All corrupt practices laws in this republic go back to the English corrupt practices prevention law of 1883 as the source of their inspiration and the ideal standard by which they should be measured. It was passed in Mr. Gladstone's second ministry, has been tested in five fiercely contested elections, and will be tested again next month in the great struggle at the polls on the eve of which England now stands.

So far as a foreigner can judge, it is a permanent bulwark in the English constitution. The same is true of the Dominion of Canada. That lusty colony which lies between us and the North Pole followed the mother country, in 1884, with the enactment of a very close counterpart of the English law, which has been rigidly enforced.

In the United States the record is a sadly different one. There neither is, nor has been, any federal law like the Dominion statute of Canada, while the few state laws, both in theory and practice, fall far short of similar laws of the British provinces of America.

In speaking of corrupt practices laws I adopt the definition of the New York state library, which includes all laws requiring candidates or committees to file a sworn statement of election expenses.