The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-08

/; session, when the steering committee
! is occupying it preparing the work for
the legislative day.
ever sat in the Speakers room of
the capitol Of his State? Has any
| man that ever was elected to this
body sat in the Speakers room white
the roll was being called that elected
| him to this body? If he was there, is
it a sign Of bribery and corruption?
ooh. Mr.. President, If that is adopt
ed as the rule, 1 do not know how
men are going to get votes when they
want to be elected to this forum.
Surely, 1 never will intimate to
man who is elected to this body was
present in his Capitol and sitting in
the Speakers room when the roll was
being called, and talked to the mem
bers of the Legislature in that room
surely 1 will never intimate that that
is an evidence of bribery and corrupt
practices, and ] do not think, Mr..
President that anybody else will think
So"
Getting After the Votes.
Later on he discussed further the
suspicion attaching to him because
he had been in attendance at the cap
ital while the Senatorial contest was
going on.
|'1s it an evidence of corrupt prac-
tees that man who is a candidate
for office should go to those who
have the votes with which he can Sc
cure office and tell them that he
wants their votes and ask them to
be for him? Is that an evidence of
corruption and bribery?
Great stress is laid on the fact
that L was in Springfield. Has any
Senator here ever been in Springfield,
or has any Senator here ever been at
the capital of his State when they
were discussing his election to this
body? Is it a crime to be there?
eff it is, Mr.. President, then ! am
guilty of that crime. I am guilty
Of being in Springfield, but it has al
ed votes for United States Senator.
wanted the support of his own Legis-
lature. and wanted seat in this
body, he had right to go where the
votes are-that he had a right to talk
to the members Of the Legislature. 1t
was no evidence of bribery or corrup-
ton.
why, Mr.. President, it is like the
talk of child. No man who has
ever had any experience in politics
will pay any attention to a state
ment of that sort. During the time
with politics in my State, every time
that a Senator was elected, sometime
during the campaign for his election
and frequently on the day that he
was elected. ne was present III the
capitol at Springfield.
And I only have to recall the
memorable fight of 1885, when the
Legislature was in deadlock. Dem
ocrats had one-half of the strength
of the body and the Republicans had
the other and Gen. Logan had seat
in this body at that time. and he was
a candidate then for reelection, and
from the day that the members of
the General Assembly began to as
semble in Springfield, before the
House or the Senate was organized,
Gen. Logan was on the ground.
"He was there, talking to the mem
bers of the General Assembly, and he
was there during the whole winter,
away until spring time, when he was
finally returned to this body.
"And did anybody cast suspicion
upon Gen. Logan because he was pres
ent at the capitol weeks before he
was returned to this body? Not 1t
all, and nobody ever thought of such
a thing; and the only purpose, M.
President. that there can be in throw
ing this seeming cloud of suspicion
over this body is in order that Sena-
tors may believe that I was not only
elected to this body by bribery and
corruption, but that I was present
there and knew it was going on and
was sanctioning that sort of thing