Mr. EDMONDS. I did not contract with Mr. J. W. Stone. I acted on instructions to see that he received The CHAIRMAN. What were the instructions, and what was the transaction? Mr. EDMONDS. I think Senator Stephenson telephoned me or sent word through Mr. Stone to give him $2,500. The CHAIRMAN. To give you $2,500? Mr. EDMONDS. To give him $2,500. The CHAIRMAN. To give Stone $2,500? Mr. EDMONDS. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. For what did you give it to him? Mr. EDMONDS. I did not give it to him. The CHAIRMAN. You did not? Mr. EDMONDS. No. The CHAIRMAN. Where did Mr. Stone get the $2,500? Mr. EDMONDS. I assume from the bank-a cashier's check. The CHAIRMAN. Did you give him an order? Mr. EDMONDS. That is my recollection, though I am not positive. The CHAIRMAN. That you gave him an order on the bank? Mr. EDMONDS. I think so. That may have been one of the $5,000 items. I have not seen my checkbook for two years. The CHAIRMAN. Where is it? Mr. EDMONDS. It is in the hands of that committee that took what they could get their hands on and kept. The CHAIRMAN. Did you inquire why you should give J. W. Stone $2,500? Mr. EDMONDS.. I did that on instructions from Senator Stephenson. I do not know what arrangement he made with Senator Stephenson. The CHAIRMAN. As manager for Senator Stephenson, what were your duties? Mr. EDMONDS. To conduct the campaign and to see if we could get votes enough to nominate him. The CHAIRMAN. What do you mean by conducting the campaign? Mr. EDMONDS. Why, I do not know that I can give you any particular items, except to say that it was necessary in order to get votes for Senator Stephenson's nomination to interest a plurality of the people of the State in his election and get them out to the polls. The CHAIRMAN. That is what you were doing in calling it the conducting of the campaign? Mr. EDMONDS. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. How did you interest them? Mr. EDMONDS. My idea at first, without very much knowledge of conducting campaigns, was that advertising was the best means of placing before the voters of the State the qualifications of our candidate. The CHAIRMAN. How did you advertise? Mr. EDMONDS. In every conceivable way I could think of. The CHAIRMAN. Have you any copies of any papers, documents, or circulars that you issued in advertising? Mr. EDMONDS. No; I do not think so. The CHAIRMAN. Is there any trace of them to be found now? Mr. EDMONDS. I should imagine that if the State were examined thoroughly there are on telephone poles probably five or ten thousand of his lithographs eyen to-day, and on barns. The CHAIRMAN. Advertisements? Mr. EDMONDS. Yes; and pictures. The CHAIRMAN. Did you draw up the matter for the advertisements? Mr. EDMONDS. Some of them. What I did not draw myself I had somebody else draw. The CHAIRMAN. What did you say on those that you drew? The CHAIRMAN. What did you say? Mr. LITTLEFIELD. He says he does not remember. The CHAIRMAN. Have you any recollection of anything you said in any one of those advertisements right now? Mr. EDMONDS. I can not recall any particular one. We tried to bring out the good points of the Senator. The CHAIRMAN. How much money did you expend in that way? Mr. EDMONDS. Roughly I should say something in excess of $40,000, including the bills for express and printing, and bills for putting up these posters, and so forth, and advertising in the newspapers. The CHAIRMAN. About $40,000? Mr. EDMONDS. That is my recollection. The CHAIRMAN. What papers did you advertise in? Mr. EDMONDS. Every one in the State that did not refuse to take the advertisement. The CHAIRMAN. I find in the account here attributed to you that the newspaper advertising cost $12,696.76. What other items or class of items would bring that sum up to about $40,000? Mr. EDMONDS. I do not recall what items are included in that, or what the other large items of expenditure in making up that total are. For instance, I should say one The CHAIRMAN. For instance, the Koch Advertising Agency, voucher No. 34027, $3,304.17. What was the nature of that advertising? Mr. EDMONDS. I do not recall definitely, but I think that was the advertising-I think the Koch Agency was employed by us through a representative of mine, to, in the cheapest manner possible, get that advertising into the newspapers. The CHAIRMAN. That is one item, and