The President's contribution to the controversy has been prompt and
outspoken. In a statement issued on Monday night he supplies an illuminating commentary on Mr. Hearst's revelations, recalling Senator Foraker's attacks on all reforms proposed by the Government, denouncing his unscrupulous agitation over the Brownsville affair, and publishing a letter written by Mr. Taft in 1907, in which Mr. Taft declared that he did not care for the Presidency if it involved a compromise with Mr. Foraker or any one else in a matter of principle. Mr. Roosevelt, it may be added, assumes the authenticity of the correspondence published by Mr. Hearst, and his reference to Mr. Haskell's intimate association with Mr. Bryan has elicited a long telegram from the latter, who denies that the Democratic Party obtained substantial aid from the Standard Oil Company, defends Mr. Haskell, and demands an immediate investigation of the charges brought against him by Mr. Hearst, and "endorsed by the President of the United States." Friday's papers contain the text of a further letter from the President denouncing Mr. Haskell as the tool of the Standard Oil Company, and as a man unworthy for any position whatever in public life. No imputations are made against Mr. Bryan's integrity, but, in view of his close relations with Mr. Haskell, the President's intervention is regarded as a fatal blow to his candidature.
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