The CHAIRMAN. If you had a client, who employed you to attend to his business, and gave you expense money, would you feel that you were treating him fairly to keep no account of the manner of the expenditure? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What difference is there in the rule obtaining with you in the performance of legal services for which you are paid and in the performance of political services for which you are paid? Mr. FRENCH. I can not say that there is a difference. The CHAIRMAN. You do not think there should be any difference? Mr. FRENCH. No; I do not. The CHAIRMAN. You think you should have kept an accurate account of these expenditures? Mr. FRENCH. Yes; I do. The CHAIRMAN. In the interest of good political morals? The CHAIRMan. You did not think about it at the time? Mr. FRENCH. Oh, no. I did not think anything about it then. The CHAIRMAN. Did you pay any of this money for newspaper advertising? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Senator SUTHERLAND. Can you give us any more complete statement as to the persons to whom you paid money than you have already given? Mr. FRENCH. I can make it somewhat more complete, Senator. Senator SUTHERLAND. Do that, then. Let us hear it. Mr. FRENCH. You mean to give the names of the persons to whom it was paid? Senator SUTHERLAND. Yes. Mr. FRENCH. I testified, I believe, that I paid over $30 there at the ice houses at Twin Lakes and Powers Lake; and I believe I left about $90 there. Senator SUTHERLAND. You believe you left about $90 where? Mr. FRENCH. At the two lakes. That was to cover the expense of teams in getting voters to the polls Senator SUTHERLAND. With whom did you leave it? Mr. FRENCH. I can not tell the names. They were not men that I knew, but men to whom I was directed by some acquaintance in the town. Senator SUTHERLAND. You left it with a number of different people? Mr. FRENCH. Oh, yes. Senator SUTHERLAND. About how many? Mr. FRENCH. Well, this is not accurate, but I think that there were about four or five in the two different localities. Senator SUTHERLAND. You mean you divided the $90 among four or five people? Mr. FRENCH. No; I think I left about that much. Senator SUTHERLAND. You divided it among them, did you not? Mr. FRENCH. Oh, yes. Senator SUTHERLAND. That is what I said. Do you know how you divided it? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Senator SUTHERLAND. In equal proportions? Mr. FRENCH. Oh, no. I can not remember that, Senator. Senator SUTHERLAND. You simply think that you left about $90 altogether? Mr. FRENCH. Yes. Senator SUTHERLAND. What was to be done with that? Mr. FRENCH. They were to urge Mr. Stephenson's candidacy, and especially to get their fellow employees to go to the polls on election day, and provide teams from the neighboring farms to take them there. Senator SUTHERLAND. How did you come to leave $90 there? Was any estimate made as to what it would cost? Mr. FRENCH. No; it was just a matter of my judgment or recollection. I think it was about that. Senator SUTHERLAND. Do you remember anybody else? Mr. FRENCH. Any other individual? Senator SUTHERLAND. Yes. Can you give me the names of any individual to whom you paid money, whom you have not already mentioned? Mr. FRENCH. Yes; I can remember two or three more. Senator SUTHERLAND. Give me the name of one. Mr. FRENCH. One fellow was named Brownlow. Senator SUTHERLAND. Where does he live? Mr. FRENCH. East Troy. Senator SUTHERLAND. How much did you give him? Mr. FRENCH. I can not tell. According to my best recollection, that it was $10. Senator SUTHERLAND. $10? Mr. FRENCH. I think so. Senator SUTHERLAND. For what purpose was that paid? Mr. FRENCH. For putting in his time talking for Stephenson, and being at the polls on election day. Senator SUTHERLAND. For what purpose was he to be at the polls? Mr. FRENCH. To call the attention of voters to Mr. Stephenson, and to solicit their votes for him. Senator SUTHERLAND. Did you pay out any money for distributing literature? Mr. FRENCH. I think I paid out somewhere around ten or fifteen dollars to boys. Senator SUTHERLAND. How much did you spend for cigars? Senator SUTHERLAND. How did you distribute cigars? Mr. FRENCH. I did not distribute cigars. Senator SUTHERLAND. What do you mean? You just had them on hand? Mr. FRENCH. Oh, no. When we went into a place where the crowd wanted cigars or drinks, why we went in and bought the cigars or the drinks; if there was anybody around, we invited them to drink, regardless of their political affiliations. We were strangers, anyway, and visited the saloon keeper about putting up lithographs, and asking him to see that they were kept there and not torn down. (Whereupon, at 12.30 o'clock p. m., the subcommittee took a recess until 2 o'clock p. m.) AFTER RECESS. The recess having expired, the subcommittee resumed its session. TESTIMONY OF CHARLES S. FRENCH-Resumed. (By request, the reporter read the last few questions and answers.) Senator SUTHERLAND. I think that is all. Senator POMERENE. With whom did you make your arrangements relative to what you did for Senator Stephenson? Mr. FRENCH. With Mr. Edmonds. Senator POMERENE. Was anything said about keeping an account of your expenditures. Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Senator POMERENE. Or making any report to him? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Senator POMERENE. And you did not keep any account? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Senator POMERENE. And made no report? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Senator POMERENE. Though you expended about $800, I believe you said? Mr. FRENCH. Yes, sir. Senator POMERENE. You gave some items of expenditure here. Did you charge for the use of your automobile? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Senator POMERENE. Your services, then, were without any compensation other than to reimburse you for your actual expenditures? Mr. FRENCH. Yes, sir. Senator POMERENE. You were never called on for any account as to those expenditures? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Senator POMERENE. Did you put any part of this money in the hands of anyone else to expend for Mr. Stephenson? Mr. FRENCH. I do not think so. Senator POMERENE. In other words, whatever money you distributed you gave to the man who actually did the work or performed the services, and not to him as an agent to represent you in the distribution of that fund? Mr. FRENCH. I think so, except possibly in the instance of Mr. Edwards down there. I believe I did ask him to get somebody to work at the polls. Senator POMERENE. Mr. Edwards, where? Mr. FRENCH. That I referred to in my testimony before lunch. