On Monday Mr. Tillman, the American Senator who was charged
by Mr. Roosevelt with having been concerned in a questionable land transaction in Oregon, defended himself in a speech before the Senate. The charge was made by Mr. Roosevelt by way of proof that the maintenance of the Secret Service Bureau was necessary, and he produced photographs of a letter and telegram which Mr. Tillman wrote in the course of the negotiations for the land. There was great excitement in the Senate when Mr. Tillman made his speech. He had often assailed the President with what the Times correspondent calls his " brilliant Southern rhetoric," but he had never before been put on the defensive, and the new role did not appear to suit him. In a sense the position of all Congress depended on Mr. Tillman's speech, for if it could be shown that a Member who so often denounced venality was himself lacking in integrity, the recent Message of Mr. Roosevelt to Congress would be at once justified. Mr. Tillman did not deny the genuineness of the letter and telegram, but lie explained that when be denied lately all share in the trans- action he meant that he had not bouight. any hand or under-, taken to buy any. That be had considered the question Of
Purchase was quite true, and he admitted that be had perhaps been "disingenuous."
Previous page
