Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1910-11-24
HOW 70 INVESTIGATE,

Stuart issued a statement in which he
said:
Il feel in justice to the party and
people l must ask full
investigation of this election with
the purpose of arriving at an hon.
est result.
Therefore, shall refer the mat
ter to the Democratic district COM
mittee, the lawfully constituted au-
thOrity of the party, that it may
consider such evidence as may be
submitted"
Now here Is a frank admission to be-
gin with. The Democratic district COM
mittee is not a Judicial body. 1t can
not summon witnesses. compel testi-
mony nor administer oaths. The only
thing it can 90 is to enquire into the
methods and doings of its own men,
bers and members of its own party. In
other words, here is an admission of the
fact, generally known, that the corrup-
ton charged in the last campaign in the
Ninth is all within the Democratic party.
Mr.. P. F. St. Clair, as district chair
man, has called meeting of the Demo-
cratic congressional committee to meet
at Bristol on Saturday to consider this
matter. To assist them in full inves-
tigation we would suggest that the fol-
lowing steps he taken:
AS it has been openly talked that an
immense sum of money was raised for
the purpose, SO called, of "redeemine
the Ninth, " it might begin by calling
Mr.. Stuart and inquiring how much he
contributed directly and indirectly to the
campaign fund.
One of the prominent workers in the
democratic party stated during the
campaign that I'VE can raise s25. 900
any day in either Richmond or Norfolk
to elect Stuart" Now, if the Tide
water section raised large sums for the
purpose of corrupting the electorate of
the Ninth let the fact be brought out.
Then summon J. F. Wysor and have
him explain his circular issued in the
early part of the campaign in which be
said: This is to be a fight to win, and
we must win. We must pull
every string"
Also have Mr.. Wysor explain the sig
nificance of his confidential circular of
July 70, 1910. in which he asked his CO.
workers to find out ''just how manv
Democrats there are at each precinct.
how many Republicans and how manv
FLOATERS, and, above all, ,cIto hey arr"
Further light will be thrown on the
conduct of the campaign by having R.
Tate Irvine tell what he learned in an
swer to his letter of March IL. 1910. in
which he requested the members of the
party to please come prepared to make
a close estimate of the funds that ,riH be
needed"
In speaking of the proposed investi-
cation the Lynchburg News SAYS:
ut won't do to shut our eyes to
political crime. 1t won't do to con-
done bribery. 1t won't do to per
NIT the corrupting influence of
money to enjoy unchecked presence
at the Virginia polling booth. And
wherever the wretched tendency
finds expression it should be met
with the blistering scorn and en-
phatic protest of an outraged pub
lie sentiment"
In view of this ringing declaration on
the subject, by all means have the Hon.
Carter Glass before the committee. He
campaigned the Ninth with Mr.. Stuart
and was in touch with the Democratic
leaders in the various counties and must
have heard them talk of how we ex-
pect to win" By all means let him
tell what he knows of corruption in the
Ninth.
Let the Democratic committee con-
duct the investigation, but unless they
wish to see some prominent members
of their party working the county roads
they should not let the grand jury get
hold of the results of their Investiga-
tons.