Copy of Letter from President Theodore Roosevelt to Secretary of the Interior E. A. Hitchcock

3 investigation of this kind it is very important that it be so conducted as to inflict the minimum of hardship upon the par- ties accused, if they prove to be innocent. If Frantz and his people are guilty, then the damage to the Republican party is greatly increased by having us taking action against them in September or October instead of July; while if they are innocent, then the mere fact of the investigation having been so long drawn out causes an irreparable damage to the innocent accused people, and the benefit which has come in any case to the Flynn faction and to the Democrats will be unaccompanied by any benefit in getting at the guilty people. It is mani- festly the purpose of the Flynn crowd and of the Democrats to drag this investigation on as late as possible for the purposes of political electioneering, and we do not want to appear to have been used as tools by politicians for their own purposes. I can not help thinking that it should have been possible for our agents to have finished the case in such shape that an immediate judgment could have been past upon it six weeks ago. I do not quite understand the rights of the correspondence you submit to me in connection with United States Attorney Burke, of Wyoming, and Mr. Hintze. On their face the letters of Messrs. Burke and Clark would show Mr. Hintze's conduct to be entirely improper, and their own conduct to have been proper. But of course there may be facts which show the contrary, which, owing to my lack of familiarity with the matter, I am not possest of. I will send all the papers to the Attorney General