The Home and State (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 11, No. 15, Ed. 1 Saturday, September 11, 1909 Page: 3 of 8
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-THE HOME AND STATE- -3X9
September 11, 1909.
Page 3
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GRUEF
—From Cleveland Press.
It bore a Stephenville
Some Red Hot Utterances
Senator H. Bascon Thomas, Labor Day Address
had received.
date line:
“Lieutenant
UNCLE CAN STAND IT
The dry wave is said to have cost
the country over $7,000,000 in reve-
nue income.
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7
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pleaded guilty to gaming with cards
in Erath County in 1906. Certified
copy of indictment and judgment
herewith mailed. Stay with them,
Bascom. M. J. THOMPSON,
County Judge.”
“If Thompson were here now, he
would think I am staying with them,”
said the Senator. “I intend to stay
with them until the iniquitous lobby
is driven from the capitol at Austin.
Christ scourged the money-changers
from the temple, and I’ll drive out the
most corrupt set of men in the world.”
Mr. Thomas said he was the only
man who had ever been expelled from
a legislative body for making war on
grafters. He had been tried twice for
the same offense, and the first time
only one Senator had voted for his ex-
pulsion, Watson, who was arrested
two hours later for gambling, was
found with cards in his pockets. When
such a man spoke of political integrity
and honor, the speaker was reminded
of Judas Iscariot attempting to sing a
Te Deum to Christ.
remarked that if Thomas were per-
mitted to talk, the devil would be to
pay, as he (Thomas) had told the
committee he intended to discuss the
report on the floor of the Senate and
give the names of the men whom he
believed connected with the deal.
Senator J. M. Terrell had been in-
structed to move the adoption of the
committee’s reportand then move the
previous question, thus preventing Mr.
Thomas from discussing the report of
the investigating committee. At the
same time, in the other end of the
capitol building, Kennedy was on
trial. Now and then some newspaper
men of small calibre would remark
that Thomas’ charges had never been
sustained. “Why, they were proven
before I left the capital,” said Mr.
Thomas. Kennedy had been found
guilty of graft and asked to resign;
he (Thomas), was convicted of fight-
ing graft and had been fired. Ken-
nedy, who cccupied the most conspic-
uous position in the house, had been
removed flora his elevated position as
speaker and transferred to a soft
berth among the other representatives
/1 fl
a side of bacon to prevent his family
from starving and the administration
of justice on the part of poker-playing
officials.
When a joint meeting of the House
and Senate was held to consider the
anti-race bill, Col. Harris, of Beau-
mont, made the statement to the com-
mittee that $4000 had been raised by
the pool rooms of that city to bribe
the Senate. Senator Peeler at that
time had remarked that he would re-
ply to that slander in legislative halls.
“I knew Peeler was bluffing when he
said he would reply to that slander,
and he never has, in the Legislature
or anywhere else,” said Mr. Thomas.
About two weeks later the speaker
said he was approached by a friend
who told him he had some information
to impart, but the latter told him that
if he ever revealed the source of his
information he (Thomas’ friend)
would be compelled to swear that he
had never said it. It referred to some
member of the Legislature, who had
been advised as to what course to
pursue regarding a certain bill by a
lobbyist. Just a few hours later he
saw a member of the Legislature talk-
ing with a professional lobbyist in the
M
Nu4™Lml
MS
Governor Davidson
Driskell hotel, and he heard th® lob-
byist say to the Legislator, “When you
have done that, draw on me by draft.”
The Legislator turned to Thomas and
asked, “Senator, what do you suppose
he meant by that?” Mr. Thomas said
he turned to the Representative, smil-
ed and said, “You know very well
what he meant.”
“What the people of Texas now de-
mand is a higher standard of right
conduct and living on the part of their
law-making Representatives,” said the
speaker.
