Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1916-10-25

Legislature, and thru Volstead at
Washington, (for at that time had
confidence in Volstead and felt sure
Of having his assistance in the prem
ises), after which he left for Wash
ingtOn.
voIstead Refused to Assist.
Directly thereafter, put the whole
matter up to Mr.. Volstead and advis-
ed him to go ahead and get the gift,
and take the credit for it, but for
some reason of his own, not explained
to me, tho it subsequently came to
be quite apparent, he returned to me
all that gave t, him, relative to the
matter, and said, in effect, that he
wanted nothing to do with it and took
no stock, so to say, in what l was
undertaking to accomplish; since
when no communication has passed
between Mr.. Volstead and myself, ex-
cept that, later, in the legislative ses-
sion of 1909, he sent me an untruth-
full telegram relative to this very
matter, tho did not find out that his
telegram was untruthful until l got
to Washington and looked the mat
ter up there when I discovered his
very obvious telegraphic attempt to
deceive me and mislead me and pre-
vent my being successful in securing
the conversion of the Indian School,
into a School of Agriculture. 1 have
never asked him for any explanation
Of his conduct; and he has never OF
tered any; has, in fact, never CON
munlcated with me, relative to sal
matter, or any other matter, since
left Washington after having accC!.
Dlished the things there necessary t..
1efeat his obvious attempt there t.
.efeat my securing legislation there
'1vorable to the conversion of the II.
lian School into a State School Of
Agriculture.
Representative Spooner Wrote Bill
Senator CIapp Passed it in
Senate.
After, when I put the matter up I:
him, as already stated, and advise
him, or solicited him, to go ahead AMI
get the property as gift for Agricul-
next appeal was made to Moses
Clapp, Senator Clapp, who readily
agreed to be as helpful as he might
be. He, at that time, was the Chair,
man Of the Committee of the United
States Senate dealing with Indian
matters, and therefore In a position
to be helpful, and he quickly showed
his entire willingness to be helpful,
in the premises, and accordingly, I
sent him bill for Introduction and
passage In the Senate, giving us what
was wanted; and he introduced the
same; and it passed in the Senate;
and thereupon, expecting it to pass
In the House, l predicated the bill
which l introduced in our Legislature;
but shortly thereafter, (and right
"volstead's Deviltry."
here is where the Volstead deviltry
really commenced in the matter, so
far as know,) l received telegram
from Mr.. Volstead to the effect that
the Clapp bill would not be likely to
be favorably considered in the House
tho that he, Volstead, had introduced
in the House "a substantially SIM
liar BILL" or words to that effect,
which he thot would pass in the
House, and later in the Senate, and
requested me to stay the progress of
my legislative bill-until I heard from
him again about it; but never heard
from him again about it: but after a
while, right in the session, I went to
Washington; and there I found that
he had introduced a bill, tho not a
similar bill, nothing like the Senate
bill, but, instead, bill, had it not
been got out of the way, as it was got
out of the way while 1 was there,
which would have entirely prevented
our getting the Indian property for
School of Agriculture purposes, en-
tirely so, bill authorizing and direct
ing the Secretary of the Interior to
sell the buildings and grounds to the
highest bidder therefor, turning the
funds derived therefrom into the In
dian fund, and authorizing the Com
missioner of Indian Affairs to set the
lands, other than, the grounds about
| the buildings, over to the use and
benefit of other Indian Schools. That
is exactly what Mr.. Volstead was up
| to. did not see him while there in
Washington, after finding out what he
was up to. did not try to see him.
did not want to see him. Why? Well.
going into Washington, got up in the
morning at Baltimore, and happened
to get acquainted with him who then
was Chairman of House Indian Al.
fairs, afterwards Vice President, who
assured me, on the train going into
/ Warrington. that Il I needed help "a