CONTESTED ELECTION CASE OF WILLIAM C. LAWSON VERSUS RUTH BRYAN OWEN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS No. 1. at The committee was called to order by Mr. Beedy (chairman), 10 o'clock a. m., at which time there were present Mr. Letts, Mr. Goodwin, Mr. Kading, Mr. Newhall, Mr. Johnston, Mr. Eslick, and Mr. Hall. Present, representing the contestant: Mr. Bainum and Mr. Morrow. Present on behalf of the contestee: The contestee in proper person, Mrs. Ruth Bryan Owen. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Bainum, if you wish to take the floor you may do so. How much time do you wish? Mr. BAINUM. I imagine I will not take more than an hour. ARGUMENT ON BEHALF OF THE CONTESTANT, BY MR. BAINUM Mr. BAINUM. I wish to say, in the first place, that I approach this subject without any feeling of embarrassment in the situation, or without any personal feeling in the matter, or without any political view of the situation, it being purely the construction of the constitutional provision which affects the right of a Representative in Congress to sit and enjoy the position of Representative in Congress. It is not necessary to say anything about the personality of Mrs. Owen. That is nation wide. We know who she is. I have the highest regard for her, as I had for her father. It so happened that I was reared about 60 or 70 miles from Selma, Ill., where Mr. Bryan was reared, and where his father was a circuit judge. Mrs. Bainum's brother was an honored member of this House for many years and served with Mr. Bryan. His name was James R. Williams, of Illinois; commonly known as Bob. I think he left the House about 1904. I think that was his last service. He was a Democrat. He and Mr. Bryan were good friends. My wife inherited the tradition of her father and her family; was an ardent Democrat, and an ardent supporter of Mrs. Owen in the election. She has a sister who makes her home with us-Miss Williamsso our house was divided-however, without any feeling. Mrs. Bainum and Miss Williams were ardent supporters of Mrs. Owen in her contest. So I approach this question, gentleman, from the standpoint of a lawyer only. I have heard it said that we were in this case otherwise; that Senator Sherman and I were politicians. 1 Senator Sherman has been a well-known politician and a Member of the Senate for over eight years. I was a law partner of his during part of that time. This is not the only business we have had for Mr. Lawson. We have quite a considerable amount of other business. I am saying this so that whatever might have been said may be set to rights. We are in this contest purely and simply as a contest. We have a very large amount of business from Mr. Lawson. We recently foreclosed a mortgage of $250,000 for him. Mr. Lawson is a Virginian, gentlemen. I understand he was born and reared near Roanoke, Va.; a highly educated man; educated in mechanics, and became a patent lawyer and practiced at the bar of this district for a number of years. He went to Florida some 10 years ago; and, when he got into this contest, he came to us, naturally; and we accepted the employment as attorneys accept employment from clients. I desire to divide my remarks into three subdivisions: First, the issue in this case; second, the eligibility of Mrs. Owen; and, third, the right of Lawson to his seat in the House. When we drew the petition, our notice of contest, we had before us the regulations of Congress respecting the filing of notices of contest; and we attempted to follow that as closely as possible. The notice of contest, you observe, is set out on page 1 of the record and you will notice by this notice of contest the issue that is raised, which is the question of the validity of votes, or ballots cast for Mrs. Owen. I think I shall read the petition again (reading): TO RUTH BRYAN OWEN, NOTICE OF CONTEST Coconut Grove, County of Dade, State of Florida: You are hereby notified that I, William C. Lawson, the undersigned, will contest your alleged election from the fourth congressional district of the State of Florida to the House of Representatives of the United States on the 6th day of November, A. D., 1928, upon the following grounds: 1. At the time of your alleged election you had not been for seven years previous thereto a citizen of the United States of America. 2. At the time of your alleged election you were not qualified or eligible to be a Member of the House of Representatives of the United States of America. 3. At said election said William C. Lawson was a citizen of the United States of America, was more than 25 years of age, viz, 60 years, and had been such citizen seven years previous to such election, viz. 60 years, and at the time of such election was an inhabitant of the State of Florida and had been for 10 years. Those allegations meet the requirements of the Constitution as to eligibility to a seat in the House of Representatives. It also meets a provision of the constitution of Florida that a party must be a citizen of Florida at least five years before they are eligible to become a candidate for Congress. However, we assume that that avails nothing here, because it would be in conflict with the Federal Constitution and of no consequence. However, this allegation meets that qualification. Mr. Lawson had been a citizen of Florida for 10 years. [Reading:] 4. At said election there were cast for said William C. Lawson, who was a candidate for election to be a Member of said House from said fourth district, and he duly received 36,288 duly qualified votes as such candidate for Member of the House of Representatives of the United States, and Ruth Bryan Owen |