Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-01

the parliamentary seat. The member of
parliament foi re city of Hull-one of the
largest seapo. owns in Englano-feceht-
~ openly bo5 ID that while | repre-
scented the city l have succeeded in get
ting the sum of si.oooNfJ spent on the
constituency" Another candidate for re-
election called public attention to the fact
that he contributed $500 a year to the
Miners Accident Fund The sending
around OF visiting cards emitting bear
err to II cents worth of food-these being
distributed during times OF distress at
the rate of several hundred a days
time-worn dodge of many NJ +. S, VINO
wish to stand for reelection.
Evading the Law.
One effective method by which political
candidates avoid the law as to corrupt
election expenses is to hold back the of1l-
cial announcement of their candidacy un-
til the very last moment. There Is no
law which can punish a merely PRO
spective'' candidate for spending aS much
money as he likes in 4 neiehborhood. The
consequence is that the intending canGi-
date often lays out as much as $4,000. or
more in sailing a district before an
nouncng himself as a candidate. His
opponent may try TO drive him into "A
declaration which may be taken as an
official announcement. in order to bring
a prosecution under tie act. but, as rule.
politicians on both sides are too willy to be
or ward "boss''-is a good man. The
mos. ordinary way Of trapping an OPP
ponent into a declaration is to have It
announced publicly that the opposing can.
didate does not intend to stand for cleo
ton. This rcla however. seldom works.
When prospective ca nd:date has spent
as much money as he thinks necessary he
announces his candidacy and begins TO
run in the usual way. After making
the announcement, of course. the utmost
20 G q nnr n n lao
limit Of expenses. Though the candidate
nay not himself exceed this i;ait. his
friends are ct liberty to form any number
of fake leagues and to continue lavish
ing ho-ntias on the district. In many
cases even where the election EXPENSES
are exceeded 1t is possible to cook the
accounts by having number of people
working for you as volunteer sub
agents.
Some Handsome Presents.
In the case of the constituency of Tha-
net. for instance. the member had nu-
merous persons working for him as
clerks VINO appear red on the vouchers
drawing simply SO for twenty days
election work. and yet. after the vic
tory. each Of these clerks received hand
some present one getting a purse con-
tanning f1ti. or $3.50. The purse was not
given. however. un-:l long after the polling
and when the corrupt practices act could
this case did net come from the success
full member who had won his seat in par
lament but from a local league of his
friends over whose generous action he
could not. of course. exercise any con-
troll With volunteer workers acting as
a candidates suhagents there IS no way
of checking the money these men might
s3end. In the Thanet case. though about
$1,000 were spent. the actual accounts
only showed tie legal sum Of 1920 for
legitimate election expenditure"
At election times in England cons der
abba direct influ nee is brought 70 hear on
voters through the chann=l of patron
age" Meny customers # tradesrlen sig
nifty their intention to withdraw their or
ders if the tradesman do not w e in the
right manEer-rhat is. according to the
ideas of the particular customer. If a
:radesman comes out into the open and
displays any CT the fandbills or literature
of an opposing candidate the customers
promptly withdraw their trades. AS a