Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-07-12
Defiant in
Last Fight for Seat
Continued from First ra.e.>

of the session the Illinois senate
would be prepared to conclude with
on. another delay
Mr.. Lorimer explained his presenc'
ct Springfield during the sitting o
the legislature as u to his inter
est in the Illinois deep-waterwa,
project.
And" he said, "if l had not beei
compelled for the past W and a hal
years to follow this awful. bitter, vic,
icus prosecution, this waterway from
the Great Lakes to the Gulf would
have been legislated for"
The allegation in the minority re
port that Browne had been his (Lori.
n,er's) agent he dismissed as an in.
situation.
His Health Is Broken.
Lorimer is broken in health, but his
opening speech in his own defense
was at once a defiance and an ap-
peal to sympathey. He began his
fight yesterday.
Releasing his friends from all
party Affiliations and disclaiming any
bitterness toward those members OF
the Senate who voted against him in
his first fight he nevertheless in
dulged in sharp criticisms of Presi-
dent Taft, Theodore Roosevelt and
several who have waged the fight
against his right to retain his seat.
Standing at the back of the cham
Der, which was filled almost to ca
pacity with Senators and Representa-
tives. and before galleries which were
packed to the a~isles, the blonde
boss" from Illinois talked for three
hours with a strength of sympathetic
appeal that swayed the emotions If
not the convictions of his auditors
and sent the galleries away audibly in
sympathy with his cause.
Asks Now for square Deai.n
Senator Lorimer's address was in
turn intensely dramatic, j~udiciously
Unconditional and severely simple.
From the passionate fury of a baited
man he metamorphosed to the ap-
pealing supineness of a beaten gladi-
ator for whom all thumbs are turned
down as he pleaded for a simple,
square deal.
In the opinion of at least one mem
Der William Lorimer's Senate effort
will go down in history with Daniel
Webster's reply to Hayne. Whether
when he concludes his final plea
Mr.. Lorimer will have swayed any
votes in his favor or have turned GER
tain defeat into victory he will GER
tainly have left in the minds of those
WHO listened to him his imprint as an
orator of immense dramatic appeal.
Bitter attacks upon the par
which have been largely instrumental
in comprising his present predica-
ment and thinly yelled criticism of
President Taft and Senators Lodge
and Root featured Mr.. Lorimer's ad-
dress. He criticised the President for
his letter to. Theodore Roosevelt.
which the former read during the
primary campaign in Massachusetts
last May.
g.. In this letter the President ex-
pressed a hope that Lorimer would
be unseated and told Of having talked
with a number of Senate leaders with
this end in view. The President wrote
Colonel Roosevelt that he had read
all the evidence he could get" The
Senator also criticised Mr.. Taft for
disclaiming in the Massachusetts
campaign IN desire for Mr.. Lori
mer's support in Illinois.
Mr.. Lorimer read from Mr.. Taft's
Massachusetts speech, in which the
President had explained that Lorimer
was supporting him in Illinois, not
because he was really for him, but
because of his bitterness towards
Roosevelt. He referred to other
statements that the President had
made against him and his case.
This statement was not the fact"
shouted Lorimer. IT did not support
the President because l was more bit
ter toward Theodore Roosevelt. The
reason 1 supported the President was
because believed as he did in consti-
tutional and representative govern
ment, and because ] believed, as he
does. that the courts Of the land and
their decisions should not be subject
to the mob. 1t was because of his
stand on these subjects that | choose
him instead of Roosevelt. If he had
held the same opinions as Roosevelt
I would not have voted for either.
Accuses the President.
when the President took that let
ter to Massachusetts and read it, If I
have not been misinformed, he was
misstating the facts. l hope I have
been misinformed, but word came to
me that the President, before that
speech, had been told that If a pref
erential vote bill were passed by the
Legislature of Illinois, and the people
of the State had an opportunity to
cast their ballot, that the only dele
gates he would get out of the total of
ffty-eight were those that would
come from the districts where Lori
mer's friends lived.
And" shouted the Illinois Senator,
With great feeling, 1.-The only dele
gates he did get were from the dis
tricts in which l was reared and lived.
Why did the President of the United
States make that statement to the
Ieople of Massachusetts? If he didn't
know the facts, l have been misin-
formed. Why did the men who told
me they had informed him of the
conditions in Illinois permit him to go
into Massachusetts and misstate the
facts?
II do not believe that the fact hat
Lorimer supported Taft lost him a
single vote at the election, not to say
a single delegate. The trouble in ILL
nois vas that We believe in protec-
ton"
Mock Duck Retires as Leader
NEW YORK. July 12.-Mock Duck,