The Portland daily press., 1900-04-24

The oom mittea nno tpe case pkotoo
withcut rsiyina upon such dsstruetion Of
checks, failure TO render accounts eRd
qiwssard Of the legal limit OF expendi,
tbra But thsy furnish to TIE cqmmittss
strong addItlonsl feAs6nS TOR believing
the ethsf evidence Tpish seems 70 sstab-
iish the sorruption charged. Only two
poinss Of law are presented, ~ follows;
.1-It is clear that II By bribery or COR
rupt practices ON the part OF the friends
Of a..canaidAts who are conducting his
eanvass vetss are obtained for him with
out which he would not have had . ma
jority his alection should be annullsd, al
though proof is lacking that he knew OF
the bribery or corrupt practices.
2-It seems 70 have bees admitted that
II the person elected clearly participated
In any ons act Of bribery or attempted
bribery, he should be- depFivsd Of his
ofiice, although the result of the election
was not thereby changed.
Commenting on the legal phases ef the
Sase, the committee saysi
"Acccrding to the Law as understood
by the CONN mittee, senator Clark cannot
be permitted to retain his seat. He re-
ceived nfiy.four votes and there wsre
twsnty-nius against him. leaving him an
apparsn, ms ority Of twenty five. II he OBJ
tainsd through illegal and corrups pran-
tees eight votes which would oihsrwiss
have hsen cast against him, he was no;
legally eisoted. More than tails number
IL votes the committee Hnd f;om- all the
evidence, was thus obtained.
st also is reasonable corclusion upon
the whole case that senator Clark IL fair
Iy to be charged with knowledge tf the
acss done In his behalf By his com mites
and py bis agents conduoting his can
vsss. He nrrisei In Hslsua from Butto
on Janusrg 4, and remained thers until
sfser his tIsetion on January 2S, ami wss
In constant. cor rsnoe with his commit
tee and agents.
| "Much criticism has been made OF the
coBteftantS, especially of Mir. A. j.
Campbell, a mem ber of the Houie o.
Representatives, and an active prosecutor
CT charges against Senator CLERK. some
members OF the com mittss cannot refrain
fecm expressing their disapproval Of the
methods pursued by Mr.. Campbell and
Mr.. Whiteside IN tbs persecution OF tho
ksrRes sgsinst Senator CLARK, snd Il %
do not approve OF the actions of Mr.. Dali
in sgrseing to furnish an unlimited
amount ef money to carry en- tie prosser-
tion. Some mem hers Of the ooDmi / toe,
hoWevsr, do mot join in any criticism Of
Mr. Campbell and Mr. Daly."
! lie me jority of the committee express
| the opinicD ttai "the transactions oon-
cerniug the judges of the supi ene court
of Montana need special nsidsraticn.
A mstority os the committee believe
that Senator Clsrk's agents In their dss.
peration CT scsount Of the decision Of the
court to take jurisdiet on in the Well
come case, attempted an Improper az
proaoh to the judges Ct the corrt and to
Attorney General Nolan which fact can
net but have osrtain iuduecce In the
consideration of the other acts OF those
agents In connection with the Senstorial
| election.
A minority Of the committee. however.
bell sve that the transactions were res
Inter sljos aeta AID that ths evidence does
not suliioi'ntiy bring home to senat'F
Clark or his agents any Improper attempt
TO Inf fl1enos the court or the attorney.
The report was presented by Senator
Chandler for the entiro committee and
was not s!gnsd A Minority Of ths oom-
mittse eit not approve of come Of the
features. Ths Views of the minority will
be submitted tomorrow. Senator Clark
refused to make any statement at this
timp,