“I will now tell you something
. about the president of the Texas Sen-
ate, Lieutenant Governor A. B. David-
son,” said Mr. Thomas. “Will some
one please bring me a pan of water, a
cake of soap and a towel, for I shall
begin the distasteful operation of
skinning a dog. That man hates me
like the devil does holy water, and
that’s one reason why I consider my-
self fairly respectable, because David-
son hates me so bitterly. He has made
it a practice to hate all good men and
love the bad ones. A few hours after
I made my charges on the floor of the
Senate, I went to Davidson’s office and
found the door locked. I returned the
second time, and it was locked. The
third time the door was open, and I
entered. I found the president of the
Texas Senate conferring with Ben Ca-
bell, of Dallas, and ex-Senator Mc-
Kamy, both of whom had been lobby-
ing against the anti-race bill, and Da-
vidson did all he could to help them.
Their faces flushed and they seemed
confused at my appearance. The next
night Davidson left his seat in the
Senate and delivered a bitter attack
on me. A week later, after the anti-
race bill had been passed in the House
and was pending in the Senate, a mass
meeting was held in Dallas, when one
man arose and suggested that a legis-
lative excursion be run from Austin
to Dallas, to bring the Representatives
to that city, and the rest would be
easy. The invitation was accepted,
but I objected to it. There has never
been a legislative excursion in this or
any other State but what had a string
tied at the other end of it. It is a di-
rect bribe and should be prohibited.
The Legislature went to Dallas and
Speaker Kennedy and Lieutenant Gov-
ernor Davidson spoke. Their ad-
dresses were very similar, but the lat-
ter said he thought all the Legislature
should do would be to return to Aus-
tin, pass the appropriation bill and
adjourn. And the next day the Dallas
News came out with scare headlines
and said Davidson was being mention-
ed as a prospective man for governor.
If it had been left to the jockeys and
race horse gamblers, he would have
been elected on the spot and the oath
of office administered in Dallas.”
The speaker said he had been ap-
proached by Davidson, who told him
that he understood that he (Thomas)
had been trying to connect his name
with the lobbyists. Thomas said he
told Davidson he had no positive
knowledge, but had heard as much
from several sources. “Well you know
it’s a lie, because it is,” said Davidson.
The lieutenant governor appeared and
talked like the very embodiment of
political sanctity at that time.
Mr. Thomas then read the following,
saying it was a telegram which he
at $5 per diem. A condition of affairs
seemed to have been reached in Texas
where those who fight graft were
more harshly dealt with than the
grafters themselves.
Col. Jake Wolters was brought be-
fore the lobby investigating committee
and admitted that he was chairman of
the forces lobbying against the pas-
sage of the submission proposition,
and the work of that lobby had been
well planned. Col. Wolters further
admitted playing poker with three
Representatives and three Senators. A
Mr. McCarty, cashier of a certain bank
in Houston, admitted having lost
£1000 in a poker game, and he was
at Austin lobbying against the passage
of the bank deposit guaranty bill.
“How much of the inones McCarty
lost do you suppose found its way
into the pockets of the so-called Rep-
resentatives of the people of Texas?”
inquired the speaker. The police
raided the gambling room in the
Driskell hotel and arrested Wolters
and several Representatives and Sen-
ators. A lobbyist appeared in court
next morning and paid the fine of
some of the Legislators arrested the
night before The speaker believed
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(From Waco Tribune, Sept. 8.)
The following is a quite full and ac-
curate report, from the stenographer’s
notes, of the address of State Senator
H. Bascom Thomas, at the Labor Day
celebration in Waco last Monday. The
Tribune prints this as a matter of fair-
ness to Mr. Thomas, and of informa-
tion to our readers, realizing that
many of those who were not present
will desire to learn what Senator
Thomas had to say.:
Mr. Thomas’ denunciation of the
lobby ring at Austin was one of the
most severe and caustic arraignments
ever heard here, and his excoriation
of Lieutenant Governor A. B. David-
son and State Senator Senter of Dallas
was exceedingly bitter. He also paid
his respects to some of the leading
dailies, which, he said, had never yet
printed his speeches as they were de-
livered.
As a preface to his address, Mr.
