The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1927-04-07
IS "INVESTICATI0N'
A HABIT IN OUR
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
By Robert N. Stanfield

1t is manifest there has developed
in The Congress of the United States
a habit of Investigation, born of
the spirit of the times. do not wish
to be understood as favoring the es-
cape of the guilty, but | do most en-
phatically deprecate Federal investi-
cation tinctured with the spirit of
partisan political rancor.
The Congress, as an Investigator
becomes in a sense a court of justice,
and there is no proper place in court
procedure for political billingsgate.
Diatribe is just as much out of place
in the Congress, sitting as court, as
it would be out of place before the
Supreme Court of the United States.
I am inescapably driven to the
conclusion, from my experience IN
the United States Senate, that a.
together too much time and energy
of the Senate (Which is true also of
the House, are taken up in jockey
ing for political advantage habit
that grows furious just preceding BIZ
ennial and quadrennial elections.
The legitimate business of Gov
eminent suffers from this evil. No
great corporate business could even
be organized, much less conducted
successfully if similar methods were
to prevail in the business world. The
affairs of the Government should al
ways be exploited. This is the pro-
vince and the duty of the peoples
representatives in the Congress and
in all the departments. These remarks
apply with equal force to State Gov
lernments.
Growing out of the habit of Fed
eral Investigations having their roots
in the notion of partisan advantages,
a singular and most dangerous pro-
cedure has developed in the Senate.
1t is the notion of judging for the
States the character and qualifica-
lions of their legally appointed or
elected Senators. Under the broad
Constitutional powers given to the
Congress to be the judge of the fit
ness of its own members, a querulous
tendency has developed which threat
ems the Fundamental right of the
States to estimate the fitness of
their Congressional representatives.
This tendency is taking on the ma
ture of a paternalism which as
sumes that the states are sending
their bad boys to Congress, where,
properly, the first thing to do to
them is to spank them and send them
home.
will not say that corruptions in
elections (primary or regularly should
be ignored but find myself wonder
ing if the investigation of such al
legged corruption may not properly
be done by the states themselves,
with respect to elected officials chos-
en- to represent the states in Con-
gress. There would be manifestly lit
tie left for Congress to do in the
matter, after the states had issued
their clear bills of health.
The case of the Senator-elect from
Illinois illustrates forcibly this quer-
ulous tendency. | am unable to see
in what respect the status Of Mr..
Smith, as the legally-appointed. U.
S. Senator from Illinois, is affected
by events transpiring in the process
of his election to that office. The
Senate's action in this case looks like
condemnation before birth.
| If courts were similarly querulous
, a citizen who had been indicted by a
grand jury might be forbidden to en-
ter the courtroom on any other legi-
innate business. It would be broadly
assuming that the man is guilty, in
, violation of the fundamental legal
principal that an accused is consid-
: cred innocent until he is proven
, guilty.
The case of Senator Ware of
: Pennsylvania, provides topic for
querulous query. Suppose the Ware
case had this minute the same status
as the Smith case with respect to
: corruption in the election-would
, the House of Representatives pro-
, coed to unseat him, paddle him and
put him on the train for Philadel-
pia? I wonder.
, The direct result of this querulous-
ness in the case of Senator-elect