The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-01-18

appointed uy the Assembly 10 lnNeSllSdlt
the charges made against Howard E
Wright. Speaker of the Assembly, and, tC
investigate the methods used TO influence
members Of the Assembly in their vote
for United States Senator, met in room
73 of the Capitol building at 2:30. p. m.
with the following members present; Cos
per chairman Mellick, Lardner, Id
Baree and Sanford. The following pro
Ceedings were had:
The chairmau-"The special committee
on investigation will please come to or
der and the clerk will call the roll. BY the
way, I will say to the committee 1 have
appointed as clerk John Wray and as
stenographer Mr.. Richardson"
The roll was called, showing five mem
bers of the cOmmitNee present.
The chairman-"A quorum is present
that is to say, a majority. y motion will
be entertained fixing the number that
shall constitute a quorum
Mr.. Melck-''l move the passage of the
following resolution: Resolved, That a
quorum of this committee shall consist
of three members, of which one shall be
chairman, or some one designated by him
TO act as chairman"
The motion was seconded by Mr.. La
Baree and carried.
The chairman-'It is so ordered, Mr..
Clerk. What is the further pleasure of
the committee"
MI Mellick-"Mr. Chairman, the ser
geant-at-arms is down in the Assembly
TO see whether we can get that room to
hold our meeting in, and perhaps we
had better have d report from him"
The Chairmau-'I think we might as
we'll wait, as SO large a company is pres
ent. ! Will say to the committee that I'M
less the committee desires otherwise the
lrlf
followed. to wit: The chairman will rule
upon all questions that come before it,
and any member desiring to take issue
Will make objection. (NIr. Meade, one of
the members of the committee, who had
not up to that time appeared, entered the
committee rOOm)
Mr.. Meade-"Mr Chairman, the ser
geant-at-arms asked me to come up mere.
l want to say that the Speaker pro TEN,
excused me from acting on this commit
tee, and my successor would have been
appointed, or rather the vacancy hlled,
but for the objection of Judge Dibble this
morning. l notified the Speaker of the
House this morning that l would not serve
on this committee under any cIrcum-
stances, and l will not; and II he does
not appoint my successor there viii be
a vacancy in this committee; that is all. -
The chairman-"YOu have heard the re-
marks of Mr.. Meade Have you any ac-
ton that should be taken thereon? l sup
pose we have no jurisdiction, MIR. Meade.
/ think there ought to be a report to the
Mr.. Lardner-"I would simply report
him"
Meade refuses to serve, and that we ask
that Mr.. Burnett be appointed
Mr. Lardner-"Just report the fact, and
let him do as he pleases. move, Mr..
Chairman, that this be reported BY the
chairman of this, commfttee to the Speak
er pro TEN. of the House.
Mr.. Mellick-'I move as an amendment
Speaker pro TEN. appoint Mr.. Burnett in
Mr.. Meade's place, in view OF the TACT
that Mr.. Burnett has consented to serve .
Mr.. LaBaree-"I second that motion Of
Mr.. Melick' s."
The chairman here is no motion be-
fore memo second"
MIR. Mellick-"I will second his motion,
then, in order to get it before the COM
The chairman-"It is moved and second
ed that the declination of Mr.. Meade to
serve on this committee be reported TO the
Speaker pro TEN. Of the House. There is
an amendment offered that the declina-
ton he reported to the Speaker of the
Assembly by the chairman, and that they
recommend the appointment OF Mr.. Bur
nett TO fill the vacancy. The question is
upon the amendment. Are there any re-
Mr.. Lardner-'I think, Mr.. Chairman,
that it is out of our province to recon-
mend whom he shall appoint think We
should simply report the fact and and let the
as he sees fit. That is my view of the
MIR. Sanford-"The committee, it seems
to me. can recommend anything 1t sees
fit In view Of the fact that he is a mem
Der of the minority am now the only
member Of the minority on the commit
tee-in view of the fact that Mr.. Meade
refuses to serve and Mr.. Burnett has
consented to serve, / think that 1t would
only he right that this committee make
II known to the House, as it was not
thoroughly stated before the House this
morning. l do not see how it would be
out of the province of the committee to
simply make that request to the House"
The amendment to the original motion
was put by the chairman and was car
RED the motion as amended was also
carried.
Mr.. Cosper-"It is well, perhaps, to an
nOunce that the committee has done the
best it could through the sergeant-at-
arms, to secure more comfortable room
for our occupancy during this inYestiga-
ton; but, for the present, we are told
that X is impossible to do any better than
we have, and the session this afternoon
will have TO be held in this room. You
Will need to look with care to the bulle-
tin board to learn where our meetings
are to be held, because they are not likely
to be held In this room. 1t is too small
and too combining. What Is the further
pleasure of the committee? y
The chairman-''Wil Mr.. Ulysses 5.
Grant Jr. kindly take the witness stand
We will supply place for him over
here
Mr.. BacOn-"Mr. Chairman l Will ap-
pear for Mr.. Grant in this matter. My
name is Bacon, from Los Angeles-W.
r. Bacon. 1 understand you, Mr.. Chair
man. that the committee is not full?''
The chairman-"We lack one member
Mr. Bacon-"Do you propose to pro-
coed with the investigation prior to COM
plotting your committee%
The chairman-'I think So" g
Mr. Bacon-"On behalf of Mr.. Grant,
who is subpenaed here as a witness, we
would like very much to have the chair
man make a statement, or the commit
tee make a statement, defining the scope
that this investigation will take-as to
whether there is any specific charge that
they propose to investigate, or whether
they propose to investigate the whole
campaign that has been made in this
that IL there is a definite, specific charge
to be Investigated of course the witnesses
in this matter will be very much fewer
in number than if the entire campaign
were gone into; and for that purpose we
would like to know a little something
about it, so as to prepare ourselves for
that event.
The chairman-"I will say to the COM
rnittee and to Mr.. Bacon that the matter
is in a somewhat nebulous condition in
my own mind, but under the resolution
II seems to me that 1t is within the
province of the committee, if it sees fit
to investigate all the transactions with
reference to the candidacy of any person
for United States Senator before the
present Legislature, and 1t is my judg-
ment that that will be the course taken