The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-04-27
THE CASE OF SENATOR SCOTT.
Mr.. Pettus Desires a Further Inyes-
tiEntion by n Comm ittce.

Mr.. Pettus Desires "a Further Inves-
tiEntion by II Committee.
The resolution declaring that Nathan B
Scott is entitled to his seat as a Senator
from the State of West Virginia, was called
up in the Senate yesterday by Mr.. Pettus.
who enquired what had become Of the res
olution. The presiding officer replied that
the understanding was that it should he
taken up whenever the Senator from Ala
bama was ready to proceed with his argu-
ment en- the minority report of the Commit
tee ON Privileges and Elections against tie
| resolution which was presented by him
| and of which he was the cnly s:gner- Mr..
Pettus said that he was prepared to pro-
coed at that time, and he entered into a
long legal discussion of the case, setti- 6
forth his arguments in favor of the mi
nority report. He began by referring to
a statement made by Mr.. Chandler in his
discussion of the Quay case. to the effect
! that the votes of some Senators were cast
{ against Mr.. Mantle in 1893 lie ause he
| was silver man, and the votes of others,
| in retaliation, were cast against Mr.. Cor
| bett two years ago because he was a geld
| standard advocate.
Il hope said Mr.. Pettus. that that
| statement is not true, bot if it is this
I
! judges. l cannot believe those hard words
/ of the Senator from New Ham oshil e
! against other Senators. If Senators voted
on the grounds stated they are unfit TO
| act as judges and are unworthy of a seat
in this body. / desire - this case to
| speak only to Senators who can and viii
decide the case according TO their best
| judgment, and not on mere whim or per-
sonal caprice"
Mr.. Pettus then entered upon an argu-
ment in support of his Intention that
| Mr.. Scott Is not entitled TO a seat fol-
lowing closely the lines of the report he
| had presented. He declared that the case
| had never been fully or fairly investigated
| and that while the Committee on Privi-
| leges and Elections had used many thou
| sands of dollars in bringing witnesses
| here from the far West TO testify IN the
Clark case they had not made use of the
/ opportunities given them for investigating
the case which lay almost at their doors.
Mr.. Pettus discussed in detail the doings
| of the West Virginia Legislature, and,
commenting on 1t, exclaimed:
'Oh. Mr. President the debauchery of
| such Internal proceedings cannot be too
strongly characterized. 1t is a horrible
state OF affairs. Here are the vouchers
about as dirty set as you ever saw in
your life And we are told that the SEN
ate of the United States cannot examine
into a fraud like that. 1t may be so. 1t
may be that Mr. Scott is neither a silver
Republican nor a gold Republican, and,
therefore, you have no ground to vote
against him. On the standard set up by
the Senator from New Hampshire tMr.
Chandler) do not know whether that is so
or not. oh, do not believe that Senators
can DO such things as the Senator from
New Hampshire charges them with
I'D st,aA lsr,k
in the proceedings Mr.. Scott needed just
one more vote. There are some very
smart people in West Virginia" he remark
ed and they went Immediately 10 the bar
gain counter"
Coming to the connection of the Cover
nor of West Virginia with the question
he sharply criticised him for entering in
to the case in the interest of Mr.. Scott.
He read letter from the Governor to Mr..
Scott. in which he called attention to the
following words: Party interest de-
mands contest in your case. VIII pay
all expenses"
1T makes me sick" Mr.. Pettus ex-
claimed. Ito see that the Governor of a
great State should get down into the mud
and dirt of politics"
How about Alabama?" good naturedly
suggested Mr.. Elkins.
Il am not discussing Alabama now" re-
piled Mr. Pettus. But the Senator's pic
ture is in this thing, too. Don't get i'm
patient. I'll get to you after a while
In concluding his remarks Mr.. Pettus
demanded: HAS this case been fairly IN
yestigated? 1t has not been. Here is
Governor an Attorney General, Secretary
of State and other high officials agreeing
together to do a certain act and giving
notice that they will do It II their propo-
stions were not complied with; and they
were not complied with. The two State
Senators who had resigned their seats
voted for Scott; and the two Democrats
we're 'histed' up into the air so high they
could not vote against him. Senators. un-
til you belong to the class described by
the Senator from New Hampshire (Mr.
Chandlerl. men who vote on mere caprice
and whim, WHO vote against one man be-
cause he is a silver Republican, and who
vote against another man because re Is
a gold Republican, until you get into that
debauched frame OF mind, you will not
hesitate to say that this case was never
fairly investigated. never said that you
were debauched; and God forbid that I
should ever have cause TO say IL.
Mr.. Pettus closed with the formal mo-
tion that the case be recommltted to the |
Committee on Privileges and Elections. |
with instructions to investigate il fully by |
such legal evidence as may be presented.
Mr.. Turley who is also member OF the |
Committee on Privileges and Elections. re- |
piled briefly to Mr.. Pettus and argued in |
support Of the majority report of the COM
mittee. He maintained that Mr.. Pettus' |
argument. which was in effect that the |
Senate had authority to enquire into the |
membership of the State Legislature, was |
not sound, and declared that if the doc |
trine OF the Senator from Alabama was |
correct there would not be a single trans
action OF that Legislature which could not
be entered into by the Senate. This, he |
said, would be subversive OF many Of the
principles OF Democracy, and he appealed |
to the Senate to stand by the report OF |
the committee.
Mr.. Chandler, Chairman of the commit |
tee, submitted an argument OF the same |
general purport He said that he would |
not discuss the Quay case; that was past. |
He would not discuss the Montana case; |
that was in the future. He would confne !
himself to the West Virginia case. The |
fact was, he said. that there had been two |
sets OF contestants facing each other in |
the Legislature and that there had been |