The Green Forest tribune., 1913-07-11

time. After thelr returnn In case they were successful in obtaining them, there could not possibly have been sufficient time left for the contestant to have gone through the different bal lot boxes and have formulated his charges before Thursday. A wire an- swered the same purpose, and was much quicker method.
 The Gazette quoted Section of the Act of 1911, for the purpose of showing that the power of obtaining custody of poll books rested solely with the State Central Committee. Such is not the case, because by Section 4 of the Act the contestant had that right. It reads: Section 4: The contestant may, within ten days from the date of any primary election, obtain from the judges, or any one of them. having the same, copy of the poll books of said primary election, showing the name of each person voting thereat and the number Of his ballot, by mak ing demand in writing upon the cleo ton judge or judges having custody of the poll books ..... Should either of such parties refuse to give to the contestant a copy of the poll books, ..... he shall be deemed guilty of q misdemeanor, and be punished by fine of not more than $500"
 It will be seen therefrom the con testant had the power in his own hands to have gotten the poll books had he been sincere in his efforts along that line. On the other hand, no pen 1 alty attached to refusal to deliver the poll books upon the demand of the committee. They might ask, but those holding the poll books could not be forced to heed such request, nor be punished for such refusal.
 Regarding the time allowed for eX- amining the box of Ouachita county, the committee gave the contestant all the time asked for by his attorneys for l that purpose. The charge had been made that in Ouachita county the bal lots had not been counted as cast. Up- on investigation by a committee of five, three of whom were Brundidge men, unanimous report was made that the votes had been counted as cast.
 Why, in justice to all parties, didn't the Gazette editorial contain that re- port?
 The Gazette shows that in Smack oyer township. Ouachita county, 25 out t<.f 4 1F fD1 l . not appear on the printed list of tax payers. The Gazette did not tell that the judges of election in that township | were Brundidge men; that they un- dcubtedly would have seen to it that no illegal votes were cast for Hays. The Gazette did not point out that there are four ways of proving that one is a qualified voter: First: Those whose names appear on the printed list; sec ond; those who hold receipts and those whose names were inadvertently omit ted from the list: third: those who have lived in county six months, and who hold receipt paid in another county: fourth: those who have reach ed the age of q years since the last tax assessing period
 As the Gazette correctly says, 'It has.
 of course, not been shown that Judge
 Hays is not the rightful nominee" '"
 However, a reading of the Gazette edi
 torial would leave one to believe that
 it was the duty of the Hays men to
 not only hunt up the evidence for Mir
 Tlr,,r i'd ,,.l1i l,f i-I,l h,
 contentious, but also to disprove the
 charges made by him. The burden is
 always upon the party who makes a
 charge; however, the committee were at all times ready and wiling to hear
 any testimony MT. Brundidge produc ed Ten days had elapsed since the
 primary, during all of which time MT
 Brundidge had been crying Fraud.
 But when the committee met he !, brought them nothing to substantiate those allegations. It was apparent tC the committee that the sole purpose of MT. Brundidge's attorneys was. not
 to present the contest in the three days allotted, but to use said tactics as would carry the hearing beyond the time when Democratic nominee could be declared and certified out IT corroboration of that statement, We have only to point to the refusal of Mir Brundidge to comply with the motion of the committee, wherein it requested , both Brundidge and Hays to signify their willingness in writing whether ol not they would abide by the ruling o1 the committee, as required by law. With all of the light before them with the glorious history of the Demo
 cracy of Arkansas before them, its struggles in reconstruction days ant it's victories, the committeeman did noi , want to turn Arkansas over to the Re l publicans as was done in our sister } state of Tennessee, but, acting with sincere conviction upon the belief tha , Judge Geo. w. Hays had, from the off l cial returns, received a greater number of votes that his late opponent, anC , feeling confident they were voicing tn
 sentiments of the great majority O } Democrats within the state, and wert
 doing that which would be to the bes interest of the people of Arkansas they did what the law and their con
 science compelled them to do-declar ed Judge Geo. w. Hays, the Democrat ! ic nominee.
 Earnings Increase.
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