The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-14
BAILEY DEFENDS
 LOR|MER IN 4
 DRAMATIC TALK
Texas Senator Asks Antag- Onists to Refute His
 Argument
DECLARES LORIMER
 IS LEGALLY ELECTED
Bailey Defends Committee Which Made Investigation and If Senate Is Dissatisfied It Should
 Re-c0mmit Matter

| Washington, February 13-Defense of | Senator Lorimer of Illinois was offersd | by Senator Bailey of Texas today in . | speech so powerful that it was heard and | applauded from time to time by what was perhaps the largest attendance of members and spectators that has been | seen on the floor and in the galleries of the Senate chamber during the present session of Congress For three hours the eloquent Texan spoke and at the end of that period announced that he would com | tinue his speech tomorrow.
 His plea that the senator from Illinois be permitted to retain his seat was of so elaborate nature and delivered with such force and fervor that it placed MT. Bailey in the chief place among the defenders of Mir. Lorimer, just as did the arraign-
 ment by MT Root a few days ago es- tablish the New York senator in the
 foremost position among those who are
 seeking to unseat the Illinoisan.
 From the legal and personal point fo
 view MT. Bailey presented the case of MT. Lorimer In the main the speech was review of the law and the testi-
 mony, but MT. Bailey introduced many
 novel and striking features. not the least
 startling of which was the assertion that forgery had been resorted to, to make .
 case against the Illinois senator. This.
 he asserted had been In connection with
 the effort to show that Senator Holstlaw
 of the Illinois legislature had been brbed to vote for MT. Lorimer.
 He pointed out that Holstlaws name
 had been improperly spelled on the deposit slip used wien the money he was al- legged to have received had been placed
 in bank. It developed that a portion
 of this statement had been based on A
 brief in the case, but the Texas senator
 did not retreat from the statement that
 Holstlaw had made the deposit person.
 ally. Senator Cummins presented the original slip which he said was not III MT. Holstlaw's handwriting, but 1t was
 not accepted by Mir. Bailey.
 Virtues of Lorimer
 | Mr. Bailey boldly charged that the
 war on Mir Lorimer had been unrelent-
 ing and personal and said the effort had | been not so much to convict wrong
 doers as to destroy MT. Lorimer. The Illinoisan was held up as q man pos sessed of all the private virtues and the Texan asserted more than the testi-
 mony of confessed bribe-takers would ba necessary to convince him of corrupt
 practices on the part of MT. Lorimer, In connection with his presentation of the law features in the case MT. Bailey
 gave what he declared to be the practice of the Senate in vacating seats, holding
 no senator responsible for acts of corrup- ton in his behalf when he had not been cognizant of them, and requiring the viti- ation of enough votes to rob him of his majority in case of his lack of acquain- tance with the facts. On direct sum mons Senators Root, Cummins and Boraa. all opposed to Lorimer, gave assent 10 the first proposition and the two last
 named did so with reference to the sec ond
 Many members of the House stood against the walls while Mir. Bailey talked. Mir Iorimer himself was in his seat. Dramatic Speech
 Washington, February 13.-By resorting to the bold device of asking his antagon- ists in the Senate to stand up and testify, St nator Bailey of Texas today developed
 a dramatic situation in his discussion or the case of Senator Lorimer of Illinois MT. Bailey Is a member of the committees l on privileges and elections and coincided with the report that nothing invalidattng | MT. Lorimers s title to his seat had been deevloped by the committees investiga- | tlon His argument in support of Mir. | Lorimer had been anticipated with much l interest and when presented today re- | c, iyed the thoughtful attention of many | senators. The Texas senator's remarks were devoted largely to the substanti- ation of his contention that sufficient number of votes must be shown to have | been bought to effect the result unless | 1t Is proven that the official whose cleo l ton is challenged personally partici- hated in the offense. Senators Root, | Cummins and Borah. all opponents of MT. l Lorimer, were each in turn requested to stand up and express their opinions as to l the legal soundness of this proposition. Dealing first with the general aspects of the case Senator Bailey entered upon | the consideration of the law involved. He | laid down these two propositions: Propositions Laid Down | '1 If the officer whose election is chal- | lenged personally participated in en- couraged or sanctioned the bribery. then | his election is void without reference to 1 the extent of the bribery.
 | g. If the officer whose election is chal- | lerged did not personally participate in or | encourage or sanction the bribery then his 1 election cannot be void unless it is shown | by sufficient evidence that enough votes were bribed to effect the result The first of these propositions was dis missed with the declaration that there | was not word in the testimony to show that Mir. Lormer had had any knowledge l ot any bribery in his behalf. He asserted | that the Chicago Tribune had been conn pelled, through its attorney. to exonorate | the accused senator In this respect. not
 withstanding an unusual effort to con
 meet him with it. True, the senator said, l In the heat of debate some senators had | sought to connect Mir. Lorimer with the
 alleged wrongful transaction. but he was
 sure that they would repent of that | course.
 Election Is Legal
 | MT Bailey contended that even if the seven votes of White, Browne. Becke- meyer. Link, Wilson. Holstlaw and Brod- cricix were not counted, Mir. Lorimer still | had been legally and properly chosen.
 .Deductiny these seven votes from Lort- mcr's los votes would leave him 1O1 votoo
 and deducting these seven votes from the ! (CONT1N LIED ON FACE a