The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-25
 UsIN6 MONEY ,N ELECTIONS C.sigress May Be Forced l to Consider. SOME PREVIOUS EFFORTS Republicans Fight Shy of the
 Issue. Force of Judge Parker's Last Utter ance, Following Remarkable
 Revelations in Insurance
 InvestiEation.
Advertiser Bureau,

1 Advertiser Bureau, l 50t 14th St., N. w., Washington, Sept 24. There is a very general conviction
 here that Congress will be compelled
 by public opinion to take cognixance i of the corrupt use of money in elec- l tions. President Roosevelt, with the charges made by Judge Parker fresh
 in mind, recommended in his annual message last December the enactment
 of a law directed against bribery and corruption in Federal elections, leav-
 ing its details to the wise discretion" | of Congress. The Republican Con- l gress deemed 1t "wise discretion" to do nothing. Nevertheless several Dem
 ocrats tackled the evil and put their party on record for the needed reform. Representative Bourke Cochran or | New York, introduced two bills on the
 subject as soon as Congress met One l bill provided that all contributions ex~ ceeding $50 might thereafter be made | to the expenses of political parties at
 elections where presidential electors 1 and representatives in Congress are | chosen and should be reported to the
 District Court of the United States for
 the district In which the donors might 1 resids and for the publication of all
 such reports. MT. Cochran later in- 1 troduced another bill providing for the
 creation of a special commission to l | of money expended by both parties for presidential electors from 1899 to 1904. | Representative Shober of New York in- l troduced a bill to prohibit corporations l from making money contributions Tn connection with political elections The
 bills were referred to the Committee
 on the Election of President, Vice
 President and Representatives in Com
 gross. The House did nothing further 1 with these bills
 Senator Carmaek's Measure.
 Early in December last Senator Car
 mack introduced a resolution provid-
 ing for an investigation into the col
 lection and expenditures Of money for
 election purposes. The investigation
 was to be had by . joint committee OF l the House and Senate. which, 1t was
 intended, should Inquire Into the col
 Iections and expenditures of moneys used by the national committees of the
 political parties in the presidential and congressIonal elections Of lSSo' | 1900 and 1904, the investigation to em- l brace the sources of the contributions l and the manner in which the money
 was used. The committee was direct | ed, as a part of it's report to Congress, | to recommend legislation such as would
 be most effective in securing publicity
 and preventing the collection and re- | ceiving of money from corporations en-
 
 use of money for corrupt or unlawful
 purposes.
 MT. Carmack's resolution was re- | ferred to the Senate Committee on | Privileges and Elections, which. like the House committee. did nothing at
 alI
 A resolution somewhat similar to that
 hv the Tennessee Senator and debated | if at length, without eliciting response | from the Republican side, except that | Senator Hansbrough had read Presi-
 dent Roosevelt's reply to the charges
 by Judge Parker in his Madison Square
 speech.
 Parker's speech denouncing the use of | corruption funds by the Republican machine and the methods employed to
 get the money, Senator Stone said that although Mir. Cortelyou had been
 accused of raising corruption luno
 and in receiving contributions that
 were in effect extorted or induced from
 corporations through the force of se- cret information possessed by him
 concerning their business affairs,
 which he had oficiaIly obtained az
 member of the cabinet. he had not answered the charge, but stood wrap
 ped in grim silence
 Parker's Final ReJOinder.
 Senator Stone also quoted Judge
 Parker's final reJoinder to President 1 Roosevelt's defiant treatment of the | charges:
 He (the PresidenD is in a posi- l ton to know what contributions have been made to the Republican commit tee by the trusts If there mad been no trust contributions, he could easily have said SO. He did not say so. He | cannot say so. He has waited until | the closing hour of this great cam paign to make easier the pretense of an answer. But 1t Is not an answer. It is a confession with a plea in avoi- 1 dance addressed to a kindly and gener- | ous people. If there had been any doubt of the source of this great cam paIgn fund it is no longer a matter of l suspicion, for Mir. Elihu Root. former 1 Secretary of War, frankly admitted last night that trusts and corporations were heavy contributors.
 Attention was called to the fact that Judge Parker had not only denied that | the Democratic committee had receiv- ed no contributions from the corpora l tions, but that he had requested the l Democratic campaign managers not to receive money for campaign purposes 1 from any trusts. and had been advised | bv them that this request had been scrupulously respected
 Democrats here are remarking the 1 enduring force of Judge Parker's last utterance on the use of money to cor rupt the ballot. They are particularly 1 impressed with the aptness of his ob- ! servation that the men who have made these money contributions in large sums that belong to the stockholders ! of corporations have no political con victions that stand in the way of their l personal advantage Such men desire the triumph of that party which will better serve their personal financial interests and will-for contributions past. present and future-continue to protect those interests by lenient leg 1 islatlon and by pretense at the exc cution of law which shall be tenderly i blind to all their offensas
 Party Spirit DecRdent.
 It has come to be not infrequentIv | remarked nowadays that there ia A i manifest decadence in party spirit The most active and hardest fought campaigns are not now between the two greatest parties. but between members of the same party for the prizes of party leadership. The grow ing indifference to party lines in con