The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1926-04-19
WHAT PRICE JUSTICE? 10000

In Washington the other night few hundred
men and women sat down to an unusual feast. 1t
vas feast to celebrate the fact that the American
Government had failed in its effort to send an nno
cent man to prson
In the language of Senator Shipstead of Mime
sofa, it celebrated the triumph of justice over the
Department of Justice.
The guests gathered to honor Senator Burton K.
Wheeler of Montana and his attorneys, Senator
Thomas ]. Walsh and Charles A. Douglas. The oc-
cason was the action Of the Federal courts in finally
putting to an end the long sustained attempt Of the
Department of Justice to get" Wheeler because Of
his successful exposure Of the department itself.
The dinner was given by the Wheeler defense
committee. Topping the list Of names on that COM
smittee is no less person than Charles w. Eliot,
president emeritus of Harvard University Included
in the list are dozens of other nationally known
names names of men and whose love of
America can more be questioned than can Or.
Eliot's. Yet what was the theme the speeches made
and the letters and kilograms read to the assem-
blage? 1t was
Conspiracy!
One after another voiced the belief that the
American Government through its department of
law had been engaged in a conspiracy against sin
gle American citizen
e They gave as their carefully considered opinion,
what the average newspaper reading citizen has
come casually TO believe that national Govern
ment deliberately attempted to frame" and send to
prison innocent man. 1t seems fantastic when
you face this charge with open eyes, that such al
legation could be made in public meeting not
hafdozen blocks from the White House. But the
charge made and repeated, over and again,
and no agents of the Department of Justice swooped
lin to arrest the speakers. Nor were there arrests
on the following day when the newspapers printed
athe story.
William Allen White wrote from his Kansas
home to say he proud of the part he had taken
in helping to bring justice to Senator Wheeler He
called the indictments obtained by the Department
OF Justice infamous" But he was allowed to edit
his prairie paper next day undisturbed
"A degraded Department of Justice" wrote
Felix Frankfurter in a similar letter, but he taught
law to Harvard University students next day with
out interference.
with officers OF the Cabinet to defraud the Govern
ment," wrote Rabbi Stephen S. Wise. And he was
not jailed for that
81 doubt if in all our American history there can
u be found a conspiracy black and vile" wrote Rev.
CDR. John Haynes Holmes He remained unmolested
in his New York pulpit
And more of the same.
curious time in which we live, a time when
these things can be said of the very soul of the
American Goyernment-for if not in the Department
of Justice, then where should the Governments soul
reside? These things be said and they are said
and they 80 unchaenged by the Government But
nothing results. No wave Of moral indignation
sweeps across the country. The Government sits ST.
lent and safe.
what price justice?" inquired one guest at tho
dinner, and answered himself thus
Fifteen thousand dollars raised by tive de-
Tense committee, in dimes and dollars collected in