Mr. Roosevelt has sent a special Message to Congress dealing
with the charges of corrupt action brought against the United States Government in connexion with the Panama Canal. The story, which originated in the New York Wand, owned by Mr. Joseph Pulitzer, accuses the Government of corruption in the transaction by which the Panama Canal property was acquired from its French owners, and expressly charges Mr. Charles P. Taft, brother of the President-elect, and Mr. Douglas Robinson, Mr. Roosevelt's brother-in- law, with making huge profits out of improper dealings between Government agents and an American syndicate who had got possession of the French company. It further accuses Mr. Cromwell, counsel for the Panama Canal Company in the negotiations, of illicit dealing, and asserts that the Govern- ment, with the connivance of Mr. VT. H. Taft, then Secretary of War, destroyed or wiped out all traces of the "deal" between the Government and the outside beneficiaries. Mr. Roosevelt denounces these charges as false in every particular from end to end, and demands the public prosecution of Mr. Pulitzer, adding that the Attorney-General has under con- sideration the form in which proceedings shall be brought. It remains for Mr. Pulitzer to prove his charges—if he can. His so-called " answer " published on Wednesday proves nothing.
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