there is another item of the same party, $3,000, on August 26, making altogether $6,304.17. They were merely advertising agents, were they? Mr. EDMONDS. I am not familiar with their exact methods of doing business, but the man that got up the advertising for me took it to them and made the deal with them, and when those bills came in they were O. K'd and paid. The CHAIRMAN. You O. K'd them. When a bill like that would come to you as manager of the campaign you would O. K. it, and then what would you do? Mr. EDMONDS. Usually when those bills were O. K'd, quite often Mr. Sacket was present, and sometimes Mr. Puelicher, and if they were present they took them The CHAIRMAN. They did what? Mr. EDMONDS. They took them, and I assume paid them. The CHAIRMAN. But you did nothing in regard to paying them? Mr. EDMONDS. I did nothing. The CHAIRMAN. You did not draw checks for the payment of any of these bills, did you? Mr. EDMONDS. Except in-it is possible that out of the $5,000 Mr. EDMONDS. In no other way. The CHAIRMAN. You did not give any check or anything upon which money might be drawn? Mr. EDMONDS. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Did you pay all the bills you contracted? You O. K'd the bills that you contracted? Mr. EDMONDS. Why, I think so. The CHAIRMAN. And then they went to Mr. Sacket or Mr. Puelicher? Mr. EDMONDS. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. You do not know what they did when they received those bills O. K'd by you? Mr. EDMONDS. I assume they were paid or else I would have heard from them. The CHAIRMAN. Were any bills paid by them that you did not O. K. or that had not been approved by you? Mr. EDMONDS. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Did you personally spend any money for Senator Stephenson to procure or assist in procuring his nomination or election? Mr. EDMONDS. Did I The CHAIRMAN. Did you personally expend any money? Mr. EDMONDS. Yes; this $5,000, or part of it. The CHAIRMAN. That was Senator Stephenson's money. Mr. EDMONDS. Oh, of my own money? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. EDMONDS. Not that I know of. The CHAIRMAN. So that whatever you expended was chargeable against the $5,000? Mr. EDMONDS. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Did you pay anyone for what you call organizing; did you personally pay anyone? Mr. EDMONDS. I may have done so, out of funds in my pocket. For instance, if I had drawn $100 or $200 for personal expenses and one of the boys in the office would come in and was short and wanted me to pay him and I happened to have it, I let him have it. I do not recall a single instance of that kind, but there may have been some. Otherwise I paid nothing except the $5,000. The CHAIRMAN. You employed Puelicher to act as a banker? The CHAIRMAN. Senator Stephenson, at page 22 of this record, says, in response to the question" Now, are there any others that you employed yourself?" A. I haven't anybody now in mind; no. Q. Either in your county or any of the other counties of the State?-A. No; I don't now know of any that I did. Q. Now, Mr. Edmonds was employed by you and given authority to employ others to carry on your campaign, was he? A. Yes. Q. In your account which you filed you gave the name of Puelicher?-A. He acted as banker. Q. Did he employ Mr. Puelicher?-A. As a banker; yes referring to you, that you employed Mr. Puelicher as a banker. Q. Well, I mean in connection with your campaign did you employ Mr. Puelicher?-A. No; only as a banker. The money would come from him to Mr. Edmonds, that's all. Q. In what way did you employ Mr. Puelicher-what was the talk between you and him? But he says here the money would come from Mr. Puelicher to you. Did you receive any money from Mr. Puelicher during that campaign? Mr. EDMONDS. No, sir; except as I have stated. The CHAIRMAN. Except the $5,000? Mr. EDMONDS. I did not receive The CHAIRMAN. You received that from Mr. Stephenson? Mr. EDMONDS. Yes. The other items that I spoke of, I do not know whether that aggregated five hundred dollars or whether it aggregated seven or eight or nine hundred dollars or what it might have been, but during the six or eight weeks that I was here, I was given a check as I ran out, by Mr. Puelicher, or money, and I used that out of my pocket. That was Senator Stephenson's money which was paying my expense at the hotel and my bills at the hotel and such other traveling expenses or others that I might have. Otherwise, I received no money from anyone. The CHAIRMAN. And you do not know what the money was used for that is mentioned in this account published as a statement of your expenditures, do you? Mr. EDMONDS. I do not, because I did not make it up. