Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-11-26
THELETTER
Continued from PAGE one)

''SIti 0d90 0n0J
part In his success. He now states
tnat these were made in his behalf
by his friends without his knowledge
or consent.
such expenditures with the know
ledge or consent of candidate. are
expressly forbidden under the provi-
sions of our statutes and nensltv
or five hundred dollars is imposed
Tor each offense. The nominee ac-
cordingly has prof1ted very material
~ by the wholesale criminal acts of
his friends and is exactly in the DO
sltlon OF a man who is receiving
stolen goods.
lie now states that while he knew
his friends were planning very con-
siderable activities in his behalf. he
did not know their precise scope
nor did he know that they were pro-
hibited by law.
The determination of the measure
OF responsibility for what was done
between himself and his associates.
is matter for their joint considera-
ton. His present plea of ignorance
places all the responsibility upon his
friends and must lead to their in
dictment If the officials charged with
tne enforcement of our statutes are
faithful to their trust.
AS l stated to you last week, there
mas seem ID to me to be occasion for
serious concern in the mind of any
tnoushtful citizen as to the expendi-
lures in this last campaign. Some
weeks before the Primary election
the successful nominee stated to me
that his friends were planning to ad-
vertlse In papers through the State
In the next two weeks and that
measures were being taken in the
western part of the State which
would lead to a very general ac-
quaintance with his by the citizens
In that section. 1t is impossible for
me to reconcile these statements
with the complete innocence which
he now pleads.
In the course Of our conversation
at that time, in the most friendly
spirit, there were repeated state
ments that the greatest care should
be exercised in the conduct of the
campaign and that he should COM
suit most carefully with his attor-
neys as to the expenditures which
might legally be made, in order to
from embarrassment
He was also told that expenditures
by his friends in any way under such
circumstances as those which he
mentioned, would be reportable ex-
pense and chargeable to him. He
now states that his attorneys did not
advise him of the statute prohibiting
expenditures by his friends, without
his knowledge or his consent, and
that he has been ignorant Of it up
to the present time.
If the test of ones Republicanism
has become ones ability to acquiesce
in nomination so largely Influenced
by the unlawful expenditure of mon
ey, and join the candidate in becom-
ing what is in substance an access
sorry after the f; :. to the wholesale
commission of crime, it would seem
anime the lives Of Abraham Lincoln
and Theodore Roosevelt and get back
upon their course.
With the shadow of Pennsylvania
and Illinois upon the Senate. General
John ]. Pershing took the solemn &C.
casion of Armistice Day at Kansas
City to say to the people of the
United States: If the time ever
comes when public offices can be
bought and sold. then the downfall
of the Republic is not far off,
The President of the United
States is presumably as vitality in
terested in the election of Republic
can senators as any other member
of the Republican party. Yet he has
refused during the last campaign
and during the present one, to give
any indication of his desires or issue
any approximations exception, and
that of a very personal character.
Meanwhile, he has been widely
quoted as viewing with adherence
the expenditures in Illinois and un-
der tremendous pressure refused to
repudiate a conversation attributed ,
to him denouncing the conditions
which there prevailed.
The governor of the State of
Maine is not more concerned with
Republican senator from this State,
than is he, or more directly interest
ed in the welfare of the Republican
party as a whole.
1t is easy to say that the limita-
lions upon expenditures is foolish
and unwise law. That is the opinion
of the burglar. the bootlegger. and
the thief, regarding some other leg
islation. That way lies anarchy.
The moral issue of illegal primary
expenditures seems to have become
the paramount issue in this present
1t seems necessary to de-
termine whether the people of
Maine have developed a moral con-
science as blunted as that of Penn
sylvania and Illinois, or whether
they are still mindful of the tradi-
tions and heritage Of idealism and
moral courage that have made the