New Britain herald., 1917-09-28
BLOWS STRUCK IN
HALL OF congress
Rep. HELM and Rep. Norton Have
Encounter in Washington
THEN ARE SEPARATED

A<et'ueiS Trepaife 1Of Action and Hef-
| lin Dares Norton, Author in Inquiry
Resolution, to Vote to Dust Him
From Congress-.
Washington, Sept. 28-After a
| heated session today, the house rules
| committee refused to act on resolu-
| tions proposing congressional inves-
| tigation of Rep. Heflins charges that
number of members of congress
had acted suspiciously" about the
| time Count Won Bernstorff asked his
| government for authority to spend
| $4,000 to influence congress on the
| submarine warfare issue.
The row in the house over Rep.
Heflin's charges eliminated today in
! q fight between Hef1in and Rep. Nor
| ton. his chief critic. Friends soon
| separated them.
! The rules committee yesterday held
a sensational hearing on Heflin's
charges, which are to the effect that
| the German fund had been success
| fully used on 13 or IA members of
congress. He named four men, and
stated that he was ready at any time
/ to have an impartial representation
IL.
Members who were about to leave
the city on weekend trips cancelled
their engagements and determined to
| stay in Washington when it was made
plain to them that the Heflin charge
| might produce many interesting possi-
bilities. If the rules committee does
not order an investigation the House
will surely take the matter into it's
own hands.
Mr. Heflin appeared before the
rules committee and mentioned the
names of members of Congress whom
he connected with suspicious legisla-
ton, and said he would like to have
a thorough investigation of the orga-
nizations which had endorsed certain
bills Of Senator La Follette.e Represent
tative Mason of Illinois, Representative
Britten Of Illinois and Representative
Baer of North Dakota.
When Representative Bri t n
learned of this he dictated and dis
tributed a formal statement charging
Representative Hef1in with being "a
paciist of the lowest order" and be-
ing largely responsible '''for the coun-
try's unpreparedness."
Meantime the whips of both sides Of
| the House have sent out hurry calls
| for all hands to como to Washington
| on "important business" Majority
Leader Kitchin told members they
had better stay on hand, because
something was likely to happen. These
and others recall that when Represen-
tative Hef1in voted against the war
resolution he endeavored to get the
House to drop Kitchin as floor leader
and that Representative Burnett Of
Alabama, a colleague of Hef1in, took
the floor to denounce Heflin for his
~ VII
ton of the bitterness now flavoring
the undercurrent in the House.
IT am willing to give names before
committee said Mr.. Heflin. He
said he believed he could get the aid
Of the secret service and charged
that certain members would like to
get him out of the way before the
hearings started. He turned to Rep
resentative Norton, saying:
"You are not the only one who
would like to see me out of the way.
I will have something to say about
you before an investigation is made"
The Alabaman charged that two
local newspapers misstated facts
when they said the President had de-
plored the Heflin speech.
"They published these lies yester-
day and used the president to further
Then turning to Representative Nor
ton, he added: II dare you to vote
for my expulsion" Mr.. Heflin con-
tinued:
81 want to ask about the Mason
BILL the anti-draft bill. I want to ask
members about their correspondence;
I want to find out how many are In
secret compact to fight the selective
draft in the next campaign, how many
will support Representative Britten's
bill to exempt German n-Americans
from service. Let us see who has fur
nished the postage stamps required
by the German forces. l want to
! know who is in the organization
championed by La Toilette, the or
ganization that would leave the
president without an army. I want you
to name committee to investigate
this Won Bernstorff message. I will
name the men and leave it to their
constituents to say whether or not I
am right"
Representative Campbell of Kansas
asked him:
Don't their constituents know now
how they stand ?"
Some men talk one way to one set
of constituents and another way to an.
other SET" answered Mr.. Heflin.
He then turned his attention to
| Representative Baer, the newly elect
ed member from North Dakota:
"They say he was elected by men
who repudiated the war. If there
are any others preparing to join
hem, let us have their Names"
Representative Heflin reverted to
| the Britten bill again. the measure
| to exempt German Americans from
| serving abroad. He said he wanted
! to know who had circulated the