The CHAIRMAN. I want you to tell it, but yet there are just one or two more questions that I want to ask you before you proceed in your

own way.

Those instructions to you were to cash this check and to distribute it among such organizations operating in behalf of Mrs. McCormick as needed it?

Mrs. REINECKE. That is correct.

The CHAIRMAN. Why would she give the check to you, Mrs. Reinecke?

Mrs. REINECKE. That is what I mean by the other part of the story. You see early in the campaign, some time in the fall, the Illinois Republican Women's Clubs received a check from Colonel McCormick for $5,000, and on the side of the check

Senator DILL. When was it?

Mrs. REINECKE. Some time, I think, along in October or November of the previous year.

Senator DILL. Of 1929?

Mrs. REINECKE. Of 1929.

On the side of the check was written, "For Ruth Hanna McCormick's campaign fund." I happened to go into the Republican headquarters one evening and either Mrs. Forsythe or Mrs. Dean, I forget which one, asked me if I would not try to persuade Colonel McCormick to take back that check and make a new check for them, as they are a Republican organization that does not participate in the campaign, and could not use the $5,000 if it was for Ruth Hanna McCormick's campaign fund.

And I took the check and took it to Colonel McCormick and talked to him about it, and he said that it was a misunderstanding so far as he was concerned. I believe Bertha Baur, who was on the national committee, had called on Colonel McCormick and asked him to contribute $5,000 toward the Illinois Republican Clubs, and that he had understood they were campaigning for Mrs. McCormick, which was not the fact, so he had written on the side of the check, "For the Ruth Hanna McCormick campaign fund."

When I explained it to Colonel McCormick he said no, that he did not intend to give it to the Illinois Republican Women's Club; that he had drawn the check to Mrs. McCormick and that he wanted it used in her campaign. After talking with him for some time I told him about these other organizations and he said, "I am not willing to give it to an organization that I don't know anything about, but I will give it to you," which he did. So instead of $5,000, he sent us over two checks for $2,500 each, as we had at that time two organizations which were functioning, and the colonel mailed over those checks. I happened to be at Mrs. McCormick's home one day when the checks came in, and in discussing it with her told her what the colonel had said, what his inclination in that matter was.

She said, "I don't know. I am going to give one to one organization and one to the other." So she drew a check to the Ruth Hanna McCormick Volunteers, because they had been part of our own organization, and indorsed it over. That is, we decided not to give the Colonel McCormick check because he didn't want to give it to them, but we made the same form of check. That was not necessarily Colonel McCormick's check, so that his name would not be mentioned. At that time we did not know what the young people's organiza

tion was going to be. They were a group of volunteers who had come in. We knew Mr. Abelson, but not very well, and we knew Mr. Weinrath but slightly, and so I think Mr. Rogers cashed the $2,500 and gave it to me, and I took it up to the Central Trust and drew a certified check, a copy of which I am here producing for the record. You will note that check is made to the Young Peoples Republican Club and is cashed and indorsed on the back by their treasurer and deposited by them.

(The check referred to is here printed in full, as follows:)

Mrs. REINECKE (continuing). Now, to continue my statement, at the time that Colonel McCormick's second check came in we were about in the same position as to whether or not we were going to use his money. Mrs. McCormick was using all of her own funds in her own campaign. So Mrs. McCormick turned to me and said, “Well. do the same as you did before. Find out how much each one of them needs to close up the campaign and divide it between them as they need it." And so I took the $10,000 check and put it in my pocketbook. Along about Saturday or Sunday, I believe, before the primary it began to appear to me that I did not have so very much time to work in before the Tuesday campaign closed. So I believe on Saturday or Sunday night-I am not quite sure Mr. Walter Schmidt, who lives in the building with me across the hall-we have a coop

erative apartment-happened in, and I said to him, "Walter, would the bank have $10,000 on hand Monday morning? He said, "Certainly." I said, "Well, I may need to cash a check." And so on that morning I went to Mr. Schmidt's bank, went up to the private office, gave him the check, and he gave me the $10,000 in cash. I came down town, and when I got down and checked up with the organizations I found they were in such shape that they did not need the money to use before the primary, and so I turned to Mrs. McCormick and said, "I don't believe that we need this money before the primary." And she took an envelope and left the room with it and said, "Well, we will straighten it out afterwards and use it for the fall campaign.' The CHAIRMAN. Now, Mrs. Reinecke, when Mrs. McCormick gave you this check for $10,000 did she indorse it?

"

Mrs. REINECHE. No; she neglected to indorse it and I did not notice that she had not indorsed it until just before I went to cash it. The CHAIRMAN. Then you indorsed her name

Mrs. REINECHE. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. On the check?

Mrs. REINECKE. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. You wrote upon the back of the check "Mrs. Ruth McCormick"?

Mrs. REINECKE. Well, I wrote whatever was on the front of the check-yes.

The CHAIRMAN. I observe that your name does not appear as an indorsee upon the check.

Mrs. REINECKE. No. I presume I should have signed it, but I have never been in the habit of signing checks, so I did not understand that.

The CHAIRMAN. You mean to say that when you have had checks to cash you have not had to indorse your name upon them before receiving the cash or the credit for them?

Mrs. REINECKE. I don't think I have ever cashed a check, to tell you the truth.

I have collected in this district, Senator, for your information, over a billion dollars, and in all that time I do not think I ever indorsed the back of a check myself, although probably 8 or 10 clerks have indorsed, as I say, over a billion dollars' worth of checks.

