wrong-doing is sometimes even more difficult
to meet, as it would then be said that there is
no valid defence to be offered.

It has not been my custom to press my affairs
forward into public gaze; but I have come to
see that if my family and friends want some
record of things which might shed light on
matters that have been somewhat discussed,
it is right that I should yield to their advice, and
in this informal way go over again some of the
events which have made life interesting to me.

There is still another reason for speaking now:
If a tenth of the things that have been said are
true, then these dozens of able and faithful men
who have been associated with me, many of
whom have passed away, must have been guilty
of grave faults. For myself, I had decided to
say nothing, hoping that after my death the
truth would gradually come to the surface and
posterity would do strict justice; but while I
live and can testify to certain things, it seems fair
that I should refer to some points which I hope
will help to set forth several much-discussed
happenings in a new light. I am convinced that
they have not been fully understood.

All these things affect the memories of men
who are dead and the lives of men who are living,
and it is only reasonable that the public should

-vii-