Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 January 1909 — Senator Tillman in the Net. [ARTICLE]

Senator Tillman in the Net.

That chief of all grand standers, “Pitchfork” Tillman, seems to hare been caught tightly in the meshes of the Roosevelt net. And it was his own fault in endeavoring to show that some other person was guilty, of graft. He is number one in the list of those that may find that the president is prepared to call any bluff that they may propose. If you heard anything the last day or two that sounded like a dishpan falling on a bare kitchen floor it was the noise of a pewter pitchfork clanging against the big stick. Th« senator has often blustered in the senate chamber, and has never let an opportunity pass to punch dent Roosevelt. He was the loudest as well as the first to howl like an injured angel whenever the president laid down on any of the traditions of his high office and done something progressive. Of course, he must, speak. in his own defense against the charges of bis participation in the Oregon land frauds. He followed his old tactics of trying to make himself appear white by mud slinging. But the senator did not deny any of the facts stated by the president. He offered as his defense that if his acts were illegal, the president should have made his charges long ago, claiming that he was in possession of the facts last July. Such Is not the case. They did not come into the possession of the president until Jan. 4th, when the president acted with his characteristic promptness. Let us see about the charges that Senator Tillman has to face. The postoffice at Senator Tillman’s instance had been investigating charges that a land egent named Dorr was using the mails fraudulently. It was thus learned that Senator Tillman had attempted to secure some of the rich Oregon timber land at bargain prices, but that there were irregularities in the transfer of the land that made it impossible to buy it. Tillman secured the passage of a bill In Congress empowering the attorney general to claim forfeiture of the titles of the present holders of the land. He had the attorney general draw up the bill, so that it would be correct and would pass. He had concealed the fact that he needed this legislation to secure nine quarter sections of the land at practically nothing. According to Senator Tillman’s statement, each quarter was worth from 17,000 to $16,000. One quarter was for his private secretary, another was for bis land agent and the other seven were for himself and his family of legal age. Taking the seven sections which he wanted for his family, he would have apparently paid: Seven quarter sections at $2.50 an acre Agents’ fees for making application 147.00 Contingent fee of SIOO per section when patent was granted, on 7 sections 700.00 Total for 7 sections. $3,647.00 The S7OO contingent and the $2,800 were to be offered and refused so that the actual cash investment 'would have been $147. Senator Tillman declared in his speech that the land was worth fronj $7,000 to $15,000 per quarter. Estimating It at SIO,OOO per quarter, Mr. Tillman would have secured $70,000 worth of valuable timber land at simply the cost of filing the application, which was $147. Mr. Lee, bis agent, wrote him a letter about the matter, in which be said it was a “good gamble.” The postoffice department has secured a photograph copy of this letter. Senator Tillman should now be ousted from the senate, a body that he has disgraced for years.