The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-05-16

After reading the letter Mr.. Clark
said,
"Mr, President, dssirs in retiring
from the Senate. to state, that l have
here formed some WARM friends which
honor aeIe presiding officer the must cour-
.eous attention. am desoly sensible cf
the gsnirous sympathy and SUPPORT Of
aImost all Of my Democratic colleagues
ana for the cordial good wishes Of great
number Of Republican friends Wish 20
express my profound gratitude"
Scsrnely had the routine business been
concluded when Mr.. Clark Of Montana
rose and addressed the chnir on oues-
tion Of privilege perAcnal 20 hin, self. In
his speech he resigned his seat In the
Senate. Mr.. Clark said In part: "It Is
not my desire to cast any asper.ions
upon the motives which aetuated the
distinguished Senators composing the
comm Ittee on privileges and elections.
and yet with the most respectful oonsid.
Grafton for the learnis9, legal ability and
eminent standing Of these gentlemen, /
am forced to the conclusion, which be-
Heve meets with the concurrence CT not
,nly large number OF Senators on both
81 des Of this chamber. but also OF eighty
OF Montana, regardless OF political ANIL
lati ons, that the mstboda Of procedure In
the invs stiqation Of this mstter were
manifestly unfsir, non. Idioial, and
tn ct they resulted in q verdict Of the
committee entirely opposite to that which
would have occurred should the evidences
Rave teen confined to that wbioh was
s,I contend that an Investigation In
volving seat In the highest legislative
body of this nation, es well as the honor
Of an individual chosen for that position
By the people OF the sovereign states
thereof, should be conducted In a strictly
judicial manner. and that in the proceed
inRs. the established rules OF evidence
should be applied. II Is well known TO
every body that this was not the case
II 10 true tbnt there was q strong effort
made by the honorable Senators from
Alabama, Maryland, Kansas and North
Carolina, at the beginpipe OF the inves-
tiQation, to exclude all the irrelevant
testimony, but their efforts were unavaii-
ing,
1.-THE result OF the admission OF all
kinds OF hearsay. irrelevant. malicious
and psrj ursd testimony was damaging
in the extreme to the respondent. as
through the medium OF both the respect
able and the venai press the most wide
spread publicity was given throughout
the land to some OF the psrn ioious false
hoods, touching the respondents and like
wise a large number OF most eminent aud
upright Legislators who supported him
and who are the peers of the boastsd men
of any state In this union.s
"Ths prevailing tn sory Of presu'aptive
Innocence WAS largely Ign ored and the
entire nrocsstings were oiossly analogous
was based upon . presumption OF guilt.
The presidents that have been established
In organizations OF this character since
1855 have been lightly considered. II mot
entireiy diarsgarded. 1t has heretofore
been held that there must be previous
actual completely OF fraud on the part OF
the principal, or actual not presumptise
knowledge of corruption ON the part of
his agents, or that IL must be proved,
not Inferred, that q sufficient number
OF legislators have been corruptly intiu.
enoed to change the result OF the cleo
ton.
''As to the frat proposition no proof
was adduced that was accepted By the
committee and Nd charge Of completely
has been made In the report.
"As to the second proposition, not In
single instance. In my opinion. or In
The opinion Of the eminent counsel who
aided me In this Investigation has there
heeu any proof sufficient to establish the
Guilt Of a single legislator. On the con.
trary positive evidences has been eiioited
ia avery case where the respondent was
allowed to introduce testimony that no
was give nor received, or
nor any consideration made TO
secure a vote for the respondent"
Here MIR. CLARK took up In detail the
u ndings of this oonnmittse on privileges
Il nd elections, critioising many II them
s sharply. OF the reference to the fast ths
lie had frequently been q candidates for
office, he asked:
"Are we 10 infer that 1t is a crime to
tie candidate for otfiosf'
He then said that he never Voluntarily
sought to be elected to any Gffl1e giving
the circumstances under which be had
bsoome a candidate at various times. His
dofsat for Congress In 1888 he attributed
10 Mr.. DAILY, saying:
'Ireacherous work was done every