Glass .Xi^l4- 
 
What Happened 
 At Emporia 
 
 V^'^""^' 
 
 Stenographic and Newspaper Reports 
 
 How Mr. White took back, apologized 
 and promised to retract 
 
 l/f^^.-j 
 
 From the Steographic Report: 
 
 Long: "That is the record. Do you admit you were 
 wrong?" 
 
 White: "Absolutely." 
 
 Long: "The only thing about this that I regret is that 
 these charges have gone out all over Kansas, read 
 by many that will never see this answer here and 
 by many that will never see this admission of 
 William Allen White's that he was wrong when 
 he made these charges." 
 
? ^'09 
 
What Happened at Emporia 
 
 Senator Long's speech at Emporia 
 on the 10th of June^attracted atten- 
 tion all over the entire state, not only 
 because he fully and frankly an- 
 swered the charges made against him 
 by Mr. William Allen White, but be- 
 cause during that meeting Mr. White 
 openly admitted, when forced to do 
 so by Senator Long, that some of his 
 charges were absolutely untrue. Mr. 
 White promised Senator Long in the 
 presence of the Emporia audience 
 that he would give his retraction the 
 same circulation as he gave his 
 charges, but he has not done so. 
 These same charges are still being 
 distributed by Mr. Bristow, although 
 he knows that White has admitted 
 their untruth and that even the 
 newspapers friendly to his candidacy 
 repudiated the White charges. 
 
 The prepared speech of Senator 
 Long, which was necessarily lengthy, 
 has been printed and should be read 
 by every voter. In order to get the 
 lull effect of it the reader should un- 
 derstand that Senator Long met and 
 ■explained every charge in the indict- 
 ment. The audience, which had not 
 Taeen so friendly at first, realized the 
 unfairness of the attack on him and 
 ■cheered him enthusiastically. Mr. 
 White, who had taken a seat on the 
 stage, was kept covered with confu- 
 sion and repeatedly forced to bob up 
 and admit that Long was right. It 
 was a great stage setting for a great 
 speech. 
 
 The stenographic report includes 
 
 the interruptions and confessions of 
 Mr. White and is worth reading as 
 an illustration to go with the pre- 
 pared speech. Following are extracts 
 from the stenographic report. In his 
 introduction Senator Long said: 
 
 "There has been considerable spec- 
 ulation as to why I came to Emporia 
 to open this campaign. Ordinarily 
 possibly I might select some other 
 place, although I know of no other 
 town in which I would have pre- 
 ferred to open the campaign, but as 
 I am to discuss an article written by 
 William Allen White, I conceived the 
 idea that it was best to come to the 
 place in Kansas where he is best 
 known. You know William Allen 
 White as I know him. You know he 
 is the most noted fiction writer in 
 Kansas, and that is true whether he 
 is trying to write facts or fiction." 
 
 White Tries to Laugh 
 
 When Senator Long took up the 
 charge against his vote on the re- 
 organization of the Northern Pacific 
 railroad in which he had supported 
 the unanimous recommendation of 
 the Committee on Judiciary and the 
 wishes of every Senator and Member 
 of Congress from the states through 
 which the road ran, the fight against 
 the resolutions being lead by Lem- 
 uel Quigg of New York, he said: 
 
 "And there I was helpless, without 
 White or Bristow to advise me 
 against it — Bristow in the Postoffice 
 Department supporting everything I 
 did, and White here in Emporia do- 
 ing the same. And here on this 
 proposition you and Bristow are lin- 
 
Ing up with Lemuel Quigg of New 
 York. 
 
 "You know what a great chaser of 
 Wall Street Champ Clark is. Well, 
 he voted for this. (White laughs.) 
 
 "It is all very well for you to treat 
 this in a manner of levity here to- 
 night among the people who know 
 you, but there are people in the state 
 of Kansas who do not know you, and 
 who believe that what you say is the 
 truth. They believe you had the 
 facts before you to make the state- 
 ment. You cannot deceive the people 
 here who know you, but all people 
 do not know you and they think that 
 when you are writing an article like 
 this you are not writing fiction. I 
 know and these people here know 
 that you write fiction all the time." 
 
 White's first admission came on the 
 charge that Long voted for a land 
 grant which took ten million acres 
 from the people and gave it to the 
 Atlantic and Pacific Railroads, Mr. 
 Long answered, and as he finished. 
 White said: 
 
 White: "I should think that you 
 are right on this." 
 
 Long: "Yes, I am right on this 
 proposition; you are wrong." 
 
 White: "Yes, I am wrong." 
 
 Long: "And Mr. White admits he 
 is wrong on this proposition." 
 
 White: "Absolutely." 
 
 Long: "We have reduced the 
 counts in this indictment. The court, 
 in instructing the jury on the 4tli 
 of August, will say, do not consider 
 charge No. 3." 
 
