Evening star., 1904-03-22
.DENE|EB !! + BY BABcOcK
Charges Of Improperly Using
= His Frank.
DID NOT y PAD MAILS
ALLEGATIONS USED IN RECENT
EIGHT AGAINST HIM.
His Statement Received With Approval
Postal Bill Taken Up-Indian
Bill in Senate.

In the House this afternoon Represent
ative Babcock of Wisconsin took the floor
Oil a question ofspersonal privilege to refute
the charges made against him in New
York newspaper yesterday and which the
House yesterday ordered expunged from
the Congressional Record, where they had
been published as part of the alleged re-
| marks of Representative Baker.
Mr.. Babcock said today. in his personal
explanation to the House. that the state
msnts published in the New York news
paper yesterday were copied from a CAM
paign book of forty-seven pages which had
| been extensively circulated in his district
| during his recent campaign for renomina-
ton. He said the forty-seven pages were
filled with Interpretations which had
| been thoroughly threshed out by the press
of the state and of his district, and after
full discussion of the unwarranted and
slanderous charges the people of the third
district had turned them down almost
unanimously.
Statements Absolutely False.
He said that the statements were abso-
lutte falsehoods from beginning to end. II
was true that he had supplied his constit-
uenlS Win pubic uOCuHcitS dho oSOo, OSN
there was nothing reprehensible in his
course in that regard. He had. for ex-
ample sent out to the public libraries COM
plete sets of the geological survey reports
which were of great interest in his state
because some of the largest iron mines In
the world have been opened there ne
reports were valuable for hlStorlcal reIeT-
ence He denied in most positive terms the
charge that these books were sent out at
| time when the mails were being weighed to
determine postal contracts with the rah-
ways. He absolutely had no knowledge OF
the time when the weighing was going on,
and his documents were sent out In the
ordinary course of business without respect
to any question of their erect upon the
weighing of the mails The article had
charged him with issuing passes over the
railroads affected by this alleged padding
of the mails. He said he had never iSsuea
a pass over any line of RAILROAD In the
United States
Mr.. Babcock said that these charges
published in his district were anonymous
and the author was still unknown.
I'VE emily know said Mr.: Baocock;
that they were mailed from the capital
at Madison before the state capitol was
burned."f -.,zT
This reference was understood by all
| to be an echo of the political contest
which the state administration waged
against Mr.. Babcocks $ denomination and
which Signa1y failed
Ridiculous Allegations.
Mr.. Babcock referred briefly to other
charges, which he said, went to show the
righteousness of the whole attack. He
was charged with being party to CIV
ing S90OO,OO of the governments money
to the construction of the union sta
ton at Washington. He said everyone
knew thakFhe only grant of money was
the city's mare in the cost of eleyating
tracks and abolishing grade crossings
| an mot a
AS an example of the unfair nature of
the charges, Mr.. Babcock said the dOcu-
ments- published a long list of corpora
tion bills which he had brought up in
the House and aided in passing. Mr..
Babcock said everyone knew that nine
tenths of these bills were the official rec
| concentrations of the District Commis-
sioners and had been handled by the
committee on the District of Columbia.
and by him in his capacity as chairman.
In closing, Mr.. Babcock branded the
statements as absolutely unqualified
I falSehoodS.
A hearty round of applause greeted Mr.
Babcocks statement
A bill was passed authorizing the coun-
ties of Sherburne and Wright Mimi, to
construct bridge across the Mississippi
river.
A resolution was passed, fixing March %,
after the disposition of pension bills, for
the consideration Of the bill providing for
the election of a delegate from. the territory
of Alaska and making the bill privileged
| thereafter
The House then went into committee OF
| the whole and resumed consideration Of the
post office appropriation bill
New York Branch Post Office.
Mr. Moon Tenn.) offered an amendment,
which was agreed to, limiting to twenty
five years the lease of the post office build
| ing to be erected by the New York Central
railroad in New York city. with provision
for renewal at the end of that period.
Mr.. Douglass IN. " further sought to
| amend the bill by allowing $75, 900 for lease
of post Office building at the PennsyI-
vania terminal
Mr.. Overstreet said he should not vote
against the amendment; which might be a
proper business overture to the Pennsyl-
vania railroad. However, he said the propo-
sition seemed lacking in the proper prelim-
mary agreement. He believed that New
York city might be helped in spite of the
divided New York delegation.
Mr. SulZer contended for the purchase OF
the Pennsylvania site at $2,OO0.OOO He had
the clerk read a letter from the acting
president of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company. dated March p, 1904, In which
1t was stated that the road would not lease
to the government post Office accommoda-
tions at its New York terminal 1t also
stated that If the offer of the company to
sell the site to the government was to be
accepted. 1t would be necessary to take
some action at the present session Of Con-
gress.
Mr.. Douglass followed with an argument
against the purchase Of the Pennsylvania
site He declared that the site offered by
the Pennsylvania road would not give the
government frontage on any street; that il
the gover9ments bought it and should put
it up at auctiop tomorrow it would not
bring $4,000.
He declared that the proposition to pay
$2O00000 For the site was Ubiquitous and
unjust.
Mr.. Finley tS, CO, a member of the COM
mittee, expressed the opinion that the relief
sought for the, New York post Office would
not be secured by the Incorporation of the
two amendnents.
The amehdmert of Mr. Douglass for the
New York; post Office for leasing site at
the Pennsylvania terminal in New York
city at SIS 000 vas agreed to.
Where BeHssPhones Are Required.
On motion OF. MIR. Tawney. an amendment
was incorperateA in the cost Office bill pro-
viding that no f1prtion Of an appropriation
of $3.50 600 for miscellaneous items should be
used where p0stmasters are required by