The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-05-27
LAFOLLETTE ENDS
 FOUR-DAY SPEECH
Hurls All His Eloquence
 Against Lorimer
THE SIGNS OF TIMES
Abolition of Caucuses and Nomina- tions By Direct Vote Directly Due to Corruption of
 Public Officials

Washington, May ? fter devotinI practically the entire (. sion today t the discussion of tF posed : inyestl ' i gation of the electio, < Senator Lorimer the Senate adjourny shout action, de termined to proces D fn with the ques ton at it's next / Q on Monday.
 Senator LaFollse1. oncluded his four day speech and anne need that when tn I voting stage is reached he would change his resolution to provide that the Sen ate shall elect an Investigating commit tee of five from among the new senators Senator Borah supported the LaFollettt proposition and Senators Bailey and Dfl' | lingham opposed 1t.
 | In his remarks MT. I.aFollette attacked caucus rule and denounced the practice of selecting standing committees by eau cuses as un-American. He predicted the day would come when the Senate would dispense entirely with the secret caucus | and prophesied the general adoption oi the initiative, referendum and recall with the recall In use,' he said nc jackpot politician can hold his commis- sion against the wishes of the people he misrepresents.
 MT. LaFollette said he had been infiu- enced to introduce his resolution for special committee on inquiry by follow ing the Illinois Investigation New in- vestigations had been provided for be- cause he believed the question should SC to a committee not handicapped by pre- Tl,a nayt committee, he felt. must have the confi- dence of the people, which he did not believe the old standing committee on privileges and elections would have. The public, he said, would consider>>the old committee packed from the beginning, even as has been charged in connection with the Illinois juries in prosecutions growing out of the case.
 MT. LaFolette said if he were mem Der of the old committee he would not consent to serve on the new committee, because he would not feel. capable of an impartial verdict.
 Bacon Interrupts
 .Tn that event" asked Senator Ba- = con. would not the senator from Wis cOnSln anu lUyStii Dc PfSSAAoNNA -~- voting on the case in the Senate be- cause in the previous case we voted against Mir Iorimer?'
 MT. LaFollette replied there was vast difference between sitting as a final judge in the Senate and going out to investigate the case.
 MT Bailey said all the democratic senators desired a new investigation, he himself favoring 1t because of the discovery of new evidence. He de- clared the public sentiment against MT. Lorimer was not well informed because 1t had been shapeS by newspaper crit icism rather thsn by reading of the testimony.
 of we have saved the seat of gull ty man. said MT. Bailey, we owe reparation and we shall be ready to make it."
 He sounded a note of warning to the Senate not to be swayed by mere public clamor.
 Saving there had been no investiga- ton by a special committee In an election case since the creation of the committee on privileges and elections in 1871, Chairman Dillingham; of that committee expressed confidence that should the investigation. be placed in its hands it would present such re- port as would command the respect Of the Senate and of the country.
 Senator Borah advocated special committee in the interest of disinterest- edness He regarded representative government at stake and urged q searching and impartial inquiry.
 r,zil. Kat Wi 6aan- ly significant fact that for 70 years after this government was established the Sen ate had never been humiliated by call to investigate a charge of corruption in the election of one of its members.
 Since that time II senators have been required to defend themselves on the charge of bribery.
 "A study of the 10 bribery cases tried here in recent years, said MT. LaFollette, .discloses the growing tendency toward the esta ablishing of precedents which make if increasingly difficult to convict. except ing in the cases where the proof is over whelming and notorious The decision in the I.orimer case makes another of those unfortunate precedents. In some espects it stand salone-a lurid page in inc history of lowered senatorial stand ards. 1f'f.
 ..rhe abolition of caucuses and conven- lions and the nOItillidtioii VI ofi by direct vote, the election or united States senators by direct vote, the nonii- nation of presidential candidates by direct vote the initiative, the referendum and the recall-all of these are but the logical outcome of the betrayal of public truth by public officials.
 Scorn for Plain Citizen
 There has grown up scorn and con tempt for the plain citizen. It has De come common to refer to the people as mob and the peoples rule as the rule of the mob
 '"rhe recall will enable the people 10 dismiss from public service a report that whenever he shall cease to serve the public. Then no jackpot politician can hold his office in defiance of the will or u constituency whose commission he has dishonored"
 When Mir. LaFollette introduced his res olGtion providing that new committee be elected by the Senate to make a thorough investigation of the election of Mir Lorimer, 1t was objected to by mem l crS of the regular organization on the ground that it was a reflection on the wee president and upon the committee on rrIvileges and elections.
 MT. LaFollette quoted many precedents in support of his proposition to name the members of the select committee in the resolution adopted by the Senate He tf,a it a