The Anderson daily intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson, S.C.) 1914-1915, 1914-06-24
EMORY SPEER
|. NOT T|MPEACHED
SUB COMMITTEE IN CON-
GRESS MAKES A DIVIDED
REPORT
is NOT BLANfELESS
Eut Docs Not Deserve Impeach-
ment is About Substance of
the Report
is NOT BLANfELESS
(By Associated Press.)

(By Associated Press)
Washington. June 23-The house
judiciary committee today considered
without action recommendations OF Il
5ub-cOmmittCo that impeachment
charges against Federal Judge Emory
Speer, of the Southern district of
Georgia. be dismissed. II was underi
stood there was no opposition. TO re-
porting to the house the evidence Sc
cured by the subcommittee. after sew
eral months OF investigation. did not
warrant further proceedings, but that
members of the committee were divid-
Cc az 10 the form this recommendation
should lake.
Two reports were submitted by the
subcommittee, that of the majority,
signed by ChairmaE Webb and Repre-
sentative Fitzhenry, recommending. the
dismissal of proceedings, but embody-
Ing detailed criticism of certain al
-leSed acts OF Judge Speer. and that Of
the minority presented by Represen-
tative Volstead, holding that the
accused jurist be completely exoner-
ated
The meeting of the committee today
lasted several hours. AT the conclu-
s;ol, Chairman Webb said he expected
the recommendations to the house
would I've decided upon within a few
days. so that the case finally could
bc disposed of at this session
YOlstead Demurs.
Complete exoneraLion of Judge
Speer from charges that led to con-
Gresrional investigation !. of his con-
duct, was recommended In minority
report by Represen tatfYe Vofstead, lot
Minnesota, asmember sof the inycstf-
eating subcommittee of the house ju-
ditiary committee Representative
Voistead also attacked the methods
and findings of the majority OF the
subcommittee, who held That the evi-
dence did not warrant impeachment,
hut severely criticised certain acts OF
the accused jurist.
while concur in the recommends
tions made In the majority report that
no further proceedings he had upon
the charges against Judge Speer,
desire to express in as emphatic Ian
guage as possible my protest against
Eae methods that have been pursued" !"
says Representative Volstead In his
report.
Il desire to have it distinctly under
stood that l do not critic::2 the mo-
tiyes of my associates. fc- whom I
have the highest personal rt ..ard; but
the proceedings In this iav..1tigation
have been marked by acts cruelty un-
just and unfair. No effort was made
10 protect the judge against mere
slander and abuse that could serve
no other purpose than to disgrace and
llumilinte him. Every enemy, that
tventy-nine years on the bench had
produced was invited and eagerly en-
couTaged to C-tail his grievance and
III supplement that with all sorts of
tnnnendos. insinuations and insulting
opinions utterly illegal as evidence
and incompetent for any proper pur-
pose. II Is humiliating to read this
record and to have to admit that a
coa'mittec OF congress Is responsible
for this sort Of cruel injustice. No
court in any civilized country would
tolerate any such proceeding"
detailed Criticism.
lie report takes up at length the
evidence presented before the sub
crnnt:tec. treating each charge sepa-
rately and in detail 1t declares that
'the evidence introduced was nearly
all either hearsay OF secondary evil
dence." and that this short cut meth
cd OF arriving at the guilt or innocence
OF the Judge created confusion as to
,,ctual facts" II.
Much attention is, paid to the charge
that Judge Speer allowed Bankruptcy
estates to be dissipateds through Ill
'fowance Of excessive attorneys fees.
uercfute this charge Reprcsen .ativc
;N'6latead present statistics of the cost
OF Dfadministration of bankruptcy as
s.'tS IN the southern district OF Geor-
g.a, from 1890 to 1912, in comparison
WITH the d!stricts ,of. residence of The
ynEfous members OF the house iudici-
arFt committees for those years. This
tahpyation, taken from reporto OF the
attorney general. shows tho cost IN
JnLge Specr.s; dihtrtCt mt 0.7 per cont,
Nhilei the average for the other dis
trscts listed was 9.2 per cent. s
referring to the HUFF bankruptcy
case the report says: I. s. s;
The Scecal.cd yHuff case is an IL
,lustration OF how o dissatisfied and
defeated litigantl and his attorney
sometimes swear at the Judge and
jury. Nearly every feature OF this
long and variodS litigation has h,en
In the Circuit court OF appeals, and
,tilarC the Judges :oydersi and decreas
Continued :on Page Three.)
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