of getting all the facts and weighing all the evidence in these cases. For my part J don't think it necessary. The question about any public man is whether he is Hj fundamentally honest and sincere. On this question any intelligent HJ person can get the facts. Hr: J If; Wilson made a sincere fight for democratic conditions at H,;'i Princeton it doesn't disturb me that a reactionary trustee accused K: him in trustee meeting of being a liar. I know better. Hj If Roosevelt has been the greatest single forcfc in this country in H I the cause of human rights, if heN has fought the interests that op- H I posed the square deal, if he has honestly and courageously and cf- Hm fectively represented the side of the public welfare as against the B 1 privilege seekers, people can call him all the names they please. I '.- i know he is fundamentally honest. M I That is the basis I try to judge public men on. Isn't it the only H I practical way? YOUR LOVING SON. |