Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1922-02-11
Special to Indiana Daily Times
and Philadelphia Public Ledger
BY ROBERT BARRY.

George Wharton Pepper returned to
Washington to learn he had become the
center Of a political storm because OF
his references at Albany, n. Y, Wednes-
day night to Democratic opposition to
the seating Of Truman II. Newberry as
Senator from Michigan.
Before he reached the. Capitol, Mr..
Pepper had been placed alongside Mr.
Newberry by Democratic orators and the
pair of them denounced. There had been
rather a stirring debate.
Mr. Pepper walked right into the
teeth Of 1t. His senatorial inexperience
he counted as nothing. He yielded priv
leges In which older colleagues might
have sought refuge He stood squarely
by his Albany speech and the press re-
ports thereof added new charges of per
sonaI dishonOr' against his Democratic
associates in the Senate. For a maiden
speech, that Of Mr.. Pepper had many
novelties.
Standing in a far corner of the Senate
chamber-on the Democratic side, be-
cause novice Republicans must serve in
the Cherokee strip which cares for those
an overwhelming Republican majority
cannot accommodate on its own side
of the aisle-the Junior Senator from
Pennsylvania declared the Democrats had
elected to make of Newberry an issue
Of honor or dishonor, and he had chosen
to accept the challenge. He had refused,
he said, to become a party to a political
by-play which judged a man not on the
merits Of his case, but on his politics.
COWBOY SENATOR
PEPPERS PEPPER.
Senator Henry L. Ashurst, Democrat
from Arizona, a former cowboy and
jack of all trades in the new country OF
the Southwest, undertook a Senatorial
catechising of Senator Pepper. He did
1t in the picturesque language Of Phoe-
nix and Tucson.
1.-THE Senate will remember that the
morning the papers carried an alleged
report of a speech made by the able
junior Senator from Pennsylvania Mr..
Ashurst began, and the speech or al
legged or purported speech reflected so
severely upon the Democratic members
of the State and, as 1 cOnstrue 1t, upon
the eight Republicans who voted not to
seat Mr.. Newberry, that out of simple
fairness l feel if the Senator from Penn
sylvania will not consider it offensive
on my part or presumptious to ask him
If the report in the various papers re-
garding his remarks on the Newberry
case is true.
II have no desire TO be offensive in
propounding that question, and, if the
Senator will not consider 1t as pre-
sumptious, I should like to ask him If
that be true, If he was correctly re-
ported?"
"of course do not regard the ques-
ton as In the least offensive Mr.. Pep
per replied. II have not seen the re
ports In the papers to which the Senators
refers, but I have every reason to be
lieve that they are accurate, because
what I said was advisedly, and a copy
of my remarks was given to the papers
so I assume they correctly quoted me-"
mfr. President, during the absence Of
the Senator" Mr.. Ashurst countered, II
took the liberty of saying he would man
fully avow o. disavow that speech when
he came into The chamber, and I see I
was not mistaken and did not underesti-
mate or overestimate the Senator. 1
have been handed from the press gallery
the purported report of the speech al
legged to have been made by the Senator
before the Albany County Republican
Club: the Senator is alleged to have said,
after some other parts of his speech
I now mention an example of indi-
vidual courage. I refer to the action
of those Republican Senators who stead
lastly refused to be terrorized into vot-
ing to expel from the Senate the man
who had been sent there by clear
majority of the voters Of his State
When you realize the success attained by
Senator Newberry's implacable enemy in
misstating the issue to the publc-when
you realize how millions Of good people
in this country have been fooled by
Ford's insidious publicity into believing
that not they themselves, but the Michi-
gan electorate had been duped-you will
understand that 1t took no small degree
nP couraoo m farm ruhlfo moral oopdavo
nation which was as vehement as 1t was
unjust. And in this test of moral cour.
age every single Democrat in the Senate
was found wanting. Not one soul was
man enough to vote in accordance with
his convictions. They mouthed about
the honor of the Senate and the integrity
of the individual; and then they pro-
ceeded to tarnish that honor and impair
that integrity by voting like a flock of
sheep. Every single Democrat voted
slayishly to dishonor his own colleagues
for what an unimpeachable majority of
the people of Michigan had done when,
with full knowledge Of all the facts they
freely registered their preference to Sena'
ter Newberry.
PEPPER ASKED To
VERIFY SPEECH.
Now, will the Senator advise US as to
whether or not that is reasonably cor
rect report Of his speech ?"
u believe 1t to be a reasonably cor
rect report" Mr.. Pepper replied, land
In answering that question perhaps the
Senator will permit me to include this
observation as a part Of it:
when l, as a member Of this body,
approached the consideration of the
Newberry case, I assumed the question
would be considered as a judicial ques-
ton upon which individual Senators
would make up their minds upon the