New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-20
Senate Committee SurrenderS to
the Assembly Leaders,
Some Believe.
COBB'S POWER IN PERIL
Human and Others Determined
Not to Let Real Investiga-
ton Be Killed Without
Struggle.
fBx Telegraph to The rrthune.


fight to-day in the Senate when Senator
Hlnman denounced as an attempted
| fraud the Assembly's draft of the graft
hunting resolution, the Senate Finance
Committee tonight held a protracted
session to consider amendments sug-
gested TO it At midnight the meeting
broke up. Not member, from Senator
Hill, chairman, and Senator Cobb, the
temporary president of the Senate. down
to Senator Grady, who was dragged
back from a protracted absence to at
tend the meeting, would say a word
about what occurred. All said they
We're pledged to silence.
1t had been expected, in view of SEN
ator Cobb's original position on the
graft probing, that he would take the
lead IN restoring the resolution to its
! original effectiveness The strange
silence which the members of the COM
mittee preserved tonight was interpreted
! by those interested in having real
graft hunt as indicating that the com
| mittee had chosen, for some reason, to
| surrender. to the Assembly leaders who
! drafted the emasculated resolution If
that is the case, many legislators pre-
dict that no investigation worth the
name can be held.
Whether or not the, fact that Senator
Cobb allowed himself to be maneuvred
into a position where he apologized for
and defended the Assembly resolution
to-day had anything to do with the ac-
ton Of the committee o-night could not
be learned.
Senate Leadership Challenged.
His leadership of the Senate was chal-
1enged to-day on that and on other
issues He is facing critical situation
on this matter in the Senate, for Senator
Human and others have determined to
fight to the bitter end to have a resolu-
ton that would permit a real inVestiga-
ton, or to let the state know just who
in the Legislature was responsible for
preventing an investigation of matters
which the Governor declared were so
bad as to cause every decent citizen to
blush with shame
Senator Human went before the
Finance Committee tonight and pointed
out to that body in technical form his
objections TO the resolution. These were
that in its present form il provided for
an investigation by the graft hunting
committee Of Industrial. fire and casualty
insurance, which would so burden the
committee that it could do no real graft
hunting Also the resolution compelled
charges of corruption to be verified
upon knowledge which, ne held, would
result in no charges being made, as only
a participant in a corrupt transaction
could be in position to verify a charge on
knowledge Various other objections
were pointed out, but all were of the
same general nature, intended, he main
tanned. so to hamper the committee and
obscure its real duty-the search for cor
ruption and exposure of it-as to render
it practically useless
Climax 10 Subsurface Work.
Senator Humans denunciation of the
Assenbly's draft of the graft inquiry
resolutions came climax to much
subsurface work which has been going
on here in the last couple of weeks. AS
The Tribune has pointed out, Republi-
cans who desire a. genuine and thorough
investigation which shall expose graft |
and grafters and place the party clean
handed before the voters have not been
satisfied with the progress of affairs. |
They have felt that mysterious and prob |
ably sinister forces were at work en-
deavoring to prevent a thorough cor
rIption hunt, not by open opposition !
but by obscuring the issue and putting |
obstacles in the way of proper work by
the committee. They were ready to |
fight this. out on the floor or in a COM |
mittee at the proper time, but covert |
attacks in certain newspapers on Sen
ator Human and on Governor Hughes |
and Superintendent Hotchkiss by indi- |
rection, forced the fighting.
Accusations that Senator Human, as
counsel for an insurance company, was
TO protect the Metropolitan |
from investigation stung him to a pro-
test, although he felt that these attacks
were inspired by persons desiring to pre-
vent an investigation of lobbyists and
lobbying He did not mince words in re-
Dlving to these charges. He declared
that the Assembly had sought in redraft-
ing the resolution to perpetuate a fraud
on the people OF the state. He declared
that the resolution was full of jokers,
and every item in it had been "monkeyed
with" And he declared. with so much
emphasis that Senator Cobb took it ap-
parently as a personal matter that the
Senate could not by like weaklings
or act like crooks and escape just criti-
cism from the voters for it.
Question of Personal Privilege
Senator Hinman rose TO a question of
personal privilege. He read extracts
from a Dunkirk newspaper which in eff
feet charged him, Governor Hughes and
S11perintendent Hotchkiss of the Insur-
ance Department with being under the
influence of the Metropolitan and en-
deavoring to protect it from investiga-
ton. This paper said that Senator Hin.
man was general counsel for the Security
Mutual Company. of Binghamton. which
it said, was an Industrial con-
Germ and for that reason was against an
of Industrial companies.
Governor Hughes. it was said, always
had been ioath to interfere with the
and had refused to inVesti-
cate It when counsel for the Armstrong
committee.
senator Human denounced this entire