Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-03-01
57th coNcR
CONTINUED from page ~

question. The offenSeS committed by the
two senators were not in the opinion of
a majority Of the committee. of equal
gravity. The charge made by Mr.. Till
man had been once before in the Senate
specifically denied in parliamentary Ian
guage by Mr. McLaurin. The offense
charged against Mr. McLaurin was
among the most reprehensible a senator
could commit. He could not ignore or
fail 10 refute it and hope to be longer re-
sLected as man or as a senator
Mr.. McLaurin did not commence the
encounter but only stood in his place at
his desk where he was speaking and re-
sisted the attack that was made upon
lin. In other words, his offense was
confined to the use of unparliamentary
language, for which he had unusual prov
ocation Nevertheless, his offense was a
violation of the rules of the Senate OF
so serious a character that in the opil-
ion of the committee II should De con-
demned.
ION the case of Mr. Tillman the record
shows that the alteration was com
menced by the charge he made against
Mr.. McLaurin. Such charge Is mex
cusable except N connection with res
olution to investigate Mr.. 1fllman had
not made the charge without any avowdi
of a purpose to investigate, but also ais
claiming knowledge of evidence to estaD-
lish the offense, and TINS ne SAID after'
the charge had been specifically ard I'M
aualifiedly denied by Mr.. McLaurin.
such a charge under. any circum-
stances would be resented Dy any man
worthy to be a senator; but. as IT was
in this instance, its offensiveness was
greatly intensified and the result mast
have been foreseen by Mr.. I1iiInan, II ne
took any thought, as he should OF the
consequences OF his statement. This
feature of his offense, coupled with the
fact that ne also commenced the encoun-
ter by quitting his seat some distance
away from Mr.. MeLaurin and rushlns
violently upon, struck him in the face.
makes the case one of such exceptional
misbehavior that a majority OF the com
mittee are of opinion that ms offehse
was OF much greater gravity than that ot
Mr.. McI.aurin.
The penalty of a censure by the Sen
ate in the nature Of things must vary in
actual severity in proportion TO the pub
lie sense OF the gravity of ofenSe Ji
which the offender has been adjudged
guilty.
Therefore, notwithstanding that fact
| In the opinion of the majority OF the conf
mittee there is difference IN the gray
ity of the offenses under consideration
your committee are OF the opinion that
| public good and the dignity of the Sen
ate will be alike best promoted and pro-
tected. so far as this particular case Is
concerned by imposing upon each sena-
tor by formal vote the censure OF the
Senate for the Offense by him committed.
and therefore recommends the adoption OF
tho resolution
At the conclusion of the reading of the
ma jority report, Bailey CTexas) offered
the following statement as representing
the views of himself and four other SEN
atOrs:
I'VE dissent from so much of the re-
port of the committee as asserts the pow
er of the Senate to suspend a senator ana
thus deprive a state of its vote, and 81
much as describes the offenses of the
senators as to different gravity; but We
approve the resolution reported.
(Signed) ]. BAILEY.
f. PETTUS.
j. BLACKBURN.
FRED w. DUBOIS.
MURPHY j. FOSTER.
Members of the Committee on Privi-
leges and Elections
The report of the minority of the com
mittee was then presented by McComaS
on behalf of himself and Beveridge, In
which Pritchard concurred in part III
this statement the senators signing 1t say
| that while they accept the statement OF
| the case as made in the principal report
| they do not agree with the majority OF
| the committee as to the punishment pro
| posed by the majority. Then they say:
| '"The Junior senator from South Caro-
| lima is guilty of unparliamentary IAN
| guage The senior senator from SCUM
| Carolina Is guilty of physical violence.
| Neither in the statutes in any state nor
| in the common opinion of mankind are
| these two offenses the same. If the Sen
ate is to retain the respect of the country
II must retain its own self-reSpect. ThiS
cannot be done by lightly passing over
| the grave offenses it has suffered. III
lightest form of punishment Is repri
mand or censure. 1t ds the latter which
| the ma ajority proposes to inflict Tor wv
Offenses differing in character and graV-
ity. The minority of the committee are
of the opinion thai this punisShiment Is Is
Inadequate and to ignore the difference
between the offenses is unjust. The mi
nority of the committee is of the opinion
that suspension of the two offenders from
senatorial privileges, heretofore inflicted,
ha formally 1diudYpd and
| continued for different periods of time
The minority report then enters upoa
an extended argument in support OF TINS
propostion. The argument is based upon
The second clause. fifth section Of the
| constitution, comforting upon each House
/ of Congress power to punish its members
| for disorderly behavior. The report CON
| cludes by recommending that Senator
NcI,aurin be suspended from his funS-
| tions as a senator for five days. and tina
Senator Tillman be suspended for % days
| 1t adds:
| should deprive sovereign state of its
, votes in the Senate fails when we con
| slider the rights of all the states. anu
| above all. the rights and duty or the sen
| ate of the United States TO PUNISH an 'ui-
| usually grave offenSe. 3d..
1 Mr. Pritchards addition to the above
| statement is in the following language :
II concur in all the FOREGOING views ea :.
cept as to the punishment of the junior
| senator from South Carolina. II IS my
| opinion that the punishment he has al
| ready suffered is adequate to his onense.
/ make no recommendation as to tn"
| punishment to be imposed on the senior
senator from South Carolina
Bacon called attention to what he con
| sidered an important omission in the mar
| rative Of the majority relative to the oc-
| currence of last Saturday. There was
| no official record of the proceedings IN
the secret executive session, he said. but
| some of the salient facts ought to be
brought out He said that the senior SEN
| ator from South Carolina. Iillman. hai
| expressed desire through the senator
from Kentucky, Blackburn. to make pub
| lie acknowledgment of his error and to
| anoiogiZe to the Senate. The junior SEN
| ator from South Carolina. McLaurin, ma 4
| expressed the same desire throught MN
| Bacon He deemed IL important tnat
| these facts should be made part of the
| record -,
| Gallinger said that. under the Senate
| rules il was not competent to move 10
| substitute a minority for majority re
| mort otherwise he would move to subst1-
! tute the minority report for tnat OF the
ma iority. because he believed the minor
| ity report recommended the precise KIM
of punishment which ought to be infiicte'
| ON the two senators. The minority re,
| port he thought properly differentiated
| between the degrees of offense commit
| ted by the senator's Under the circun.-
| stances. he felt constrained to vote Tor