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Show THE NEWBERRY CASE A statute of the United States lira-its lira-its the amount of money that a man may spend in promotion of his candidacy can-didacy for the Federal Senate to three thousand five hundred dollars. How generally this law is ignored, the world knows. We venture the statement that there are few if any of the members of the Senate who are not guilty of its violation, not guilty in the sense of having corruptly cor-ruptly used money, hut of expending in cue way or another more than the prescribed sum. What are called "le j ritimate" expenses of senatorial can-j can-j didacy may be easily run into large figures. For illustration let us cite ' "ii instance of recent local observation: observa-tion: When Mr. Phelan was a senatorial sen-atorial candidate six years ago. there was maintained in his behalf a cam-, paisn headquarters in this city with ; corps of managers and clerks active ac-tive in the wcrl; of setting forth through persona! interviews jn'l hv "ircularizing tnrn';rb to lfi f!i-i ";ualinrations of the candid;t" Vr,,v 111-wspnpprs carried ndvcr(EKrmnts siting fonh the facts or arguments calculated in the judgment of the andidato or his managers to im-. press voters. For several weeks preceding pre-ceding election day the name of the candidate was exploited in electric lights in several of the large centres. Somebody paid for all this; and the bill could not have been a light one. Mr. Phelan moved up and down the state for a period of months speaking speak-ing here and there in response to invitations in-vitations from communities wishing to hear the candidate and to come into personal contact with him. This method of campaign is universal uni-versal and has been ever since popular pop-ular election of senators was ordain-j ordain-j d. it i;:- practiced to a greater or j less degree in every state and by ev-"l'y ev-"l'y candidMe. And a good deal may be said for it. It carries to the individual in-dividual voter much that may aid 'nil in appraising the relative merits mer-its of opposing candidates. It is a '"strict contribution to public for information, including a knowledge of ibc rhnr ic'ter and general qualifications quali-fications of the candidates. When -!:-rin'- is limited to the means df -r: ):''., nobody is corrupt-") corrupt-") re;i! harm is done to anybody, v; n.) c-!r!d;,;:-.tc or his friends feel "iai any moral principle or rule has l)"i-n violated. Tiia mischief of elaborate cam- J paign practice, even where the prc-i prc-i cedure is strictly limited to so-called j legitimate methods, is that it gives ! to a rich man as against men who are . not rich a tremendous advantage, j For while a man of large means may in clean ways expend enormous sums in promoting his candidacy, a man of limited means may not do so, and I thus suffer by comparison. One purpose of the. law limiting campaign cam-paign expenditure is clearly frustrated frustra-ted when a rich man may spend many thousands while his less provided pro-vided rival may spend only a few hundreds or nothing at all. From the testimony in the New-herrv New-herrv case, we do not get the impression im-pression that corrupt practice entered en-tered into the campaign between Mr. Newberry and Mr. Ford. Both were rich men. In behalf of each large suts were expended. It was a hot and close contest and on either side the campaign mangers went at the business of rounding up votes with great energy and at large expense. Tmbably neither Mr. Newberry nor 7ir. Ford felt that anything reprehensible repre-hensible was being done; in truth,' so far as the testimony goes to show, no wrong was done outside and apart from the fact that the law limited 1 expenditure was extravagantly and openly violated. And the only plea in excuse we will not say justification justifica-tion of this fact lies in the further fact that practically every other candidate can-didate does and has done the same thing. It is a poor plea, but the dereliction de-reliction which it Is sought to cover is one upon which it is easy to look with a certain leniency. The mainspring of the prosecution prosecu-tion of Newberry appears to have been that of feminine jealousy. In a social sense the wife of Mr. Newberry New-berry is at the head of the heap in Detroit. This fact aroused an intense in-tense jealousy on the part of the wife of a certain editor, whose efforts ef-forts to get into society though persistently per-sistently pursued, failed. The lady in the latter case, so gossip runs, sought balm for the wounds of disappointed dis-appointed ambition in humiliation of her successful rival, if the case ma be so put. Under domestic prompting, prompt-ing, the editor promoted the prosecution prose-cution by which Newberry has been -onvicted of what may be termed 'egitimate practice illegitimately pur-""("' pur-""("' tnt Is n practice Involving 'he expenditure of money in excess o" the three thousand five hundred dollar limit prescribed by law. j To what extent resentment on the part of Mr. Newberry's unsuccessful rival, Mr. Ford has entered Into the prosecution may not be known. Like wise to what extent resentment on the part of the Administration at Washington may have figured in the case may never be exposed. But certain cer-tain friends of Ford were active In support of the movement against Newberry. The Michigan brigade of Federal office holders were also busily bus-ily on the side of the prosecution. The amount of money spent by Newberry New-berry and his friends in the campaign cam-paign for election would make a poor figure when compared with the larger sums put into the campaign of jealousy fund ready and generous support in the amiable motives of personal and political revenge. It will be interesting to see what action the Senate will take in the matter of this conviction. The law is plain, and very obviously Mr. New berry has violated it. But the Judges Jud-ges in the case, most If not all Mr. Newberry's colleagues In the Senate are equally guilty. If only those without sin are permitted to cast ntones. ther will bn no quorum when that, body ;l,iitl be called upon to pass judgment upon Newberry's qualification to sit in the Senate. t |