THE ROLL CALL
Saving System Corruptionists BY ITS VOTE on the resolution to re-investigate the LoR-imer case, the United States Senate on Thursday of last week proclaimed again to the world the bi-partisan...
...The Wife—"What...
...Will it affect the duty on iron...
...REVIEWING THE PAST, it seems fairly safe to predict that under this decision the Standard Oil company of New Jersey will fade gracefully away—and be succeeded by a number of lawful companies, "potentially" capable of competition but far too amiable to engage in such reprehensible conduct in this era of universal peace...
...The record shows calculation in guiding the investigation to the minimum of result—to the minimum of disclosure that, in the then state of public sentiment and information, the "Old Guard" believed could be "put over" as an "investigation...
...Didn't the judges know the company had been fined all that money because it broke the law...
...If the Senate ever gets the truth it will establish that fact, for the proof exists...
...I had not read 100 pages of the testimony before I was impressed that at least some members of that committee were trying to prevent an inquiry instead of to make one...
...Crane Cullom...
...But the Farmer said: "I am surprised at your Gall in offering an opinion on such a subject...
...The fearless stand taken and the outspoken declarations of the Progressives are typified by the following excerpts from the Record: Bristow...
...I don't see—" "Great Scott...
...Fletcher, Florida...
...Saving System Corruptionists BY ITS VOTE on the resolution to re-investigate the LoR-imer case, the United States Senate on Thursday of last week proclaimed again to the world the bi-partisan control of that institution of government, proclaimed it a control of the System by the System and for the System...
...the effect upon other Senators, who had been parties to this suppression in the last Congress, of the protests of angered constituencies—all forces combined to render inevitable a re-investigation of the Lorimer case...
...The supreme court decides that the Standard Oil company must dissolve...
...that there is to be further jugglery in secret caucus...
...Kern, Indiana...
...The Lorimer resolution, carried over as reported in our last Roll Call from Monday to Thursday, was, on Thursday, after heated and at times acrimonious debate, finally disposed of by the adoption of the "Martin resolution," calling for an investigation by the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections— the commiitee which-only a few months ago perpetrated the Lorimer "whitewash...
...exclaimed his Son, "I was competent to buy the Horses, unsight, unseen, wasn't I; any am I not competent now, after I have watched them working for six months, to decide what Ones are no good...
...The country is tired of a half hearted investigation...
...If Mr...
...That is not the question now...
...If the beef trust furnished money, what is the quid pro quo for the beef trust...
...Well, then, why did you say it was a good thing...
...Recalling Horses and Judges THE FARMER said to his Son: "You may go to the Fair and pick out half a dozen Horses for our use...
...Bourne Bristow Brown Clapp Crawford Cummins Dixon Gronna Kenyon La Follette Perkins Poindexter Nays— (Democra ts) Davis Hitchcos Lea Martine Newlands Owen Pomerene The following pairs were announced: Chamberlain (against) with Oliver (for), Myers (against) paired with Paynter (for), Works (against) paired with O'Gormon (for), Smith (S...
...that a subcommittee had been in fact agreed upon to make the investigation...
...To this end they plotted the defeat of the La Follette resolution and the substitution therefor of "something just as good,"—of a resolution referring the investigation to the System-controlled Committee on Privileges and Elections...
...Is it not clear that the fetish of "Senatorial courtesy" —the plea of giving the old committee a chance to set themselves right on this Lorimer business—was interposed as the merest subterfuge to conceal a serious and sinister System design, a design to place the re-investigation under the control of a committee that will seek again to restrict the inquiry to the minimum of result and the minimum of disclosure that can again be "put over" as an "investigation" of the Lorimer case...
...Hines produce that information...
...Again...
...Kenyon...
...The California Outlook...
...askad the Son, doubtfully...
...Hines' duty on lumber and keep it on the tariff bill...
...Then we find that by September public opinion had grown so in regard to the connection of this man HINES with this controversy that a great conservation congress held at St...