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. What was that question? I did not get it. The CHAIRMAN. It is the statement found in connection with Mr. Edmonds's testimony. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. Exhibit 49, on page 588? The CHAIRMAN. Yes; 49; running over to 612. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. Let me get the significance of the question. Will the reporter read the question and answer? (The reporter read as follows:) The CHAIRMAN. And you do not know what the money was used for that is mentioned in this account published as a statement of your expenditures, do you? Mr. EDMONDS. I do not; because I did not make it up. Mr. EDMONDS. I want to correct that. I did not understand your question. I contracted bills, but so far as knowing the particular items, I did not make up those items in this report. Now, just how those are grouped-some of them, I think I would remember, others I would not. The CHAIRMAN. You say you contracted these items? The CHAIRMAN. What contract did you make with Mr. J. C. Miller on July 24 for organizing? Mr. EDMONDS. Mr. J. C. Miller was one of the men, as I stated earlier, who was employed before I came there. The CHAIRMAN. But he seems to have been employed after you were there." Mr. EDMONDS. He continued right through. The CHAIRMAN. I find him there after- The CHAIRMAN. What contract did you make with him in regard to organizing; what was he to do? Mr. EDMONDS. I did not make any with him. He was employed when I came, and when I came and was introduced to me after I took charge I sent him out again. The CHAIRMAN. What contract did you make with H. Lewis on July 28, pursuant to which he was paid $200 for organizing Dane County; what was your contract? Mr. EDMONDS. There was no-when I say "contracted" bills they were "contracted"; there were no written agreements. But I saw Mr. Lewis. I presume I invited him to come in and talked with him about it. Senator POMERENE. Not what you presume-what was said? Senator POMERENE. Or the substance of it? Mr. EDMONDS. I am trying to get at that, Senator. I presume that I called him in and talked the situation over with him in Dane. County and he suggested that he could use $200 to advantage in organizing Dane County. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. What was he to do? What, in a general way, were the details of the organizing? That is what the subcommittee would like to know, I take it. Senator POMERENE. I want to know what was said, merely, and we can guess at the rest, from what you say, if you will give us what was said. Mr. EDMONDS. I do not know what was said now. I do know that when men would come in and I would employ them to work in their counties, I did not employ them until after I believed that they were fit men to conduct a campaign in their counties and knew the condition of affairs there. When they talked with me and if I decided that the amount they thought was best to be expended there was sufficient, I gave an order on the banker to pay that money; they took it. We talked the situation over in different ways, discussed the phases of the campaign, and they used that money to their best interest-the best interests of the candidate-to secure his nomination. The CHAIRMAN. You say you gave him an order on the banker. What was the form of that order-was it a check? Mr. EDMONDS. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Was it a printed form? Mr.. EDMONDS. Sometimes I telephoned; sometimes the man was known; more often the man was known to the banker; better known to him than to me, and I would telephone him or go there. The CHAIRMAN. And the banker would pay, on your telephone, to a man? Mr. EDMONDS. Most assuredly. The CHAIRMAN. Against what fund did he pay? Mr. EDMONDS. I assume against this fund that Senator Stephenson had furnished, which had been furnished, in his hands, for that pur pose. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Puelicher would make that Mr. EDMONDS. Yes. |