Thomas said he had been speaking in
Texas ever since the last session of
the Legislature adjourned, and he be-
lieved he had received more invita-
tions to deliver addresses than any
other man in the State. He had a mes-
sage the people of Texas wanted to
hear, and he was determined that they
should hear it. Most of the people of
this State were familiar with his re-
cent painful and spectacular experi-
ence in the Texas Senate, one which
had not been inflicted on any other
member of that body, and he trusted
that no other member of the Texas
Legislature would ever be persecuted
in that manner.
While in the Senate he rose to a
question of personal privilege and
called attention to at least a thousand
violations of the anti-lobby law. His
remarks caused such a sensation that
he was almost crushed in the storm
that followed, resulting in his expul-
sion from the Senate. Some of his
supersensitive colleagues, who con-
strued his utterances to reflect on
their senatorial dignity and honor,
reached for the camphor bottle. His
colleagues would have it appear that
they were invulnerable and that he,
Thomas, was the only timid man in
the Senate. Evasion and subterfuge
were resorted to in the investigation
of the charges he made, when he was
tried for the diabolical crime of re-
flecting on the senatorial dignity of
his incorruptible colleagues. The pro-
fessional lobbyists and their lick-spit-
tle puppets were called in to witness
the proceedings, held behind closed
doors, star chamber sessions, to which
the newspaper correspondents were
denied admittance. After issuing a
statement, disclaiming any intention
of reflecting on the honor of the Texas
Senate, the investigation was brought
to an abrupt close.
It seemed to be a physical impossi-
bility to attack the lobby without re-
flecting on the honor of some Texas
Legislator. Up to the time he made
his charges. Senator Thomas had rea-
son to believe all his colleagues were
honest. His retraction was only in-
tended as an explanation, but had sub-
jected him to much criticism. “If
God will forgive me, I will never re-
tract in future what I may say about
some members of the Texas Legisla-
ture,” said the speaker.
The State Senate had conferred on
him the distinguished honor of em-
ploying counsel to question the wit-
nesses during the lobby investigation,
to be paid for out of the pocket of the
Senator from Hopkins County. A cer-
tain gentleman had been paid $1000
out of the State Treasury during the
Bailey investigation; the people foot-
ed the bill. Senator Thomas then
gave a synopsis of the lobby investi-
gation. Both he and his counsel had
protested against the secretive meth-
ods adopted, insisting that the fullest
measure of publicity be given the pro-
ceedings. A contrast was then drawn
between the Kennedy investigation
and the one resulting from the charg-
es made by Mr. Thomas. Every one
had reached a conclusion as to Ken-
nedy before the committee’s report
was made, Senator Brachfield had
the Representative or State Senator
who engaged in a game of poker with
a professional lobbyist and permitted
the latter to pay his fine was suscepti-
ble of bribery. When a Legislator
played poker with a lobbyist, the cards
were always so dealt that the latter
won; he always got the winning hand.
An incident to illustrate his point was
given by Mr. Thomas regarding an al-
leged occurrence at Muskogee, Okla.
Some people, when elected to office,
became immediately impressed with
the idea that they were infallible.
Mr. Thomas then paid his respects
to the fee bill, which he denounced as
the cause of more graft among county
officers than any other one thing.
When the anti-fee bill was being dis-
cussed by the committee to whom the
measure had been referred, there were
present many county and district of-
ficers, and one sheriff had asked the
speaker, “Senator Thomas, don’t you
believe all public officials are honest?”
“Of course I do not. They are made
of clay, and some of it is very com-
mon clay. They are subject to temp-
tation the same as other men,” was
the reply Mr. Thomas said he made.
The next night another raid was made
by the police at the Driskill hotel, and
a district judge and several county of-
ficials were arrested for playing pok-
er. The speaker then drew a striking
contrast between the man who steals
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Rankin, George C. The Home and State (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 11, No. 15, Ed. 1 Saturday, September 11, 1909, newspaper, September 11, 1909; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1569460/m1/3/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Texas State Library and Archives Commission.