Daily Kennebec journal., 1900-05-16
ClARK'S TRUMP.
Continued from page 1.)

| OF privilege personal " llliiiSelI. III
his speech he resigned his seat in the
Senate. Mr.. Clark said in part:
| 1T is not my desire to cast any as
| PERSONS upon the motives which actu-
ated the distinguished senators COM
posing the committee on privileges and
elections, and yet with the most re-
spectful consideration for the learning.
legal ability and eminent standing of
| these gentlemen, l am forced to the
| conclusion which l believe meets with
| the concurrence of not only a large
number of senators on both sides of
| this chamber but also so per cent of
my constituency in the state of Mon
tana, regardless of political affiliations,
| that the methods Of procedure in the
| Investigation of this matter were man.
| ifestly unfair. non-judicial, and that
| they resulted in verdict of the COM
mttee entirely opposite to that which
would have occurred should the evil
dence have been confined to that which
was admissible and pertinent in the
| case.
! Il contend that an investigation in
volving a seat in the highest legisla-
| tive body Of this nation, as well as the
| honor of an individual chosen for that
position by the people of the sovereign
| states thereof. should be conducted in
| n strictly judicial manner, and that
| in the proceedings the established rules
| of evidence should be applied. 1t is
well known to everybody that this was
not the case. 1t is true that there was
strong effort made by the honorable
senators from Alabama. Maryland,
Kansas and North Carolina, at the be
ginning of the investigation, to exclude
all the irrelevant testimony. but their
| efforts were unavailing.
THE result of the admission of all
kinds of hearsay. irrelevant. malicious
| and perjured testimony was damaging
in the extreme TO the respondent, as
| through the medium of both the re
spectacle and the venal press the most
| widespread publicity was given
| throughout the land to some Of the per
nicious falsehoods, touching the re
spcndcnt and likewise a number Of en-
inent and upright Legislators who sup
ported him and who are the peers of
| the bOasted mtn of any state in this
| union.
The prevailing theory of presump-
| tive innocence was largely ignored and
| lIlt' tIlllt proceedings were CLOSELY
anal gous to the Dreyfus case where
the prosecution was based upon pre-
sumption Cf guilt. The precedents that
have been established in examinations
Of this character since 1873 have been
| lightly considered. if not entirely dis
| regarded. 1t has heretofore been held
that there must be proved actual COM
| plicity of fraud on the part of the prin-
| cipal or actual not presumptiVe knowl-
| edge of corruption on the part of his
agents or that it must be proved. not
| inferred, that a sufficient number Of
| legislators have been cOrruptly in
fluenccd to change the result Of the
| election.
AS to the first proposition. no proof
was advanced that was accepted by
the committee and no charge of COM
plicity 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 been any proof sufficient to es-
tablish the guilt of a single legislator.
On the contrary positive evidence has
been elected in every case where the
respondent was allowed to introduce
testimony that no consideration was
given or received. or promised, nor any
consideration made to secure a vote
for the respondent"
Clark took up in detail the findings
Of the committee on privileges and
elections, criticisng many of them
simply. OF the reference to the fact
that he had frequently been candi-
date for office, he asked: Are we to
infer that it is a crime to be candi-
date for office?' .s@
He then said that he never voluntar-
lily sought to be elected to any office,
giving the circumsta nees under which
he had become a candidate at various
times. His defeat for Congress, in
1885, he attributed to Mr.. Daily, say
ing: "Treacherous work was done
everywhere in the several counties
where Daily had men employed and the
result was my defeat by several thou
sand majority and from this stagger-
ing blow of treachery the party did
not recover for many years. There
was no provocation for this. There
has been no business difficulties and
never an unkind word had been spoken
between us. 1t was simply an envious
forever destroy my political influence
in the territory"
He reiterated that he went into the
contest Of 1898 merely for the purpose
of breaking down Daily rule in Mon
tana and not for the purpose of pro-
noting his own political interests and
added: Il defy any one to show thai
was such a candidate until after the
election and not until in December
1895
Mr. Clark discussed at length the al
, legations of the committee. with refer
ence to the business transactions with
members of the Montana Legislature
conducted in his name. The transac.
tion with Mclaughlin, he said. was be.
{ gun by Bickford and Mclaughlin con-
CURED that the senatorial matter wa:
never referred to. He asserted thai
any reference to it by the committee
was ''manifestly unfair" He asked
senators to read all the evidence bear.
, ing upon this feature of the case be.
cause 1T is convincing evidence Of {
weak cause when such flimsy expedi
. ents are relied upon for support
i He also contradicted the statemen
- of the committee that he Clark knew