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. Did you state how much you gave Edwards? Mr. FRENCH. $30. Senator POMERENE. Did you have any arrangements or make any arrangements with any of the candidates for the general assembly to perform services? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Senator POMERENE. Were you a candidate yourself? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Senator POMERENE. Have you served in the assembly here? Senator POMERENE. I think that is all I care to ask. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. Mr. French, had you had any experience in campaigning upon lines similar to those in which you were engaged in the interest of the Senator in this primary election? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir; not very much. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. Had you to some extent? Mr. LITTLEFIELD. Where you had occasion to disburse money in connection with creating an organization? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. You had not had the disbursing of money before that. Do you know what the general practice had been with reference to keeping accounts or rendering detailed accounts under such circumstances? Are you familiar enough with it to tell us that? Mr. FRENCH. No; I am not. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. As to the account in this instance: At the time, did or did it not occur to you that there was any necessity for your keeping a detailed itemized statement of your expenditures? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir; it did not occur to me. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. It was not suggested to you, I take it, by anyone? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. Was your failure to keep an itemized and detailed statement of your expenditures the result of a desire to conceal them or to cover up any expenditures? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. As I understand you, you found it necessary to create such organization as you had in 51 precincts? Mr. FRENCH. Yes, sir. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. And your estimate, from your best recollection. now, is that in those 51 precincts you expended from ten to fifteen dollars? Mr. FRENCH. Yes, sir; except in Lake Geneva. I did not expend anything at all there. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. You did not spend anything there? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. What was the character of the expenditure in the various precincts where you expended, according to your recollection, from ten to fifteen dollars? What I mean now is, the purpose for which the expenditures were made. Mr. FRENCH. I engaged somebody to spend some time between the time that I saw them and primary election day, and also on primary election day, to represent Mr. Stephenson. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. They were going to spend some time between the time you saw them and the primary election day; but what were they to do during that period? That is, what did you expect them to do? Mr. FRENCH. I expected them to visit with their friends and neighbors, and bring Senator Stephenson's claims to their attention and get their support. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. Was there any canvass or campaign being conducted in the territory that you covered in the interest of any other candidate? Mr. FRENCH. Yes, sir. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. Were all the other candidates in there with their representatives and campaigners? Mr. FRENCH. I do not know that all of them were, but I think so. MI. LITTLEFIELD. That is, Mr. Hatton and Mr. Cook and Mr. McGovern? Mr. FRENCH. Yes, sir. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. I suppose you ran across evidences of their activity as you traveled about the country? Mr. FRENCH. Yes, sir. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. State whether or not the men that you employed were employed for the purpose of meeting this activity, and creating as much sentiment as they could in the interest of Senator Stephenson. Mr. FRENCH. Yes, sir. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. Was the whole $800 expended in the manner you have described? Mr. FRENCH. Yes, sir. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. And, as you say, without making any charge for your own personal services, or for the use of your automobile? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. Do you drive the machine yourself? Mr. FRENCH. Yes, sir. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. Did you expend any money during this campaign in the interest of Senator Stephenson for the purpose of either directly or indirectly bribing or corruptly influencing any of the electors in the primary election? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. Was any money expended by any of the people to whom you intrusted money, so far as you know, either directly or indirectly, for the purpose of bribing or corrupting any electors in that primary election in the interest of Senator Stephenson? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. Did you ever receive any information from any source about there that any such conduct had occurred? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Mr. LITTLEFIELD. That is all. Senator POMERENE. Just another question or two: Did you discuss with anybody during this primary, or shortly thereafter, the necessity or the propriety of furnishing an account so as to enable the Senator to file with the secretary of state an account of his expenditures? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Senator POMERENE. You never heard that discussed? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir. Senator POMERENE. You knew as a lawyer, of course, that the statute required candidates to file accounts; did you not? Mr. FRENCH. Yes, sir. Senator POMERENE. Did it not occur to you that he could not very well file an account if you did not furnish him the information? Mr. FRENCH. No, sir; it did not occur to me. Senator POMERENE. Another matter: You spoke before lunch of the indifference that there was in your section with reference to this campaign. Do you remember that? Mr. FRENCH. Yes, sir. |