...Paul considered Hines would not be a fit man to preside in the chairmanship of the committee on credentials, and why...
...These may be selfish sentiments to utter here, but, Mr...
...District attorneys prosecute these trusts...
...The Sub-Committee EVEN AS THEY VOTED through the Martin resolution, the bi-partisan System leaders were forced to admit that there is no intention to proceed according to its provisions, but that it was only a device to get the entire business under System control...
...He simks into insignificance...
...N-no, I don't believe it will...
...I thought Judge Landis made thun do it a long time ago...
...If Mr...
...Gamble, South Dakota...
...Stephenson Sutherland Wetmore Yeas—(Democrats ) Bacon Bailey Chilton Clarke (Ark...
...It was notorious for the conservation congress to deny chairmanship of the committee of credentials to him, but it was not notorious in the subcommittee at Chicago to send for him and to ask him what he knew in regard to the election of WillIAm Lorimer—the election of a man who, as I understand it, he had boasted throughout the clubs of Chicago that he had created and raised to the exalted position which he then was fill-ing...
...Kenyon, Iowa...
...I've got to run if I'm going to get the 7:20...
...This matter smells to heaven...
...Whether we believe it or not, we realize the force and power of that public sentiment...
...As Woman Sees It THE Husband—"Good...
...The investigation of the last session deliberately avoided its responsibility...
...President, I think this senate owes something to itself as well as to the public...
...Hines with his lumber trust has contributed, has it been for the purpose of getting a district attorney to prosecute trusts...
...If Mr...
...Culberson Fletcher Foster Johnson Johnston Kern Martin Overman Rayner Shively Simmons Stone Taylor Terrell Watson Williams Nays—(Republicans ) Borah...
...In this case the court—" "Judge Landis...
...That the Lorimer "whitewash" of last session could not be "put over" with the people was everywhere manifest, and finally conceded on all hands...
...Then the Son went around behind the Barn, kicked himself three times and said softly: "My father is a Chump...
...It is an abhorrent thing to me that the head of a great lumber trust can sit on the upholstered lounges of a great club, and, surrounded by the aroma of a cigar, boast how they have spent $100,000 to 'put over' the election of a man to the United States senate...
...They determined that the corrupting influences and the System backers who "put Lorimer over" should be saved...
...You are as competent as anybody," answered the Farmer...
...After devoting about three-fourths of the space taken by the report in the Congressional Record," he said, "to an arraignment of the law officers of Cook County and of Sangamon County, it put them on trial before the Senate instead of this organization, composed of the beef trust and lumber trust and kindred interests to buy a seat on the floor of the Senate...
...La Follette...
...Are you Competent to decide an important matter of that kind...
...This question goes further than Mr...
...He balks and soldiers and kicks things to pieces...
...The heat and earnestness of the debate and the frankness with which Senators commented upon the "investigation" of the last session is everywhere characterized in the press comment as "sensational" and "unprecedented...
...Re-investigation Was Conceded THE DETERMINED STAND taken by the Progressive Senators in support of the La Pollette resolution demanding a re-investigation of the Lorimer affair...
...Well, for the Love of Mike...
...Chicago Record-Herald...
...This resolution directs the Committee on Privileges and Elections "sitting en banc" to investigate whether in the election of William Lorimer as a Senator from the State of Illinois, there were used and employed corrupt methods and practices," including the relation, if any, of the legislative "jackpot" to the Lorimer election...
...THE BETRAYAL OF THE PEOPLE IS PLAIN...
...Oh, no...
...He only fined them $29,000,000 for accepting rebates from the railroads...
...This sub-committee will be put through in the Senate by the votes of the same bi-partisan System combine that put through the Martin substitute...
...Yes, of course, but—" "Well, I don't see why they had to decide it all over again...
...It is a more important question than any that ever came before the senate...
...It demands the exposure of the System and of the activities of its "men higher up" in this black business of buying the control of government with money, and this is what the system has decreed shall not be...
