Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-19

While England may not have as COM
plete a publicity law on its statute books
as the United States, it is generally con-
coded that nowhere is there to be founo
q more efficient corrupt practices act
than that governing English elecliohs
There are those who complain about the
bargain and sale of honors, SUCH as peer
ages. baronetcies and knighthoods, but
it is generally admitted that there IS httie
chance of ones way being bought INTO
the public service. Hllialre beiloc, ioi
five years a member OF the mouse OF
commons charges. in a recent DOCK Which
he has written, that immense secret po-
litical funds are gathered and dispensed
and that any one who is candidate OF
either party gets all the funds he wants
He charges that rich Englishmen who are
long on money and short on position
furnish the money in exchange for these
honors just as in years gone by nothing
was thought in our own country of prom
ising a rich man a position in the diplo-
matte service if he would contribute a
given sum to the necessities of the pO-
litical campaign.
Be all this as it may. the man who
gets by with corruption in English
politics must be a slick individual. and
able to keep his secret from his political
enemies as we'll as from the government
And he has little show of success II he
starts out to let those around him and
back of his candidacy do his dirty work
for him without his actually knowing the
details thereof That is game that al
ways has been played successfully IN the
United States. Many a candidate can
truthfully make affidavit that he has
q
election, and that he has no knowledge
of any other money being spent in his
behalf. or other influence exercised. For
he has been careful not TO know.
Rut in England such course avails
nothing. If a candidate has been elected
through votes
Seats Forfeited fraudulently. or
For Slight Causes. form Of corrupt
or illegal practice secured. no matter if
he has not been in the slightest degree
responsible therefor. he forfeits his seat.
In other words. his friends and supporters
cannot do for him what he could not do
for himself, even though he knows moth
ing of their acts. There are many in
stances where seats in the English par
lament have been declared forfeited for
the most trivial offenses.
In one case a certain prominent poll
tician was elected to parliament, and 1t
was afterward found that his nephew
had treated four voters to a luncheon be-
fore the election. 1t was not asserted
that the candidate in whose behalf this
act was done had any knowledge that 1t
was done, neither was it represented that
the voters who might have been corrupted
in this way could have determined the
election since his majority was large.
And yet he was ousted from his position
as promptly as il he had with his own
hand bribed a thousand voters.
1t is conceded that for severity of en-
forcement there is nowhere to be found
an election law comparable with the Eng
lish law. It's letter is followed absolutely.
1t is complained, however. that in spite
of this the big parties have central Off
ces which correspond to our campaign
headquarters, and that the purse strings
Of the central Offices are pulled under the