Evening star., 1921-06-05

>HE opinion of the man In
the street was expressed In
many different ways. fol-
- lowing the Newberry de-
cision. Some said that of course
the Supreme Court Of the United
states would decide IN favor. Of.
Newberry. as there is no
tcnance, in America. of convicting a
ricn man Of a crime. This view
came from those who are opposed
to settled procedure. who desire
the town meeting to settle all
questions-provided 1t will settle
them their way. Others declared
that the outcome Of the Michigan
election cases should teach defeat
ed and disgruntled politicians not
to attempt to wreak their VEN
Seance upon their successful op-
ponents by attempting criminal
prosecutions.
The man on the street inherently
desires to be fair. but he has not
the time to inform himself upon
every subject about which he
talks. Nearly every one. except
ing lawyers and editors who
examined the decision of the court
and its accompanying opinions.
talked without knowledge Of the
facts In the case and Of the rea-
sons given by the court for decid-
ing the way it did.
x.*4 e.
Stripped Of legal language, the
facts are, in brief, that in the
Michigan republican primaries the
committee in charge of the can
didacy Of Mr.. Newberry for nomi-
nation for United States senator
spent upward Of a half-million
dollars, a considerable portion of
which was contributed by relatives
of the candidate either by blood or
marriage. He was indicted, with
others. for conspiracy to violate
the federal corrupt practices act.
which forbids the use in any state
of more than $4,000 by a candi-
date to secure nomination and
election, and forbids the expendi-
ture of any sum in excess of that
authorized by the laws of the
state. which sum in Michigan, for
both nomination and election.
would be $3.50. or half Of one
years salary of the office being
sought.
A majority Of the Supreme Court.
quoting section 4, clause l of ar
ticle / of the Constitution OF the
United States. decided that the
Congress had control only over
elections. that the clause of the
Constitution relating to the times.
places and manner of holding
elections" for senators and rep
resentatives did not apply to pri-
nees. In other words. i've of the
justices of the court held that
the Congress had nothing what
ever to do with election primaries.
had no control over them and
lacked any right to say how much
money might be expended; that
the supervisory power of the Con-
gress began and ended with the
general elections.
Four Justices dissented from this
broad statement of the law and
gave varying opinions for their
:. dissent. but all nine justices held
&h,k the N>-harrv conSo Rhould
be reversed for errors committed
by the trial court in its instruc-
tions to the jury. In hne. taking
all the decisions. no one is justi-
ned in saying that an illegal act
was committed or that Mr.. New
berry was morally culpable SO
far as the record of the Supreme
Court discloses,
L express no opinion upon the
question Of the legal guilt or the
moral turpitude Of the senator.
but frankly give utterance to my
view, long ago expressed and re-
peated, that the prosecution should
not have been started. II the SEN
Atof were not morally guilty. OF
wrong doing, 1t was not right to
drag him through the courts: II he
were morally guilty. q majority
Of the voters Of Michigan .ap-
proved Of his conduct and they
were entitled to be represented by
q man Of like view and like pas
sion as themselves. Mr.. Newberry's
election proved him to be a fair
representative Of the public morals
Of q majority Of the voters OF
Michigan.
i 4
Two years after the famous
Michigan primary about which SO
much has been said, parties be-