Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-02-11
Use of Money in Campaigns
Root of Al! Corruption Of
Public Men Declares New
York Congressman,
PROPOSED NEW YORK LAW
PRONOUNCED INADEQUATE
RoCkefeIIer'S Recent Gift to
Educational Institutions Is
Used to Emphasize Urgent
Present Need for Reform,
Try Morning Journal Special I.sased wlre.l

Try Morning journal Special leased Wire. |
Washington Feb. 9.--"It seems 10 me
that the root of all corruption in pub
lie life is the use of money in cleo
tions,' said Representative William r.
Hearst of New York, in discussing his
bill to prevent the corrupt use of
money at national elections
ITO illustrate" added Mr.. Hearst,
'let me illustrate the last New York
state election. The use of something
more than a million dollars in the
state campaign is admitted by the va
rious committees of the republican
party. In addition there was a great
deal of money spent by individuals
and semi-political organizations which
did not come under the restrictions Of
the elections laws. This amount Of
money cannot be spent properly in
merely informing the voters Of the is
sues of the campaign and in guarding
the ballot on election day, and there
fore the greater part of 1t must be
spent improperly indirectly or d.
irectly, influencing the vote of the citi-
zens."
Mr. Hearst characterized as extraor-
dinary Governor Hughes rncommen-
dation for corrupt pfactfces act in
New York, in that it failed to limit the
total amount that can be spent in any
campaign.
MY bill is framed to limit strictly
the amount of money that can be
spent and the uses to which it can be
put, and defines any other eXpendi-
ture of money as bribery. 1t contains
a clause which | think will be abso-
lutely effective in the detection of this
bribery and improper use of money.
The person guilty of this improper use
Of money is, under my bill, punisha-
BILE by a fine of not more than S10,-
600 nor less than $4,000, half of which
amount shall go to the informer. to-
gether with immunity. Thus there will
be a constant reward offered of from
$4,000 to $4,000 in every case of the
improper use of money in elections.
And, moreover, the man who gives the
bribe, automatically offers the reward
for his own detection.
This morning we read in the pa
pers that Mr.. Rockefeller has given
thirty-two millions of dollars for pub
lie education--a most patriotic and
praiseworthy thing for him to do. Yet
we cannot help feeling the possibilities
of misuse of such great wealth to
control the government under our
present election laws. If Mr.. Rocke-
feller can give $4,000 for cer-
tain purpose, no matter how benefi-
cial, he might give one-fifth or one
tenth of that sum to preserve politi-
cal conditions that make the accumu-
lation of such great wealth as this pos
sible. Six millions or even three mill
lions would go far toward carrying
state or even national elections. II
Mr.. Rockefeller should be too high
minded to devote any part of his
wealth to such purposes, there are
many multi-millionaires in this coun-
try whose wealth has been secured by
political favors and special privileges,
who would spend millions to continue
the opportunities for further political
favors and to preserve their special
privileges"