The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-10-02
DAWSON REPLIES
Explains in Detail How He Conducts
InCllisifions.

Attorney General Dawson, in reply
to the Governor Stubs statement of
Saturday, explains his methods of deal
ing with inquisitions, his failure to Sc
'cure evidence from the governor and
his alleged interviews about the gov
ernor in the following statement:
Topeka, Oct. 2, 1911.
Governor w. H Stubs, State House.
Yours of September 80 not yet re-
ceiyed, but read in the papers. am
sorry that / didn't ask you directly for
the evidence you now say you have on
Kansas City. I asked for what you
had on Concordia and you had moth
ing to give Then I asked you for
what you had on Wichita, and you
gave me part and kept back the rest
and sent it secretly to Mr.. Trickett-
That, of course, was hardly fair, but
if I kicked on little things like that,
you and / would be warning in the pa
pers all the time, and l wish to avoid
that as much as possible. As to kan
sas City. you nisled me yourself. When
you told me of one offender down there
you led me to believe that was all you
had to tell, or at least all you would
tell me, and that you would send any
thing else you had to Mr.. Trickett, as
you did in the Wichita case
You say you can't imagine why I
should give a public invitation to vol
untary witnesses and that would have
to depend upon them for q time at
least. Now, governor, when I COM
planned to you about your giving to
the public advance notice of my go
ing to these towns you advised me
yourself to try that plan of inviting
volunteer witnesses in Wichita. AS
the political pot was boiling over in
Wichita when 7 was there. / did not
get to act on your suggestion, 50 con-
cluded to try it in Kansas City
As to some newspaper paragraph
where 1 am quoted as saying that in
nv investigations mo one will be per-
secuted for political by-play," I did
not say that. / gave no interview in
Concordia All pretended interviews
of mine in Concordia are spurious.
The Wichita Beacon Interview is cor
rect; the Eagle interview nearly so.
The Kansas City Journal interview is
correct. I have no control over what
the reporters add in their own Ian
guage. In Wichita. both warning fac
lions were anxious to attach some po-
litical significance to my presence in
their city. This I tried to discourage
as much for your sake as my own In
Kansas City some people feared that
my appearance there to do the work
of the county attorney was a slam at
him, as he is a candidate for congress,
and / wished to dispel any such notion,
so I stated that there would be no foul
blows struck.
Your unreasonable request that I
give you three days notice in advance
of the time when I hold one of these
inquisitions can not be granted. I can
not tell that far ahead myself. just
hurry away and hold one of them the
moment I find time. I'll be glad in
deed to take the dispositions of your
detectives any tiTne-so will the coun-
ty attorneys of all these counties, and
they and I will always appreciate any
help you and your detectives can give
Be assured of that. And while on that
point, | wish you would give state
ment in writing signed by your own
hand that they and I can be assured
that YOU will produce your detectives
in court whenever they may be re-
quired in cases where the state has to
rely on their testimony. All prosecut-
ing attorneys who have cases wholly
dependent upon testimony furnished
by you have one constant worry and
that is that you will fail to have your
detectives present at the trials and
leave US in the lurch- You know you
failed us in that respect already TINS
past summer.
do not mean to be disrespectful
but the public interests require that /
be frank. In Russia and Turkey
where the powers of the supreme ex-
ecutive head of the state" are unlim-
tied, it is the unwritten law that some
officer shall be privileged to tell MIN
where he errs or blunders. If your
powers are to be so construed, I hope
I shall always have the moral courage
to tell you where you err
I hold my commission as attorney
general from the people Of Kansas and
while I hold it I shall exercise its
powers in loyal and cheerful obedience
to their laws as I understand them
and as the courts construe them. It
is clever in you and characteristic of
YOU to claim that my public interviews
interfere with law enforcement I
don't think they do; and I think I am
a. better judge Of that than yourself;
and I think you are about the last man
on earth who should deny another the
freedom of speech and the freedom Of
the press Yours respectfully.
JOHN s. DAWSON,
A4fnrnnv Gnnaral