Champ Clark letter to Bennett Champ Clark - September 29, 1917
Transcript
September 29, 1917. Bennett C. Clark, Lieutenant-Colonel, 6th Missouri Infantry, Missouri Brigade Headquarters, Camp Doniphan, Fort Sill, [Oklahoma] My dear Bennett: I received your telegram this morning and was very glad indeed to get it. I hope you will pull through al right. It was nice of your to go meet your men. Last Friday, I think it was, that is, yesterday a week ago, Tom Heflin made a speech in the House about the dispatch that Lansing published on County Von Bernstorff in a very thin House. Heflin said he could point out 13 or 14 men in the House and Senate who were under suspicion, etc. The House wasn’t in session again until Monday morning. So Monday morning a resolution was introduced to appoint a committee to investigate the situation. It had an appropriation in it, therefore, I ruled it wasn’t a privileged and it went to the Committee on Rules. They fooled around a day or two and the House
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No. 2. L-C. B. C. C. was beginning to come to the conclusion that they were going to suppress the resolution. A dozen fellows were going around with resolutions in their pockets that were privileges and could be voted on at once. If they had voted on the Norton -- Fordney resolution it would have carried with a whoop. It seems that the Department of Justice informed the Rules Committee that they were carrying on a vast investigation and they concluded that a Congressional investigation might interfere with theirs and might give immunity to certain persons, etc. and so on. The House was in a great uproar. Very bitter speaches were made, as you will see from the Record I am sending you, but inasmuch as the Department of Justice claimed that, the House was contented not to have the resolution reported out. So, I was in the chair about two hours and a quarter and wasn’t very well. Anyhow, I caught a very bad cold. The storm seemed to be over and Judge Alexander called up a bill that there couldn’t be any excitement on, and which would be debated about a couple of hours and I called Ben Johnson to the
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No. 3. L-C. B. C. C. chair and started out. When I got to the door of the lobby, next to my office, I saw everybody running into the House -- Heflin and Norton had had a fight on the floor of the House. So this morning Norton started to begin the thing again and I squelched him unceremoniously. Anyhow, whether anything more is going to happen about it, I don’t know. I do know there is a great deal of bad blood about it. We haven’t been able to succeed in doing anything about the dismemberment or doubling up of the regiments. The Republic said Governor Gardner was to be here today at one o’clock p.m. It is now 3:05 p.m. and he has not come yet so far as I know. I am enclosing you the newspapers which set forth the troubles fairly well. I had a luncheon today for Genevieve’s farewell benefit. Secretary Wilson and Agnes, Woodyards, Brisbane and his sister, Governor Dockery, Bulkley and his wife, Judge Hull and Miss Phelps of New Orleans were present.
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No. 4. L-C. B. C. C. Got along very well. Dr. Grope and his wife were to have been here but for some reason failed to reach the city. My cold is better now. Your father, Champ Clark Col. Joe T. Davis was in just now. He thinks the agitation vs. S. & R. is increasing. I have photos & will send them Monday.
Details
Title | Champ Clark letter to Bennett Champ Clark - September 29, 1917 |
Creator | Clark, Champ |
Source | Clark, Champ. Letter to Bennett Champ Clark. 29 September 1917. Clark, Champ (1850-1921) and Bennett Champ (1890-1954), Papers, 1853-1973. C0666. The State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, MO. |
Description | In this September 29, 1917 letter to his son Bennett, Champ Clark discussed Tom Heflin's trial. Heflin accused members of the House of being paid by Germans, but in October of 1917, an investigating committee determined that the accusation was false. Champ Clark, a long-time resident of Bowling Green, Missouri, was a politician in the Democratic Party. He served as a representative of Missouri from 1893 to 1895 and from 1897 to 1921. From 1911 to 1919 he served as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Bennett Clark served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 140th Regiment, 35th Division and as Assistant Chief of Staff for the 88th Division during World War I, and was Missouri State Senator from 1933 to 1945. |
Subject LCSH | Clark, Champ, 1850-1921; United States. Army. Camp Doniphan (Okla.); Clark, Bennett Champ, 1890-1954; Fort Sill (Okla.); World War, 1914-1918; Missouri. National Guard; Bernstorff, Johann Heinrich, Graf von, 1862-1939; Lansing, Robert, 1864-1928; Heflin |
Subject Local | WWI; World War I |
Site Accession Number | C0666 |
Contributing Institution | The State Historical Society of Missouri |
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Rights | The text and images contained in this collection are intended for research and educational use only. Duplication of any of these images for commercial use without express written consent is expressly prohibited. |
Date Original | September 29, 1917 |
Language | English |