Report is False

President Roosevelt addresses his receival of false patronage claims that “Further the presidential interest of Secretary Taft.”

Washington -- President Roosevelt made answer to the recent public statements that he has made use of federal patronage to further the presidential interest of Secretary Taft. The answer is in the form of a letter addressed to William Dudley Foulke of Richmond, Ind., and includes a letter from Mr. Foulke to the president suggesting the need of such a statement. The president begins by characterizing the charges as “false and malicious.” He follow this with an analysis of all appointments sent by him to the senate for its action to show that in no case has the proximity of a presidential contest influenced his action. The president says in part: “The statement that I have used the offices in the effort to nominate any presidential candidate is both false and malicious. It is the usual imaginative invention which flows from a desire to say something injurious. Remember that those now making this accusation were busily engaged two months ago in asserting that I was using the offices to secure my own renomination. It is the kind of accusation which for the next few months will be rife. This particular slander will be used until exploded and when exploded those who have used it will promptly invent another. Such being the case, I almost question whether it is worth while answering, but as it is you who ask why, the answer you shall have. “Since the present congress assembled two months ago I have sent to the senate the names of all the officials I have appointed for the entire period since congress adjourned on March 4 last -- that is, for eleven months. Excluding army and navy officers, scientific experts, health officers and those of the revenue cutter service, I have made during this period about 1,350 appointments subject to confirmation by the senate, 1,164 being postmasters. Of these, appointments in the diplomatic and consular services and in the Indian service have been made without regard to politics, in the diplomatic and consular services more Democrats than Republicans having been appointed, as we are trying to even up the quotas of the southern states. “You quote a newspaper as saying: ‘We are now getting daily lessons in civil service reform from the White House which ought to attract national attention. The appointment of Taft workers to post offices in Ohio and of the totally unfit George W. Wanmaker as appraiser of this port is now followed by the president’s refusal to reappoint a good Hughes man as collector of customs at Plattsburg.’ “This article is a good example of the accusations made by those of our opponents whose partisanship renders them especially unscrupulous and untruthful. Mr. Wanmaker’s appointment was recommended by the three congressmen from New York county and by the two senators, the appointment being made precisely as the hundreds of similar appointments of postmasters and appraisers are made. “If such assertions as those of these papers are made in good faith and knowledge of facts and with any other purpose than to reduce a political effect by false pretense or by reckless statement without knowledge, let those making them produce the specific cases to which they refer. “I have been informed that certain officeholders in your department are proposing to go to the national convention as delegates in favor of renominating me for the presidency or are proposing to procure my indorsement for such renomination by state conventions. This must not be. I wish you to inform such officers as you may find it advisable or necessary to inform in order to carry out the spirit of this instruction that such advocacy of my renomination or acceptance of an election as delegate for that purpose will be regarded as a serious violation of official propriety and will dealt with accordingly.”

“Report is False,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed January 20, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/515.