The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1909-01-20
Mr.. President, I rise to a question
Of personal privilege.

MI president, / rise 20 QuestioA.
Of personal privilege.
For the arst time in the histor:.
Of this government, as far as I have
been able to learn, a member Of th::
body has been brought to the bar OF
public opinion, before the Senat.
itself to be judged under indictmen'
by 10 less person than the Presi
dent Of the United States. Th'
manner Of the doing of its and th'
aninus and zeal displayed by tn
Chief Executive are worthy Of con,
sideration.
The papers in the case were sen;
to Senator Hale as acting chairman
OF the Committee on Appropriation,
late on Tuesday last. had no il
timstion in regard to it until afte.
the Senate met on Thursday. By
that time the air was thick with
rumors, evidently coming from tn.
White House, directly or indirectly
that Southern Senator was in th,
tolls Of the Secret Service; and scor
IT was understood that Senator Till
man was the man.
Having been Informed by Senatof
Hale of the character Of the charge
Thursday afternoon, and that h
would call a meeting Of the Appro-
priation Committee on Saturday &c
consider the papers relating to tnc
Secret Service sent him by the Presl
dent, I expected TO have opportuni-
ty to examine fully into the case
and make such defense or expiana-
ton in the Senate itself as I though:
proper. I understand the President
had notified Senator Hale that there
was no need for hurry. and that he
would not give the papers to the
press before Monday; but on Friday
morning he changed his mind and
notified Senator Hale that he hac
determined to give all the facts &c
the newspapers thar evening, ami
they appeared Saturday morning. i
was well to remember that the uni
versal custom heretofore, and the
courtesy due BY any executive to q
legislative body demGaded that hav-
ing sent the papers to the most I'M
portant committee Of the Senate,
they were in the possession Of that
body, and it was. gross breach OF
propriety to make them public. This
well illustrates the executive atti-
tude towards this body. He gave
the communication to the press be-
fore the committee had seen the
papers and examined into the mat
ter.
It is well understood that the
President is an adept at advertising
and that he has used the press with
more skill than any man il Ameri-
can politics. He realizes the i'm
portsace Of getting in the first
blow" though it was below the bell
and might well convict him of cow
ardice. But he cared nothing for
either courtesy, custom, or decenc;.
thus treating the committee and the
Senate with that contempt which
has been his wont.
Another probable reason for his
great haste was that he sought to
distract attention from the action
Of the House Of Representatives on
Friday IN laying part Of his message
on the table by the sensational &C
cusations against a man who has had
long service in the Senate. I could
have made my statement to the
Senate and to the country just as
easily on Saturday as I make it
now, for I have nothing to conceal
and there was no great need for De
lay OF preparations; but realizing
that the great influence and power Of
the Chief Executive was being ex,
erted to the limit OF his ability 10
blacken my name and destroy my
character, and that bis words and the
exhibits which be sent would be CIV
en- the wides: publicity, while NJ?
own statement would probably be
epitomized OF account of the pressure
on the wires, decided to wait unit,
today, with the hope tina. my de-
fense. without being unavoidably
mutilated, would reach the people
in good time. This, the newspaper
men tell me. would not have been
possible on Saturday. This is suf-
fcient explanation, ! trust, for Ge-
lay.
An examination Of the Presidents
letter to Mr.. Hale, which might just
as well have been a special message
Of the type with which We are so IA
yniliar, will show that the Presidents
charges. boiled down, amount t.
two in number.
First. He promotes me to mem
oership in the ''Ananias Club" an'!
charges, in effect, that I have 6elib-
erately lied to the Senate.
Second. He charges that have
exerted my official influence and
worked as a Senator for my personal |
benefit alone to secure the passage |
If . resolution and 10 press the De
,artment Of Justice to bring SUIT
against the corporations which hold
% much of the public domain in tn"
Vest and Will not sell it to settlers
.nder the terms of their grants from
he Government.
He has prepared his indictment
With consummate ability and skill.
Ie IS even cunning in the apparent
y innocent pretence that in making
search through the Service
or one kind of sSai he had
un down anothe; case of
hat one Of such $. Wimportance
hat his sense of otl.csai obligation
ompelled him to prompt action.
lark you. he has been in the posses
ion of all the facsS in this case