Evening star., 1944-09-21
Senator's II s May Look
Into Mayor kelIy's
Soldier Vote Moves

The possibility that the Senat.
Campaign Expenditures Com
mittee might look into the po.
litical activities Of Mayor Ed
ward J.. Kelly of Chicago de.
veloped today after disclosure
that pro-Roosevelt campaign let
ters accompanied soldier vote
applications sent from Chicago
Members Of both parties agreet
that the letters were, legal under
the terms of the soldier vote law
but Senator Ferguson, Republican
Of Michigan said he is investigating
reports that Mr.. Kelly has beer
very active with respect to soldier
voting matters" The Senator sale
he wanted to determine whether
the activities warrant looking into
by the committee. He would moi
elaborate.
At the same time there were othel
Developments indicating an effort
In some quarters to influence the
soldier vote. Ill ..
COP Also Reported Active.
The Miami Herald quoted an un-
identified naval ofI1cer as saying a
sailor at the Miami Naval Training
Station who applied for a wartime
ballot from Michigan had received
Republican campaign literature in.
closed with the ballot. The ofacer
said other sailors from Minnesota
and New Hampshire also had re-
ceived COP literature separate
from their ballots but carrying the
service numbers of The sailors on
the envelopes.
Those numbers could have come
only from their applications fol
ballots" the ofncer said.
According to the newspaper, the
campaign material from Michigan
urged support for the Dewey
Bricker ticket. and the reelection
Of Gov. Harry r. Kelly.
In Lansing. Mich, Gov. Kelly
scoffed at the report.
Another. Incident was reported
from Monmouth, Ill. where Rich
ard j. Lyons, Republican candidate
for the Senate, told of receiving a
letter from a coast guardsman in
New Guinea. who said that "the
Presidents chaplain" delivered an
enthusiastic New Deal speech" to
which servicemen were required to
listen.
10000 Sent, Kelly Says.
The Chicago letters which at
tracted the attention of the Senate
Campaign Expenditures Committee
first came to light in Poplar Bluff
Mo, where the newspaper Ameri-
can-Republic said an unidentified
Chicago soldier on Guadalcanal re-
ceived a letter urging a fourth term
vote and signed Edward j. Kelly
chairman of the Central Committee
of the Democratic party of Cook
County"
Later the Chicago Times quoted
Mayor Kelly, who also is Democratic
national committeeman for Illi-
nois,, as saying that 10000 such
letters went to Chicago service vot-
ers with the explanation: I'VE be-
heve that the soldiers want to vote
for Roosevelt and we're happy to
assist them in obtaining applica-
tions for ballots"
Senator Tunnel, Democrat, Della
ware, an administration supporter,
said Mayor Kelly was within his
rights in sending out the letters, and
Senator Ferguson agreed that po-
litical propaganda sent direct to
soldiers lis perfectly legal as long as
the Government itself doesn't spon-
sor or pay for it."
That's the law and I agree it
should be the law" said the Michi-
gan Senator.
The Miami Herald account of the
distribution of political propaganda
to naval base men said one cam
paign message sent to a sailor by
service number from Minnesota was
addressed to the service men and
women of Hennepin County," and
boosted the Dewey -Bricker ticket as
~Nli 1NC pObllSdll iOl
Governor and Congress.
Governor Skeptical,
In brushing aside the story of the
distribution of propaganda from
Michigan. Gov. Kelly said there
could be no excuse or reason for
doing what the story said was done"
He added he was especially skeptical
because there had been a scarcity of
campaign literature in the State.
The Governor also pointed out that
war ballots are mailed to applicants
by their local off1cials-not State.
In the Monmouth case. Mr.. Lyons
told q political rally that he had
received a letter from a former
Marion Gll) businessman, Richard
Smothers, stating:
They (offcers in charge of the
New Guinea meeting) announced
that we had to keep our seats, that
they had acquired some wonderful
speakers, including some high-rank-
ing officers who were carrying a
message to all the war zones on the
4dSO VI tIlc cdi Illt AS IL Is tIIIl6 lOE
us servicemen to send for our bal
lots, don't believe I ever heard q
more enthusiastic New Deal speech.
The principal speaker was the
Presidents chaplain. He empha-
sized what a wonderful job our
President or Commander in Chief, I
believe he put it, was doing. How he
was travelling around to the differ
ent war zones. How much and what
he was going to do for us after the
war was over.
The New Deal must have made a
preacher out of him; l don't think
the good Lord had a thing to do
with it or he wouldn't be speaking
against the thing we are fighting
for-political freedom"
Mr.. Lyons, alluding to the re-
ported incident, declared that the
New Deal has hit an all-time low"
War Bonds are your peace in
surance!
II All, AND W |