OCR Text |
Show ROTTENNESS OF THEIRPOLITICS Syracuse, N. Y.. April 21 At the conclusion of his direct testimony in the Barnes libel suit, Theodore Roose velt staged one of those political bomb explosions, of which he was an acknowledged ac-knowledged master. The homb was placed under the chair of Mr. Barnes, and Roosevelt b lawyers, at his direction direc-tion lighted the fuse. The letter follows fol-lows "The Journal Company, Publishers, Albany. N Y.. Dec. 22. 18?). "Dear governor It is rumored that you contemplate In your message advising ad-vising the establishment of a state printtng house I write you this letter because T presume that your message will be a matter discussed between vou and your friends tomorrow It Is not my desire to Intrude my personal matters upon you, but I wish merely to state the fact that the establishment establish-ment of a state printing house here would be a serious, if not a fatal, blow to me financially 'Very truly jrnrs, (Signed) WILLIAM M BARNES, Jr." "Hon Theodore Roosevelt, care Douglas Robinson. Esq , Madison ave., New York." Mr Roosevelt was governor When the foregoing letter was written. Mr Barnes, as Mr Roosevelt's counsel coun-sel next proceeded to show, acquired eighteen months later 750 of the 3,-000 3,-000 shares of the J. B. Lyon company, which he relinquished in 1912 at the time the Payne investigation was seeking seek-ing to prove that he was a partner In the company The Lyon company does all the state printing. Roosevelt's Reply. By way of replying to this hardest Jolt Mr Barnes has yet received at the hands of the colonel, the Albany editor's edi-tor's lawyers produced the following reply: "State of New York. Executive Chamber. Albany. Dec. 23. 1899. "Hon. William Barnes. Jr , the Jour, nal Company. .Albany. N. Y. My Dear Barnes I showed your letter of the 22nd Inst to Senator PlatL I would like to see you ahout It as soon as possible There is a per-feot per-feot oonsenauB of opinion that there should be a state printing office, Sincerely yours. THEODORE ROOSEVELT " (Bigned) The idea of this reply, which the 1 1 colonel s lawyers failed to produce. I was that Governor Roosevelt, lar Trom 1 1 seeing anvthing out of the way In Barnes's pitiful plea, proposed calmly to talk it over with him instead of in dulgitig in expressions of horror that such a thins could be. But Roosevelt promptly countered by proving that he proceeded to urge this even at the cost of striking a serious, if not a fatal, blow at Mr. BarneB. This savage blow at Barnes came at the en( of a day In which Roosevelt had become him-selt him-selt again. Colonel's Testimony. For three hours, showing his teeth flapping the arms of his chair, his voice ofien breaking into a curious squeak, he had recited conversations with politicians all of which put Mr Barnes in an unfavorable light These may he summarized as follows: William lyoeb told him that hp tLoeb) had appealed to Rarnes to elect a better Democrat as senator than William F. Shechan in 1911 and names had said that be had an arrangement ar-rangement with Charles V Murphy by which Mr. Murphy was to have a free hand In this particular battlo. William Sulzer had asked him to read the Sulzer state papers and had declared that Murphy was after him because he had tried to eradicate the roitenness of the state administration John A Hennessv had told him that the state officials, Demorratic and Republican, Re-publican, were inconceivably corrupt and cited names that the colonel could not recall "I paid more heed tn Hennessy than I did to Sulzer," said tbe witness with a confidential smile -oo |