The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1908-12-24

thing after this sort. l have so days
from the giving Of the notice of the
contest in which to file answer. Then
Mr.. Hepburn and his oi1iee holders who
bring the contest, have 40 days in
which TO take testimony in the district;
then | have 40 days in which to take
testimony; and then MIR. Hepburn and
the Office holders have 10 days in which
to take testimony in rebuttal. Then
the whole testimony is sent to the clerk
of the house at Washington. He
sets time within 20 days when
the parties meet to determine
what part of the testimony is to be
printed. After the printing is done Mr..
Hepburn and the Office holders will have
30 days in which to file their brief.
Then | have 80 days in which to file my
brief. Then Mr.. Hepburn and the Office
holders have 10 days in which to an
swer new matter in my brief. Then the
whole thing goes to the house again,
and is referred to committee, and by
them to a subcommittee, which goes
over all the testimony and the briefs
and hears oral arguments and all that,
and then when it gets ready it makes
its report back to the committee, and
it reports back to the house for final
action. The report Of the committee is
apt to be adopted. This whole thing is
apt to take near year and half from
now if the contest is continued which l
doubt.
In the meantime have the certificate
of the election and the seat in congress.
take the seat on the fourth day of
March and hold it unless am unseated.
We each get $4,000 expense money to
carry on the contest, which will not
nearly cover the cost. If MIR. Hepburn
is finally seated, we both get our sal
aries from the fourth of March until the
contest is decided. If he does not win
he does not get any salary.
Is there any basis of merit for the
contest? Not an iota. The very propo-
sition will appear preposterous when
one reflects that in great majority Of
the voting precincts two-thirds of the
election judges were republicans and
preiudiced against me. Does it admit
of likelihood that they would determine
questions as to admissability of ballots
that would result in my favor, on the
whole? Not a bit of it. l had clean
cut majority of $40, counted by honest
election judges who were not favora BILE
w tuCs NlSCdhcS dIS always
evenly divided between parties.
While the weakness of his cause is
shown by the very general nature Of
his notice Of contest, notice that
would not stand for minute with any
court of record because it specifies
nothing definitely, and while l believe
it would have been more becoming for
district attorney Temple to have given
the energy that he expended in this
pernicious activity to earnest considera-
tion of the obligations of his federal
Office for which the people pay him
$4,000 or $4,000 year, yet am glad
that at the close of his notice he speci-
fies-even if he does it for policy-that
there is no charge Of fraud. But am
sorry that Mr.. Hepburn has allowed
these selfish and hungry Office holders
and seekers to put him, after all these
years of honor which have come to him,
in the position where it will be adver-
tised over and over and over again, to
all the world, that in his home district,
which was carried by Taft by nearly
5000 plurality, he was repudiated by
his own people; iii a position where
they make it appear that he seeks to
gain an office, the only means Of gaining
which are fraud and robbery.
l look forward to this contest with
absolute confidence and definite assur-
ance, because know that | am not only
thrice armed with cause that is just,
but that | have the hearty support and
earnest sympathy Of every loyal lover
of liberty and the rule of the majority;
and with this backing and support l can
defy every selfish spokesman and federal
Office holder who dares thus to attempt
to debauch the means by which we
select our public servants.