...for...
...Exposures of corruption in the Lorimer election, published broadcast in the country, had awakened a public opinion which forced even a System Senate, indifferent as it so often proclaims itself to be to the demands of the people, to act and to yield some pretense of concession to the demands of the country...
...The point of this arrangement is that this sub-committee is made up of Senators, a majority of whom cannot be objected to as partisan to Lorimer, but with all but two, Kenyon of Iowa and Lea of Tennessee, and possibly a third, Kern of Indiana, distinctly and notoriously System servitors, Senators who will stand together, whenever necessary, to protect the System's favored from exposure under the guise of "limiting the investigation to its legitimate scope of investigating the validity of Lorimer's title to a seat in the Senate...
...Remember, I am taking these Animals almost unsight, unseen...
...Otherwise, why did the loud-mouthed champions of lorimerism of a few months ago, why did every Senator, save one, who voted last session to sustain just such an "investigation," who voted to approve or condone bribery and corruption and to validate the Lorimer election, vote on Thursday of last week for the Martin substitute...
...For a Minimum of Disclosure EXCEPT for the reference to the "jackpot," this resolution directs the same committee, substantially in the same language as it was directed by resolution in the last Congress, to investigate—and which directions it then openly violated and disregarded...
...Will it in the hearing of the tariff bills that are to come protect Mr...
...Lea, Tennessee...
...No...
...President, the Senate is to hear more of them until that time when the Senate rears the standard of public service higher than the standard of senatorial politeness and courtesy...
...That is one feature of this case that has come to me lately, because I have seen these withering blights of Lorimerism in those kinds of prosecutions...
...Besides you must learn the Business...
...At the end of six months the Son said to his Father: "I have been using these Horses every day, and my Mind is now made up...
...For public consumption this high System resolve was put in the form of a resolution offered in the Senate by the organization leader of the Senate Democrats...
...The Real Issue THE REAL contest pertained to the manner of the investigation and the makeup of the investigating committee...
...So the Youth brought home the Horses and the Farmer said they all looked good to him...
...Thus Systemwise was it resolved in the secrecy of the two party caucuses of the Senate...
...We must get rid of him...
...O, senators who are charged today with the responsibility of putting this case where it will be investigated, for the honor of the senate and the integrity of this government, I ask you, are you willing to commit it to a committee, seven members of which joined in that report and nine members of which, as it is at present constituted, voted to sustain that report...
...Am I competent for this Job, do you think...
...But, as I explained before, that was another matter...
...High System Resolve "BY THE GRACE oF the Organization Republicans of the Senate in alliance with the Organization Democrats of the Senate, be it highly resolved that, while a re-investigation of the Lorimer case cannot be prevented, the conduct of such investigation shall be placed in 'safe' and 'reliable' hands to the end that the system's hInes-tildens and its other 'best people' shall be protected from exposure and possible prosecution, and the 'trade secrets' in bribery and corruption of the monopolies and trusts who contribute money to 'put over' the election of their tools to places of power in the people's government shall be protected from public exposure...
...That is, they may attempt to do so, but will not succeed...
...The court has decided, after long and careful deliberation, that the company is breaking the law and must—" "Why did it take so long...
...Our senators and representatives dictate largely the appointment of district attorneys...
...System safety requires a committee that will so guard and direct the investigation that corrupting "Big Business" shall come off unscathed...
...Because of his notorious connection with the Lorimer case...
...whether men can come here to make laws under these circumstances...
...I am going to support the resolution of the Senator from Wisconsin (La Follette) because I think the committee, instead of following up all of the trails that were open leading to evidence, avoided them...
...This committee is still composed, for most part, of Senators who either participated in the last "investigation" as members of the committee, or as members of the Senate, aided and abetted in "putting over" the Lorimer whitewash in the Senate...
...Lorimer or will it feel it has authority to go out and find who contributed the money to buy his seat in the Senate and search for legal authority to bring action against the men who furnished the money to bribe legislators and buy seats in this body, or will it hamper itself by that sense of propriety and restriction that will make safe Mr...
