The Green Forest tribune., 1913-07-11
STATEMENT FROM
 STATE COMMITTEE
REPLY Is MADE TO EDITORIALS THAT WERE PUBLISHED IN
 THE GAZETTE.
SAY PROOF NOT PRODUCED
Last Day on Which Nominee Could Be Certified.
Western Newspaper Union News Service.

Western Newspaper Union News Service
 Little Rock-The Democratic State Central Committee, which opened headquarters Monday, has issued the following statement:
 "The editorial columns of the Ga zette of the 5th and 9th instant criti- cised the action of the Democratic State Central Committee of Arkansas in hearing and disposing of the con test of MT. Brundidge and the com mittee answered as follows:
 The members of the state commit tee are the chosen representatives of the Democratic party in Arkansas; they come from every judicial and congressional district of the state; they were selected by the state con vention because of their executive ability, their sense of justice and their standing as citizens and representa- tive Democrats.
 Upon the committee were eight we'll known lawyers of legal experience and training fully capable of impartialiy and honestly hearing and determining questions such as the contest mentions who, after such hearing, voted to | dismiss the contest because of the lack of evidence to sustain the allegations. The Gazette attempted to show in the editorial that, because there was a ma | jority of Hays men, on the commit tee they simply ran the steam roller over the Brundidge men," | Of the 19 members who voted to | declare Judge Hays the nominee, four | had voted for MT. Brundidge in the | primary-and six others had taken no certainly cannot be truthfully asserted that those 10 men had any desire other than to give the contestant fair and impartial hearing.
 | The cry of "steam roller" methods is always made by every one who, aft CT a contest, loses. AS a matter oi fact the committee indicated dispo sition to treat the contestant cour teously, and to impartially hear his | contest, the moment he filed it. They would have done that, even in the ab sence of his injunction, asked for anG obtained before he had first requested the committee to hear his contest
 They sat patiently through three sweltering days, time and again re questing MT. Brundidge's attorneys tc | present the evidence to sustain the charges made by him in the newspa pers and in his complaint When they saw no proof was forthcoming. wher they had been threatened with punish ment of a jail sentence, because they would not perform according to the | wishes of the contestants attorneys and when they had been further noti fled that the contestant would stand on his technical legal right of 20 days within which to present his proo | (which would have left the Democratic party without nominee) when they saw that the purpose was not to move but tc embarrass the Democratic par | ty-a majority of the committee diC what other men of common sense would have done-they dismissed tht contest for lack of evidence and pro ceeded to declare. a Democratic nomi nee from the official returns
 The Gazette says the nominee wa. actually declared on Wednesday after noon, when the time for certifying nominee did not expire until Thursda! following. Wedl esday, July ?, wa. tEe last day the committee could cer tify out the nominee. Sections 278O kirby's Digest, provides that the cer tifieate must be filed not less than 2t days before the date fixed by law fol the election" The day fixed by law is July 23, the last day before tn, election is the 22d, so that the 2c was only 20 days before the day o election. See section 1922.
 The Gazette says the steam roller began operations when the motion o contestant that the committee brins | forward the poll books, etc, of certair counties, was voted down; that th' Going resolution. which provided tha | messengers be sent for the books meant business, while the Coleman resolution. which provided for the sec retary of the committee to demand tn, same by wire did not.
 Now let ns apply a common senst reasoning to those two propositions.
 To have found a sufficient numbe of messengers to send into the variou counties, would rave taken up con siderable time: for them to go to tn, counties and return to Little Rocl