SENATOR BAILEY’S SELF-CON
DEMNING DEFENCE.
Senator Joseph W. Bailey, of Texas,
has confessed to practically every
charge made against him. His own
statement before the investigating
committee of the Texas legislature
condemns him.
He admits that he borrowed $3,300
of Henry Clay Pierce, then president
of the Waters-Pierce Oil Company. At
a later date he drew on Pierce for sl,-
500. He had to confess these charges.
They had been proved by this news
paper.
Bailey likewise confesses that after
borrowing the $3,300 he returned to
Texas and urged Attorney General
Smith to reinstate the Waters-Pierce
concern in Texas, from which it had
been expelled.
Having convicted himself out of his
own mouth, Mr. Bailey offered a de
fence so feeble that it will excite de
rision. It was, first, that the president
of the Waters-Pierce Company had
convinced him that that concern was
not connected with Standard Oil, and,
second, that he had paid back the
money.
In., auch as the state of Texas had
excluded the Waters-Pierce Company
for a specific and proved violation of
the law, in which it had shown itself
connected with the Standard, Mr.
Bailey seemed most easily convinced.
As to the claim that he paid back the
money advanced by Pierce, Bailey’s
statement is refuted by the fact th a/
the amounts are charged off to “profi/
and loss” on the books of the com*
pany. Such entries are not made on
accounts that have been settled. They
are made only on debts that are hope
lessly bad or for any other reason
are not expected to be paid.
Two of Bailey’s associates in this
nefarious deal have already suffered
some punishment for their acts.
