Overview
Texas. Legislature.
House of Representatives.
Bailey Investigation
Committee.
Stenographic
report
1907
The record of the
Texas House of Representative's Bailey Investigation Committee consists of a
stenographic report of the 1907 committee proceedings. The content of the
report exclusively concerns the investigation of U. S. Senator Joseph Weldon
Bailey and the procedures of the committee.
0.94 cubic
ft.
English.
Restrictions on Access
None
Restrictions on Use
None
Preferred Citation
(Identify the item), Stenographic report, Bailey Investigation
Committee, House of Representatives, Texas Legislature. Archives and
Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Agency History
In compliance with a resolution passed in the Texas House of
Representatives on about January 19, 1907 (30th Legislature, Regular Session)
the Bailey Investigation Committee was established by Speaker of the House. The
committee was authorized to contain seven members, but only six seem to have
been appointed: Chair H.A. O'Neal, Vice-chair T.H. McGregor, J.A.L. Wolfe, I.A.
Patton, T.D. Cobbs, and C.H. Jenkins. The committee operated exclusively during
January and February of 1907 and was authorized to take testimony, subpoena
witnesses, and probe all forty-two charges against U. S. Senator Joseph Weldon
Bailey. The Texas Senate appointed a separate committee to investigate Senator
Bailey, but the two committees may possibly have cooperated to some degree.
Joseph Weldon Bailey became a United States Senator in 1901. During
his senatorial term he was charged with illegally representing the
Waters-Pierce Oil Company, which was expelled from Texas for violating the
antitrust laws because of its connections with the Standard Oil trust. Bailey's
relationship with Waters-Pierce was first investigated by the Texas Legislature
in 1901, resulting in a recommendation that Bailey be exonerated on the grounds
that he had not acted improperly. In 1906, however, during the course of
litigation initiated by the State of Missouri against Waters-Pierce, Bailey's
relationship to the company was again questioned. Though the Legislature voted
to return him to the United States Senate on January 20, 1907, it also decided
to investigate his relationship with Waters-Pierce in light of the Missouri
disclosures. The proceedings initiated by the Bailey Investigation Committee
revealed a loan from Pierce to Bailey as well as a number of large fees
received by Bailey from various companies and individuals. Although the
legislature adopted a report in February 1907 that again exonerated him of all
charges of wrongdoing (see Senate Concurrent Resolution 5, 30th Legislature,
Regular Session, 1907), he was never again elected to public office and he
finished his career as a lawyer.
Scope and Contents
The record of the Texas House of Representative's Bailey Investigation
Committee consists of a stenographic report of the 1907 committee proceedings.
No other material relating to the activities of the committee is included. The
report contains the testimony given before the committee, a copy of the
authorizing legislation and the rules under which the committee functioned, and
letters, telegrams, and reports read into the record. The content of the report
exclusively concerns the investigation of U. S. Senator Joseph Weldon Bailey
and the procedures of the committee.
To prepare this inventory, the described materials were cursorily
reviewed to delineate series, to confirm the accuracy of contents lists, to
provide an estimate of dates covered, and to determine record types.
Arrangement of the Records
The records are arranged in order by the page number of the
stenographic report.
Index Terms
The terms listed here were used to catalog the
records. The terms can be used to find similar or related records.
Personal Names:
Weldon, Joseph
W.--(Joseph Weldon),--1863-1929.
Subjects:
Legislators--Texas.
Legislators--United
States.
Governmental
investigations--Texas.
Document Types:
Report--Legislative
bodies--Texas--1907.
Testimony--Legislative
bodies--Texas--1907.
Legislative
records--Legislative bodies--Texas--1907.
Functions:
Investigating United States
legislators.
Related Material
The following materials are offered as
possible sources of further information on the agencies and subjects covered by
the records. The listing is not exhaustive.
Texas State
Archives
Texas Attorney-General's Office, Litigation files, cubic
footage and possibly date span will change (currently 1880-1948 (bulk
1902-1940), 89 cubic ft.) [files for State of Texas vs. Waters-Pierce Oil
Company, 1907, State of Texas vs. Standard Oil]
Publications
Please see Texana holdings for
publications by and about Senator Joseph Weldon Bailey. The report described
here may be found in published form in the Archives' Texana holdings as:
<emph render="underline">Proceedings and Reports of the
Bailey Investigation Committee, Provided for in a Simple Resolution Adopted by
the House of Representatives of the Thirtieth Legislature.
</emph>
Austin Tex.: Von Boeckmann-Jones, 1907.
Processing Information
Nancy Enneking, May 2000
Accession Information
Accession number: 2000/152
These records were transferred to the Archives and Information
Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission by either
the Texas Legislature or, possibly, the Texas Secretary of State at some time
during the first half of the 20th century. For purposes of control, the records
were assigned a modern accession number on May 15, 2000.
Stenographic report,
1907,
0.94 cubic ft.
2000/152-1
Resolution, rules, and charges against Bailey,
January 1907
2000/152-1
Meeting transcript,
1907:
2000/152-1
January 21
2000/152-1
January 22
2000/152-1
January 23
2000/152-1
January 24Afternoon session,
2000/152-1
January 24 Evening session,
2000/152-1
January 25 Afternoon session,
2000/152-1
January 25 Evening session,
2000/152-1
January 26 Afternoon session,
2000/152-1
January 26 Evening session,
2000/152-1
January 25 Evening session [testimony
intentionally placed later in the record],
2000/152-1
January 28
2000/152-1
January 29
[2 files]
2000/152-1
January 30 Morning session,
2000/152-1
January 30, afternoon session
2000/152-1
Evening session and morning session,
January 30 and January 31
2000/152-1
January 31 Afternoon session,
2000/152-1
January 31 Evening session,
2000/152-1
February 1
2000/152-1
February 2 Morning session,
2000/152-1
February 2 Afternoon session,
2000/152-1
February 4 Morning session,
2000/152-1
February 4 Afternoon session,
2000/152-1
February 5 Morning session,
2000/152-1
February 5 Afternoon session,
2000/152-1
February 6 Afternoon session,
2000/152-1
Evening session,
February 6 and February 7
2000/152-2
February 9
2000/152-2
February 11
2000/152-2
February 12
2000/152-2
February 13
2000/152-2
February 15 Afternoon session,
2000/152-2
February 15 Evening session,
2000/152-2
February 16 Afternoon session,
2000/152-2
Afternoon session and morning session,
February 16 and February 19,
2000/152-2
February 19 Afternoon session,
2000/152-2
February 20 Morning session,
2000/152-2
February 20 Afternoon session,
2000/152-2
February 21 Morning session,
2000/152-2
February 21 Afternoon session,
2000/152-2
February 22
2000/152-2
Journal transcript, proceedings of the 1901
investigation and some February 20, 1907 testimony
2000/152-2
February 23 Morning session,
2000/152-2
February 23 Afternoon testimony,
2000/152-2
Protest by W.A. Cocke,
February 18
2000/152-2
Reply to W.A. Cocke's protest,
February 26
2000/152-2
Report,
February 27
2000/152-2
Report,
February 28