Omaha daily bee., 1897-12-02
PORTER TELLS ALI Anour IT.
His Version Of the Opening of EIec-
tfuu Returns

tion Returns.
LINCOLN, Dec. t,-(Special) THE secre-
tary Of state furnished the following letter
to the press today:
To the Citizens Of the State Of Nebraska:
So much has been said by the republican
papers Of the state In regard to the election
returns having been unlaSfully opened by
myself and having been tampered with in
this office. thereby endangering the legality
Gt issuing certificates OF election to Judge
deem 1t proper to mako a statement OF the
facts as they exist In order that the people
may be able to understand and judge for
themselves as to whether hava been guilty
OF w!lful and malicious violation OF the law,
as. is charged by the State Journal and
To begin with wish to say that the
statement that the returns have been tam
pered with in this Office and that the Off
cial election returns have been opened by
myself, examined and returned to the
county clerks to b. corrected or changed,
Is false, except as l shall hereinafter ex-
plain.
Before election this office sent to the
county clerks OF the state two abstracts ard
two envelopes with the official address of
this Office, one being endorsed on the end
Election Returns for the Office of Judge
OF tn, the Supreme Court RegePnts n Of tn the Uni nj
to contain duplicate for our convenience in
tabulating returns, the one with the en-
dorsement to be filed away to be opened by
the canvasslng board. quite number of
the counties did so send returns in duQli-
cate, in which case one envelope was opened
as stated above and the one marked Flee
tion Returns. ETC." was filed away to be
opened by the canvassing board at its
meeting. Many of the clerks, however, sent
their returns in their own envelopes un-
marked and there was no possible way of
knowing what the envelopes contained and
these were opened as ordinary mail matter
and We only then discovered that they con
talned abstracts of election. These were put
in another envelope and sealed up and laid
away with the remainder of the returns,
Just as has been done in former years and
as has always been the custom of the
Office. l submit TO every fair-minded citi-
zen to Judge for himself whether there Is
anything in this that could have been
avoided or anything sufficiently irregular
to warrant the charge of Illegally tamperins
In regard to the charge of having re-
turned election returns to some twenty
counties which was made by Mr.. Sizer sec
retary OF the republican state central com
mittee, the fact is simply this; Only three
We're returned, and for the purpose of cor
rectng omissions where the clerk had failed
either to sign his name or place the seal of
the county on the abstract. No attempt II as
made nor any request to the county clerks
to In any way change the returns from
these three counties They were simply
technical errors which We're likely to occur
and no harm could possibly come by hay
ing them corrected.
If the honest voters of the state will but
reflect for a moment and consider the fac,
tsat the abstract sent 10 this office is but a
copy of the original on file in the Office OF
the county clerks throughout the state ana
With these CCpies In this office, they will
readily see the ahsurdity of the charge and
that any tamperinS with the abstracts
would have been an act of idlocy, as II
cOu!d>so easily have been detected. Had l
been as dishonest as these fakirs have rep
resented me to be l b.li ve that | would have
had more horse sense than 10 undertake
to do something that could so easily have
been detected and which could not have in
any way affected the result of the last cleo
ton. had l desired so to do. Even If Mr..
Sullivan's majority had been so small tha;
miglt have been an object in wishing to
change the returns, everyone with ordinary
intelligence knows that it could not have
been done In this office without it bairg
known by comparison with the original
abstracts held by the county clerks.
There are also a number of other charges
that have been brought in connection with
this by the York Times and some other re-
publican papers of the state, charging that
printing of the house and senate journals
| and session laws advertised for last sum
mer. This st'ement is entirely false and the
| facts are simply these: The Printing board
| met and received bids ADVERTISED for
| Upon Cyening and examining these bids the
| board exercised the right that is always re-
| served by every board in such cases and re-
| jected all of them and called for new bids to
| be submitted at a later date, and by so do
| hundred dollars and OF course deprived
| these gentlemen who were bidding of tEa.
| much of a rakeoff, (which, of course, they
| not being accustomed TO, made them feel
somewhat aggrieved.
individually | care nothing for the criti-
csms of the State Journal and other repub-
| lican papers of that ilk. who, having fat
tened off the taxpayers under the republi-
| can administrations OF the past, find II i'm
possible to believe that there is any hon
| esty in the state house and that everything
| Is only done for effect, when II comes TO a
question of economy, and | only make this
statement because | have been charged with
| wilfully and maliciously tamperlng with
election returns and violating the Laws of
| the state. So long as l am being assailed In
! nv official capacity by those papers | fee
| satisfied that am performing my duty and
should the time ever come wlen they spea.
| of my administration OF the affairs of this
| office with commendatlon ! shall very care
| fully examine the conduct of the Office to
| see wherein the interests of the people of the
state have failed to be protected, as we all
| know that the State Journal has always de-
witHn the walls of the capitol building and
| is only now bowling because 1t has been
| pushed away from the pubic trough and
| compelled to come in and do work at logt-
| innate prices instead of getting the eXorbi-
| tant prices II has been enjoying at tho
| hands of past administrations for printing
| and other york done for the state.
| 1t is apparent TO every fair-minded citi-
| zen, in view of the fact that these same or
| gans have tried to mplicate Governor Hol-
| comb in the stealings of BARLEY and others
| and have been bowling about Meserve's
| straw bond etc, that they are simply try
! ing to distract the attention of the people
| %ill not succeed, for. as the immortal Lin
| coin once remarked, they may be able "to
| fool all of the people some of the time, and
| some of the people all of the time, but they
| cannot fool all az the people all of the time -
| Very respectfully, W. F. PORTER