...the supreme court...
...It is a question of this senate being on trial and this whole form of government being on trial...
...Sutherland, Utah...
...Lorimer...
...Certainly not," said the Farmer, "that is different...
...C.) (against) paired with Richardson (for), Gore (against) paired with Smith (Md...
...You are weighing in the nice balances that men are asked to hold here, senatorial courtesy on the one side and the honor of the senate on the other side...
...Will this committee when it is organized investigate exclusively Mr...
...HlNES and the men from whom he collects $10,000 contributions...
...The "investigation" being placed in control of the secret caucus and the Committee on Privileges and Elections, by the substitution of the Martin resolution, no champion of Lorimer and no servitor of the System had further objection to the investigation and the resolution as amended was agreed to on a viva voce vote without a roll call...
...Well, anyway, I suppose kerosene will be much cheaper now...
...They did not permit "Senatorial courtesy" to prevent their making themselves understood...
...Like the chameleon, the more the Standard changes the more it is the same thing.-—Chicago Tribune...
...Issue Made Plain by Progressives IN THE DEBATE on the substitution of the Martin resolution for that of La Follette, the issue was made plain by the Progressives, both Republicans and Democrats...
...the refusal of new Senators to be parties to further suppression...
...Carefully calculating System managers, while conceding the re-investigation of Lorimer, determined that concessions to public opinion and public interest should stop here...
...The case has gone beyond that...
...Senators may assume to despise public opinion and hold it in contempt and they may discredit the intelligence of the American reading public...
...Hines is correct—if the lumber trust furnished the money to elect Lorimer—what does the lumber trust expect back...
...It is what the System's bi-partisan combine in the Senate banded together to prevent in passing the Martin substitute...
...Senatorial seats should not be on the bargain counter for great interests to buy, and if the proof is here, and if the proof ever is taken in this case it will establish that great interests contributed to buy this seat, that more than $100,000 was contributed and that more than $200,000 was contributed and that Lee O'Neil Browne had the distribution of more than a $100,000 of it...
...Get the best you can for the money...
...The public interest demands more than the exposure of one corruptionist—a mere tool...
...Democrats—Johnston, Alabama...
...Is it not clear that the real purpose of the bi-partisan deal by which the Maetin resolution was adopted was to defeat the La Follette resolution, which required that the investigation be made by a select committee to be chosen by roll call in open Senate...
...Five of them are excellent, but One is no good at all...
...This committee, according to System expectations, will so guide and control the investigation that the System, though caught red-handed in crime and corruption, will lose only a part of the profits of its wrong-doing—will lose only the remainder of a purchased Senatorship...
...O, I mean what I say, and I say it with a full sense of responsibility, and I say it because it is time it should be said here...
...We know him not...
...It is a question of representative government...
...Curtis Dillingham Dupont Gallinger Gamble Guggenheim Heyburn Jones Lippitt Lodge McCumber McLean Nelson Nixon Page Penrose Root Smith, (Mich...
...The question goes to that far-reaching extent...
...The vote by which the Martin substitute was "put over" in the Senate was as follows: Yeas—(Republicans) Bradley Brandegee Bumham Burton Clark, (Wyo...
...This subcommittee has been given out as follows: Republicans—Dillingham, Vermont, chairman...
...If there is anything that is needed, it is to restore the Senate of the United States to the high public esteem it once occupied and which it ought to occupy now...
...It is not easy...
...This much was openly conceded before the close of the Senate debate on Monday of last week...
...Of course we must take some chances...
...Lea...
...Hines has that information I want a committee that will make Mr...
...Not voting—Bankhead, Briggs, Bryan, Frye, Lorimer, Percy, Reed, Smoot, Swanson, Thornton, Tillman, Town-send, and Warren...
...Suppression to Save the System THEY CAN hardly hope to save Lorimer again...
Vol. 3 • June 1911 • No. 23
