Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-29
MEMBERS ARE LINING UP
Minority of Committee of Inquiry
Attacks Majority Report.
NO RESPONSE TO RESOLUTION
Claim That Charges Should Not
Have Been Reinvestigated De-
clared to Be Subterfuge.

That the report of the majority of the
special committee which investigated the
charges of corruption in the election of
| Senator WILLIAM Lorimer OF Illinois, hold
ing that the case. having been once ad-
| Indicated, cannot again be passed upon
| by the Senate, is not responsible to the
resolution directing the probe, will be
conteAded by the opponents Of Lerimer
when the report is made to the Senate.
1t Will also be charged by opponents Of
senator Lorimer that the adherence Of
the majority of the committee to the
doctrine of res adjudicata', Is the
"veriest subterfuge'' and a technical
loophole' Inasmuch as it is the evident
intent OF the friends of Senator Lorimer,
as SHOWN by the action Of the investigat-
ing committee yesterday. to decline to
go into the merits of the charges in the
oenate on the floor Of the Senate. these
two issues will be the principal ones de-
bated.
The wording of the resolution directing
the second investigation of the charges
OF corruption in the Lorimer election will
De cited by those who will contend that
me res adjudicata report is not re-
sponsive to the Senate's resolution. The
| resolution authorized. empowered and d.
rected the committee ito INVESTIGATES
whether In the election Of William Lori
tner as senator of the United States
from the state of Illinois there was mseS
and employed corrupt methods and nrsc-
tces, and specifically to inquire fully
into and report upon the sources and
use OF the alleged Jack pot fund. its
relation and effect, if any, upon the cleo
ton of Mr.. Lorimer
Voice of the MINORITY,
AS indicating the fight against tho "res
adJudicata' basis of the majority renor+
one OF the minority members of the in
'esusatlng committee, who did not care
10 nave his name used in advance of the
ming OF the minority report, said TODAY.
II is now apparent that the Lorimer
adnerents Will try to crawl out through a
' aeenhicai loophole of the res adjudicata.
which, Translated, means former adiIldi-
tatlon, or, In other words, that Lorimer,
having once been tried and acquitted
cannot be tried again
ne senate passed upon that question
When IL ordered the second investigation
Inc Senate resolution ordered the com
lhlttee 10 go into the general question as
10 whether corrupt methods or practices
nad oeen employed in the election of
Lorilner as fully as If there had been no
previous investigation. The committee
| spent the first month in examining the
new evidence to which the attention of
the Senate had been called. If it proves
nothing then why did the committee pro-
cee9 Tor months, going over all the old
evidence and investigating all the cir
cumstances surrounding the election? II
res aoJudlcata was TO be relied on why
did the committee proceed for months at
the expense of $+D,CUO or $5OUOO to thrash
out all the old evidence and the new cir
cumstances of the original case?
Reason for DEMONSTRATION.
THE fact is the new investigation was
ordered largely because the former COM
mlttee had not made a full investiga-
tion-had not explored all the sources
Of evidence. and the country demanded
all Of the facts.
Laying aside the Funke- Kinds episode
the fact remained that this new in
vestisation has developed scores of facts
pertinent to the election of Lorimer
which the old committee failed to dis
cover. The doubts as to the correct
ness OF Holtslaw's confession were dis
PEELED. Prosecuting Attorney Wayman
clearly refuted the claim that coercion
story was corroborated in many par
ticulars, and the case against Lorimer
strengthened all along the line. This
res adjudicata plea is the worst subter-
fuge-a lawyers trick-a studied effort
to befog the real issue.
THE fallacy and righteousness will be
fully uncovered by the minority report"
Speculation Over Outcome.
Since the vote on the Stephenson case
and the decision of the majority Of the
Lorimer committee in favor Of Mr.. Lori
mer there has been much speculation re-
garding the outcome of the Lorimer fight
in the Senate. A study of the previous
vote on the Lorimer case and of the
Stephenson vote has convinced the lead
ers of the fight against seating Mr.. Lori
mer that they will have a majority OF
the Senate against the Illinois senator.
OF the senator's who voted on the Lori
mer case before seventy are still in the
Senate OF those, thirty-hve voted
against Senator Lorimer before and thir-
ty-five voted in his favor. OF the twenty
senators who have come into the Senate
since the Lorimer vote was taken six
teen lined up against Senator Stephenson
and four lined up for him, and the line
up on the Lorimer question, his oppe-
nents declare. will be the same for and
against Lorimer. On that basis, the OPP
ponents assert, the roll call on the Lott
mer case would show fifty-ene senators
against Mr.. Lorimer and thirty-nine for
him. and that would mean the passage
of resolution declaring that Mr.. Lori
mer's election was illegal.
But friends of Mr.. Lorimer claim that
some of the thirty-five who voted against
him before will accept the doctrine OF
res adjudicata and vote in Mr.. Lorimer's
favor next time, Already Senator Jones