The CHAIRMAN. That, of course, was for deposit to an account? Mrs. REINECKE. Yes; I presume so.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you recall ever having gone to the bank with a check of any size to have cashed and taken the cash away in return for it without having indorsed the check?

Mrs. REINECKE. Well, I do not usually go to cash checks. One of the girls usually goes for me. I very seldom go to the bank.

The CHAIRMAN. You say Mr. Schmidt was the official of the bank

who told you the money would be there on that morning?

Mrs. REINECKE. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Who cashed the check when you took it in on Monday morning?

Mrs. REINECKE. Mr. Schmidt.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Schmidt?

Mrs. REINECKE. Yes; he is one of the owners of the bank.

The CHAIRMAN. One of the owners of the bank?

Mrs. REINECKE. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Is he a paying teller at the bank?

Mrs. REINECKE. No; he is one of the owners of the bank.

The CHAIRMAN. At what time did you go in on Monday morning to have this cashed?

Mrs. REINECKE. Some time shortly after 9 o'clock; probably between 9 and 10 some time.

The CHAIRMAN. Was Mr. Schmidt in the cage at the time? Mrs. REINECKE. Oh, no; Mr. Schmidt was in his own office. The CHAIRMAN. Who was in the cage, the paying teller's cage? Mrs. REINECKE. I don't know; I have never been in the cage. The CHAIRMAN. Was some one in it?

Mrs. REINECKE. I don't know. I didn't go into the bank at all. The CHAIRMAN. You went into Mr. Schmidt's office, then? Mrs. REINECKE. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Schmidt took the check and went out and brought the cash back to you; is that it?

Mrs. REINECKE. That is correct.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Schmidt did not ask you to indorse your name to this check?

Mrs. REINECKE. No; the question did not come up at all.

Senator DILL. Mrs. Reinecke, you are on the election board, did I understand you to say?

Mrs. REINECKE. Yes; I am the Republican member of the election board in Chicago.

Senator DILL. Did you pay any workers at all during the campaign?

Mrs. REINECKE. You mean, as a member of the election board? Senator DILL. No; I mean in the campaign; did you pay any workers for Mrs. McCormick or for the Republican Club or for anybody?

Mrs. REINECKE. No; I did not, Senator.

Senator DILL. You never paid anyone at all?

Mrs. REINECKE. No, sir.

Senator DILL. Who handles the money that pays the workers? Who handled it in your club? Do you know?

Mrs. REINECKE. The workers?

Senator DILL. Yes.

Mrs. REINECKE. Well, the regular pay roll-Mr. Rogers would pay them on the pay roll.

Senator DILL. I am speaking now, though, of your club as such. The club was not merely concerned about Mrs. McCormick, I take it It was concerned about others also, I take it?

Mrs. REINECKE. Which club do you refer to?

Senator DILL. This Illinois Republican Women's Club, of which you are an officer.

Mrs. REINECKE. I am not an officer of any Republican Women's Club.

Senator DILL. Then you had nothing to do with paying any workers at all?

Mrs. REINECKE. No, sir.

Senator DILL. I do not think I have any other questions.

Senator PATTERSON. Was there some statement that you wanted to make? I understood you to say a few moments ago that you would like to make a statement relative to a check.

Mrs. REINECKE. I think the Senator permitted me to do that. The CHAIRMAN. I hope I did not interrupt you. You finished with your statement?

Mrs. REINECKE. Yes; I think so.

Senator PATTERSON. You finished?

Mrs. REINECKE. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. You have said that the Illinois Republican Women's Club is not a political organization.

Mrs. REINECKE. No; I stated it was not a primary organization; it does not take part in primary campaigns the same as any other Republican State organization. The members go their own way in the primary and they unite for the election campaign, the same as your State senatorial committee. Illinois has no State senatorial committee in the women's division as some other States have.

The CHAIRMAN. You mean by that to say that in the primary campaign the Republican Women's Club does not function in behalf of any Republican candidates?

Mrs. REINECKE. No; it does not function in the primaries at all. For that reason they could not take the check made out to Ruth Hanna McCormick."

The CHAIRMAN. Mrs. Reinecke, primary day in Illinois is when, what month?

Mrs. REINECKE. It comes on a Tuesday, the 7th or 8th-I am not

sure.

The CHAIRMAN. Of April?

Mrs. REINECKE. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Who is the treasurer of the Republican Women's Club?

Mrs. REINECKE. Well, I don't know about that right now.

The CHAIRMAN. Was Bertha D. Bauer ever the treasurer of it that you know of?

Mrs. REINECKE. Yes; at one time she was the treasurer.
The CHAIRMAN. Was she treasurer in 1928?

Mrs. REINECKE. She may have been. I am not sure.

The CHAIRMAN. We have before us a check in the amount of $2,000, drawn April 5, 1928, by Col. Robert R. McCormick and payable to the treasurer of the Republican Women's Club, and Colonel McCormick's testimony indicated that this had been a contribution to Mrs. McCormick's campaign for election to Congress, or nomination to Congress.

Mrs. REINECKE. Senator Nye

The CHAIRMAN. It would appear in 1928 the Republican Women's Club was functioning in behalf of a candidate in the primary election, would it not?

Mrs. REINECKE. No; not necessarily; the election in April, 1928— I think it was April 4. I did not understand the question you asked, but even at that I think if you will read Colonel McCormick's testimony you will see that he was very much confused and it was because of that confusion that the original check came up. In the first place I think he testified that check was given in this campaign. You remember some one called his attention to that.

The CHAIRMAN. I do recall that.
Mrs. REINECKE. You remember?
The CHAIRMAN. Yes.