Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1906-10-12


entitled TO haven their representative,
something higher and better than a
mere vulgar political Boss" whose
highest political ideals, (even if we ac-
cept his own bombastic cstagory of his
political aclIievementsl, consists in
passing private and pension bills and
making himself useful" To tl.ose who
in turn are expected TO make them
selves "useful" to him. The Republican
party has many men i'm it's ranks
eminently fitted by their character and
intelligence, to be truly representative
OF this great mountain district. who as
candidates would command the respect
OF the voters and as representatives
would be able to discover HIGHER
mission than the Introduction OF private
and pension bills, being counted in a
quorum and drawing their salary and
mileage
1t is conceded that a congressman
may with propriety seek to pass private
claim and pension bills, but certainly
he should not permit himself to be
turned into pension solicitor and Of
Ter and try to pass every such bill that
is prepared and sent to him. without
any attempt to investigate the merits
or honesty OF the claim. 1t would seem
that this is about what Col. Slemp did
in the 59th congress, since the record
shows that he introduced FORTY
EIGHT SUCH BILLS OF which numb
er ONLY NINE WE'RE PASSED. and
the presumption is at least PRufA
FAcIE, that THIRTY NINE of them
were either dishonest or without merit
ana represented ATTEMPTED graft on the
part OF the intended beneficiaries. As
has been stated above, Col. Slemn's
activity i'm the matter of private bills
ana claims against the treasury. was
not solely for the benefit of others. but
he had Mr.. Brownlow, o! Tenn. to at
'i1' ~ te'0o SUN tlH ITO pay
Campbell Slemp $1,000 for legal ex-
penses" alleged TO have been incurred
IN an alleged q cciinn cont. st with VIM
f. Rhea. The facts about this alleged
contest" are Of record in the Supreme
Court of Richmond, and have been
carefully examined by the writer. There
were two cases. 10th petitions for
mandamus. one against the Com
missioners of Election" of Washington
county, seeking 60 COMPEL them To
1econvene and include the returns Of
the judges of election of "Mendota
freclnct I'm tie vote # that county.
(which said commissioners had pre-
viously excluded); and the other case
was against the same officers OF Rms
sell county, and sought the same
remedy as TO four precincts in that
county; both cases involved only 237
Slemp votes, the object of each was
merely to compel the Commissioners
OF Election of the two counties TO in
clude the votes of these precincts as
they were returned to them by the
Judges or election of the said precincts.
The cases were not defended either
by the commissioners or Mr.. Rhea.
ana no answer was put in by any one.
No dispositions were needed or taken
ana the case was decided upon Col
Slemp's own petition and the exhibits
Col. Siemp's counsel only filed one
brief in the two cases and this wac not
quite one and a half pages. The print
ed record or both cases is only 81 pages
and this includes all the exhibits. the
latter being the returns of the Judges
or election OF the five precincts includ-
ing the names of all the voters who
voted at those precincts at that cleo
ton. As stated above there was no
real controversy in either case. and the
legal questions involved We're so plain
and simple as to have required little
labor or investigation. Col Slenn
was represented by four law firms who
signed as his counsel, but it is believed
that only two of them actually ac;ed
or did any work in the case or mad,. |
any charge for work.
Now, these are the cold facts of |
record as to this alleged contest" for
which Col. Slemp sought to have con-
gress allow him $500. 1t is not be- !
heved to bepossible that this contest"
could have cost Col Slemp in actual
"expenses" as much as $500. If it did
he can doubtless show it. 1t was an