 White Applauds Long 
 
 Senator Long, turning to White, 
 said: 
 
 "And why, when you were refer- 
 ring to my Wall Street votes, did you 
 not mention the most conspicuous 
 one of all — my vote on Free Silver?" 
 White: "Because it was right." 
 Long: "Right from your stand- 
 point. You thought it was right, but 
 that vote was the one that defeated 
 me for Congress." (Strong applause 
 — White joining in the applause.) 
 
 Again turning to White, Mr. Long 
 said: 
 
 "I do not know whether you are 
 cheering my vote, or because I was 
 left at home." 
 
 White: "I was cheering your 
 vote." 
 
 Long: "He says he was cheering 
 my vote. Yes, but that vote was re- 
 ferred to all over the Seventh dis- 
 trict as a Wall Street vote. And so, 
 in making the list of Wall Street 
 votes, why did they leave that out? 
 He explains it. He thought I was 
 right on that vote. What he means 
 by Wall Street votes is that they are 
 votes cast differently from what he 
 thinks they ought to be cast. (More 
 applause.) You are getting in a lit- 
 tle late. You are getting on to this 
 Populistic procession band wagon a 
 little late. You go back in the old 
 Seventh district and they will tell 
 you there today that the most con- 
 spicuous Wall Street vote was this 
 vote of mine cast in favor of th^ 
 money power and against free silver 
 and against the people." 
 
 White's Aid to Long's 
 Election 
 
 Referring to White's charge that 
 the railroads elected Long to the 
 Senate in 1903, Senator Long ex- 
 plained the contest of that year. Most 
 of the votes he first received came 
 from his Congressional district, and 
 he was finally elected by the with- 
 drawal of Governor Stanley, and the 
 Stanley support going to Long, after 
 consultation with Governor Stanley 
 and his managers, including William 
 Allen White. Senator Long said if 
 the railroads elected him to the Sen- 
 ate it was done by the supporters of 
 Governor Stanley who abandoned him 
 and one of the instruments through 
 which the work was done was Wil- 
 liam Allen White. Long, pointing to- 
 ward White, said: 
 
 "And he took that course after I 
 had cast every one of the 16 votes 
 that he has referred to as having 
 
been Wall Street votes. That sup- 
 port of Governor Stanley came to me 
 and made me senator, for it gave me 
 the caucus nomination. And so, if 
 the railroads elected me, here is the 
 principal instrument that did it — 
 (placing hand on White's head). This 
 is what you said after you had 
 turned the trick for the railroads." 
 (Reads article from Gazette endors- 
 ing Long, in which White says Long 
 was once appointed state senator by 
 the Governor.) 
 
 "You see even in those days Bill 
 was careless with his facts. The idea 
 of the Governor appointing any one 
 senator! Every school child knows 
 that cannot be done under our con- 
 stitution. But when God gave Wil- 
 liam Allen White a brain for fiction 
 and imagination He made it a little 
 defective on the facts. And so, while 
 I know that this is an error of facts, 
 you also know that those of us who 
 have been friends of William Allen 
 White have never looked at him for 
 facts. 
 
 "This is what William Allen White 
 thought about. his handiwork in 1903 
 after I was elected senator and after 
 I had cast those 16 votes and they 
 were on the record. And I placed 
 side by side the answer to the charge 
 in that article that those 16 votes 
 were cast in the interest of Wall 
 Street; I place side by side the action 
 of William Allen White in helping to 
 make me senator, and this statement 
 from the Emporia Gazette after he 
 had helped to do so. You can take 
 your choice as to whether he was 
 right then and is wrong now or as to 
 whether he was wrong then and right 
 now. 
 
 "Another man somewhat closely 
 connected with this campaign — I re- 
 fer to Mr. Bristow — was in Washing- 
 ton in the Postoffice Department and 
 in close consultation with me during 
 the time these 16 votes were cast, and 
 the difference between Mr. Bristow 
 and Mr. White with reference to my 
 election to the Senate was this, that 
 while Mr. White came in at the elev- 
 enth hour, Mr. Bristow was for me 
 from the beginning. He supported 
 me loyally for senator after those 
 votes were cast, and this is what Mr. 
 Bristow said in the Salina Journal of 
 March 5, 1903: (Reads from Salina 
 Journal a strong endorsement of Sen- 
 ator Long.) 
 
 Not Bad Yet 
 
 When Senator Long began his dis- 
 cussion of the charges against his 
 votes in the Senate, he said: 
 
 "The first charge against my rec- 
 ord in the Senate was on a vote I 
 cast on March 4, 1906, and so I did 
 not get bad for three years after I 
 was elected." 
 White: "You are not bad yet." 
 Long: "I am not bad yet, and I 
 thank you for it." 
 
