The Bismarck tribune., 1935-03-20
C. o N TIN y E d.
.from pa0e enol
Finish Arguments
In LANCER Appeal
From Conviction

OtIlSI, ana Cneus Wueu C8uBuC, CI8Iul
| 1t Is but Z trifling offense."
The defendants here with LANCER
are Oscar Chaput, Frank vogel and
Harold Mcdonald. r. A. KinSer, Sr.,
another defendant, was not present.
Chaput, vogel and Kinzer are under
sentence Of 13 months imprisonment
and fines Of SO each. Mcdonald re.
,ceived four months.
Contend Money Became States
Langers' appeal, argued by MUIR
ply, outlined the history Of relief
legislation and pointed out that the
RFC, the ERA, and FERA acts all
stipulate that relief money shall be
loaned or granted to the states.
There Is In none Of these" he
said, - suggestion that the money
remains the property Of the govern.
ment after being handed to the state.
The money was invested In the
'state. There was no obstruction Of q
federal function. There was no crime
against the government"
"They say that these defendants
brazenly. openly and by intimidation
h4IO VOVACAOA1 O00tA UVVSN GA NV VI WA
gress by these solicitations" Murphy
told the judges. And yet they &C.
cuse them Of fraud, the very essence
of which Is stealth, secrecy, deceit
and concealment. You cannot de-
fraud a man by intimidation"
Constitutionality Of the relief leg
islation was attacked by Murphy as
,,surpation by congress Of local po-
lice powers given the states by the
tenth amendment but he did not
dwell on the point, merely pointing
out to the judges his brief on the
subject.
No Intent to interfere
Attacking sufficiency Of the evi-
dence on which the convictions were
obtained, Murphy told the court that
none Of the defendants was engaged
in administration Of the statute they
were convicted Of obstructing and that
they were not In position to hamper
the governments functions.
LANCER, he said, had turned the
work over to q committee, Of which
Kinzer, although having the title Of
executive secretary, was . mere en-
ploye. Mcdonald was q solicitor for
the Leader, vogel was head Of the
state highway department and Cha
put was the papers manager. None,
he stressed, was charged with I'd.
ministration Of . federal statute.
There was no intent, he declared,
to interfere with the government but.
he added, the trial court permitted
the government to bring forth many
state employees to tell Of the solicita-
ton and the jury was asked to as
sumo that what was true Is regards
five or six relief employees was true
as to q great many.
Hits Court Intefpretstiou
"Vogel fired an incompetent work
man and the jury was asked to as-
sumo it was because he wouldn't sub
scribe to the Leader. The solicitation
was not contrary to state law but the
jury was allowed to infer their guilt
when the court called their attention
to a state statute forbidding . state
officer to enrich himself by taking
money allotted to his office for clerk
hire. It was an obscure statute, de-
signed to protect the state rather
than the clerk.
"The court construed such solicita-
ton as a violation Of that statute
a construction we believe to be mani
festly wrong. The jury was made
by it to infer that these were wicked
men. wickedly violating q state law
and therefore capable Of wickedly
violating q government statute"
Government testimony that Lang.
er drew some $4,000 from the bank
account Of the Leader and placed II
in his own was scored by Murphy who
declared that the transaction &C.
Cured before even one. state employe
| had been asked to subscribe to the
newspaper. The money, he told the
| judges, was due Langer because o1
his financing Of the previous election
campaign.
Lanier Answers Murphy
Lanier. answering Murphy, told the
court first that the amount OF money
taken from the five or six employee
was mot a measure Of the magnitude
Of the crime"
Nor were these defendants tl1e
minor characters Mr.. Murphy ha,
painted then," he declared. 'Langel
was the elected governor Of . state
who asked for and received from thu
government large sums of money
vogel was head Of the state highway
department which had some $1,000.
900 in U. s. money for disposal.
"Kinzer was not an employe Of the
relief committee but In actuality It.
executive secretary with power to hire
and fire all relief workers and the
duty Of preparing data on which the
state based its requests for funds"
The term ''defraud," he said, haa
Q broader sense when applied to the
government than when applied tc
personal rights.
I'VE claim that when certain al