The Omaha morning bee. [volume] (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927, 1923-01-26
Housewives
Daugherty.
Clean Bill.
Action of Committee in Exon.
Grating Attorney General of
Charges Made by Keller
Adopted, 2O4 to II.
Vote Follows Hot Debate

Washington. Jan. 25.-tBy 4. P.I--
The house. by IA vote Of o04 to II, ap-
proved tonight the action of its Judi
ciary committee in giving Attorney
General Daueherty' clean bill of
health on the impeachment charges
brought against him by Representa-
tive Keller. republican. Minnesota.
Without a roll call and by practic-
ally an unanimous vote. it adopted
also resolution discharging the com.
mittee from further consideration OF
the charges and laying the Keller i'm
peachment resolution on the table.
The two votes were regarded rs hav-
ing the effect of closing the incident.
The question of whether the house
has the constitutional power TO com.
pei a member to testify before its
committees was left undecided This
was raised in the midst of the judi
clary committee hearings when Nr.
Is eller refused TO respond to a sub
poona served on him after his dra-
matte withdrawal from further par
tcipation in the proceedings.
Holds Punishment Possible.
The committee, in its report, took
the position that the house could pun
ish Mr. Keller by Imprisonment or
otherwise until he did testify, the
term OF Imprisonment, however. not
to extend beyond this session OF con.
gress, but it made no recommends
ton on the subject, nor did the house
take direct action upon it.
The house votes were preceded by
three hours OF spirited debate, fea-
tured by attacks upon and defense
OF Mr.. Keller. and by assaults upon
Samuel untermyer OF New York,
Jackson II. Ealston OF this city, who
was Representative Keller's counsel,
aud his associate. John II. Nahey of
Boston. and Samuel Gompers. presi-
dent OF the American Federation OF
Labor.
Referring to letters written by Mr..
Untermyer regarding the impeacil-
ment charges. which were made
part of the minority report filed by
Representative Thomas. democrat,
kentucky. Representative Goody-
koontz. republican, West Virginia,
charged that these documents had
been dragged in to besmirch the
judiciary committee: He added that
he did not then have time to dis.
cuss Mr.. Untermyer's record fully,
but that he would do so in an exten-
sion of his remarks in the Congress
sional Record.
Attacks Moral Record.
In the first place." he declared,
this mans mora, record is not good.
lie was convicted by the court OF
chancery in the state OF New Jersey as
being the arch perpetrator OF dirty
fraud that was enacted in such way
as to filch from the pockets of hun
drcds of working people. thousands
and thousands of dollars.
Chairman Volstead of the judiciary
committee also assailed Mr.. Inter.
myer. declaring that he was inter
csted in the prosecution OF the Keller
charges despite his denial that he had
had any connection with their prepa-
ration. The chairman devoted much
of his prepared address, however, to
attack on Mr.. Keller.
Mr. Nolstead charged that Mr.. kel-
Ter from the first had treated the com.
mittee in an "insolent' manner; that
he had written the committee an "in-
sulting and abusive letter" and that
he and his henchmen knew from the
first that they did not have the evil
dence TO support the charges
Thomas Defends Keller.
Representative Thomas defended
Mr.. Keller, who is in Florida recuper-
ating from a recent illness. He de-
clared that the Minnesota member
had shown no "insolence' but that, on
the other hand. members of the com.
mittee had heckled him and his coun.
sci from the start Of the public hear
ings
There was a sharp clash between
the Kentucky member and Mr.. Vol.
stead when Mr.. Thomas charged that
the chairman had "deleted'' the origi-
nal record OF the hearings. Mr.. Vol
stead vigorously denied the charge,
but Mr.. Thomas insisted upon it, de-
claring that at one stage of the hear.
tngs the chairman had peremptoriiy
commanded Mr.. Keller to sit down,
while the official record made it ap-
pear that the command had been a
mlld request.
Split i'm Party Lines.
lnterrupting the long debate, Rep
resentative Garrett of Tennessee, the
democratic leader, asked why the
house was disregarding n long .estab
lished precedent and acting upon an
adverse report on an Impeachment
resolution. He argued that the report
of the committee ended the matter
and that no action should be taken
but Mr.. Nolstead declared the
charges were Solemn ones and
should be disposed Of.
There, was a split in party lines on
the proposition to give Mr.. Daugherty
clean bill Of health. IL republicans
voting in the negative and 10 demo
Gratis in the affirmative. The repub
licans were Beck. Browne. Cooper
LaMpert, John NJ. Nelson and Voighi
of Wisconsin,; Dowell, Kopp ant
Sweet OF Iowa; James and Wood
ruff of Michigan. and Sinclair oi
North DakoN.
The democrats voting in the affirm
ative were: Bland, Deal. Montagu,
and Woods of Virginia: Blanton ol
Texas. Byrnes and Dominick of Soutf
Carolina; Dupree Of Louisiana; Fish
cd Of Tennessee, and Lea Of California