 White Begs Pardon 
 
 Senator Long read the charge made 
 that he had voted to keep the coal, 
 oil, and asphalt lands in the hands 
 of the railroads and made his expla- 
 nation. He said: 
 
 "The only trouble with that charge 
 is that it is not true. Just like so 
 much (turning to White) that you 
 put into your writings when you are 
 attempting to write facts, but when 
 you are in reality writing fiction." 
 
 White: "I beg your pardon." 
 
 Long: "You beg my pardon. Yes, 
 you beg my pardon tonight, but you 
 made this charge and there are thou- 
 sands of people in Kansas who have 
 heard of you that believe this charge 
 because you made it and because 
 they think you are writing facts in- 
 stead of fiction." 
 
 White: "Will you kindly outline 
 what you would like to have pub- 
 lished over my signature about 
 that?" 
 
 Long: "Yes, when I get through. 
 with you. As Mr. Morgan said in his 
 article, here is the document on 
 which you proceeded. (Holds up the 
 document.) You did not have time 
 to investigate these votes as I have 
 investigated them. You took this 
 document, changed it, and signed 
 your name to it." 
 
 White: "No, sir." 
 
 Long: "That is practically what 
 was done. And now what I want 
 done is that you publish this speech 
 of mine and write your name at the 
 bottom and say, 'I agree with the 
 above.' That is what I want you to 
 
do and that is what I expect you to 
 do before this campaign is over, be- 
 cause your statement on this matter 
 is no more true than many others 
 that you have been guilty of making 
 in this document that was prepared 
 to order." 
 
 White Against Roosee- 
 velt 
 
 After reading the very strong let- 
 ter President Roosevelt wrote in fa- 
 vor of the ship-subsidy bill in which 
 the President said that Senator Long 
 and the others who voted for this 
 bill rendered a great and patriotic 
 service, and which bill Mr. White and 
 Mr. Bristow denounced, Senator Long 
 said (turning to White) : 
 
 "When it comes to choosing be- 
 tween your saying that I voted with 
 Wall Street, and President Roosevelt 
 saying that I voted right and did 
 patriotic service, you will pardon me 
 but I will stand with the President. 
 Side by side, good people of Emporia, 
 I place what William Allen White 
 says about my vote on the shipping 
 bill with what his great and good 
 friend, Theodore Roosevelt, says 
 about it. You know that he is a 
 spokesman for the President." 
 
 White: "Never." 
 
 Long: "I waivt you to understand 
 that there has been an impression 
 like that going all through this com- 
 munity and all through Kansas." 
 
 White: "No, sir. You are mis- 
 taken." 
 
 Long: "And I am glad to have you 
 refute it tonight. It helps a great 
 deal to understand the exact rela- 
 tion you bear to this, for a great 
 many people here and elsewhere 
 thought that when you spoke you 
 represented the sentiments of the 
 President. I am glad to know that 
 you represent your own sentiments 
 and that he is still able to express his 
 himself." 
 
 White Promises Re- 
 traction 
 
 When Senator Long came to the 
 charge that in the vote on the rail- 
 road employers' liability bill he had 
 dodged and hid in the cloak room, he 
 said: 
 
 "If I had been guilty of this charge 
 I would resign my seat in the Senate 
 and never ask anything further ot 
 the people of Kansas. I am sur- 
 prised that Mr. White and Mr. Bris- 
 tow would make this charge. It is 
 the most serious and outrageous one 
 of all, and there is absolutely no 
 foundation for it. (Turning to 
 White) I was not in the cloak room. 
 I was sitting in my seat in the Sen- 
 ate. Why did I not vote? The rec- 
 ord shows the reason. It shows that 
 I was present." 
 
 White: "I was wrong." 
 
 Long: "You were wrong. When 
 the call was made to ascertain if 
 there was a quorum, of course I an- 
 swered to my name. I was there. I 
 was not in the cloak room, but you 
 understand the purpose of a general 
 pair. I had one with Mr. Dubois, 
 When he was present I could vote; 
 when he was absent I could not vote. 
 I finally voted. You say I was drag- 
 ged in by the scruff of my neck by 
 my conscience and voted for this bill. 
 Here is the record:" (Reads from 
 Record.) 
 
 Long: "That is the record. Do 
 you admit you were wrong?" 
 
 White: "Absolutely." 
 
 Long: "Do you admit that the 
 senator that you helped to make did 
 not flee to the cloak room and did 
 not have to be brought by the scruff 
 of' the neck to vote?" 
 
 White: "I will say so tomorrow." 
 
 Long: "All right. Very well. You 
 will see that that is the easy way to 
 do this and that when my speech is 
 printed in full there shall be at the 
 bottom of it: 'I fully concur in the 
 above. William Allen White.' " 
 
 "This charge wounded me more 
 than any other that you made, for in 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 Hill II 
 
 013 787 778 8 ^