The age-herald., 1900-06-14
Resolution Passed Requesting an
 Official Investigation.
INTO ACTS OF FEDERAL OFFICERS
Testimony Developed the Fact That the Whole Fight in Alabama Was for Federal Patronage-Con-
 tradictionS in Evidence

Philadelphia, Pa., June 13.-The Republi- can National Committee met at the Hotel Walton at noon today and immediately be- gan the investigation of contest cases preparatory to the formation of the tenn porary roll for the national convention.
 Chairman Hanna was not present when the committee was convened and MT. Payne, member from Wisconsin, was chosen to preside in his place. Senator Hanna came in from. Washington about 1:30 but he did not assume the duties of the chair during the afternoon.
 The entire afternoon session was de- voted to hearing recitals of testimony and to arguments in the contest from Alabama. There were seven contests from that state, including those over the representation from the state at large and those from the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh and Ninth districts. Half an hour on each side was given to the contestants on the state delegation and fifteen minutes to each side in the district cases. The newspaper representatives, as well as the public at large, were excluded from the room in which the committee sat.
 ihS ilcdiiuS III tIlc Iildlu COISlSleu OI re- citals of petty acts of bribery and of in- timidation from both sides of the contro- verses and in some cases affidavits were read in which the witnesses had testified on both sides of the case, giving absolute ly contradictory testimony The principal developments of the day consisted in bring ing out the fact that the federal office- holders in Alabama and some of those from the state who are employed in Washington had been extremely active in shaping the contests for delegates.
 Two Alabama Factions
 In the state contest there were two fac tions, one of which was known as the Vaughan faction, represented by District Attorney Vaughan, and the other headed by District Attorney Wickersham. The technical grounds of the contest had refer ence to the regularity and irregularity of the two delegations. MT. Vaughan is now chairman of the state central committee and notwithstanding he has held the posi- tion for the past two terms is a candidate for reelection. The controversy grew out of his renewed aspirations. He appeared before the committee in support of his delegation, as MT. Wickersham did, in the interest of his followers, each demanding recognition of his own faction and de- nouncing the opposition.
 It developed during the hearing of the state contests that federal officeholders had been very active in the campaign on both sides, and the hearing upon the dis trict cases served to accentuate this fact It was brought out that previous to the beginning of the campaign for the elec- tion of delegates number of the office holders met in Washington and resolved that ''as 1t was the wish of the President of the United States that no federal office holders should participate in the selection of delegates they would refrain from talk ing any part in either the primaries or in the state convention
 The further fact was developed that notwithstanding this action on their part most of the participants in this meeting proceeded to their homes and immediately started campaigns in behalf of their favor ties with a view of controlling the state delegation and thus it was argued direct ing the disposition of patronage under the next administration in case of republican success. It was found that officeholders had also been prompt on the other side of the contest.
 Federal Patronage the Object
 So palpable did it become that the fed eral patronage was the principal object in view that the committee was not long in reaching a decision to practically exclude all the contesting delegates from the tenn porary organization of the convention eX- cept those from the Ninth district
 In fact, the contestants had hardly left the room when Committeeman Joseph Manley of Maine offered the following res olution as the sense of the committed:
 Resolved, That the committee declines to place on the temporary roll any con- testing delegates or alternates from Ala bama except In the case of the Ninth dis trict, and in that district Ad Wimbs and J. w. Hughes and their alternates be placed upon the temporary roll.
 This resolution was speedily adopted, and it was hardly disposed of when Committed man Payne, who had been acting as tenn porary chairman, introduced the following resolutions:
 Resolved, That this committee requests the President of the United States to direct the proper officers to cause an investigation office holders in Alabama in connection with the election of delegates to the pri- mary conventions and to the state and dis trict conventions held in said state to elect delegates to the national convention in Philadelphia, and if the facts are as stated in the hearing held before said committee regarding the contest in said districts and state be true. this committee asks-not in the interest of the republican party, but of the country-that such action shall be talk en as the good of the public interest re- Quires."
 MT. Payne said that he introduced this resolution because of the evident pernicious activity of the oficeholders in the cam