GAOL SENTENCE

Evening Star, Issue 22687, 29 June 1937, Page 1

GAOL SENTENCE

IKE "GROCER" NORRIS CASE A curious episode in American politics was brought to a close recently by the United States Supreme Court when it decided on appeal that one George W. Norris, of the State of Nebraska, should go to prison, says the * Manchester Guardian.’ The story began two years ago, when George W. Norris, the veteran Progressive Republican Senator from Nebraska, was standing for re-election. Senator Norris has devoted his life to the fight against the abuse of financial power in the United States and against the corrupt politics which make the abuse possible. Few individuals in American public life are hated as bitterly as is Senator Norris by the reactionary elements ifi American politics. His opponents, despairing of defeating him in a straight fight when he stood for re-election, tried various oblique methods. They discovered an obscure-grocer named George W. Norris, and persuaded him to_ stand against Senator George W. Norris, The theory apparently was that the appearance oftwo George W. Norrises on the same ballot would confuse the electorate, split the vote, and- igive the; election to a third candidate. The ruse was so obvious that it caused, an immediate uproar and made the re-election of the real Senator Norris a certainty. It developed subsequently that Grocer Norris had never participated in politics before this -sudden decision to stand for the Senate, and, indeed, was so little in politics that he had sometimes failed even to vote. He was apparently a dupe in the affair. It is interesting to see that tho victim in the subsequent legal proceedings was Grocer Norris and not the men who persuaded him to stand for office. These men are still at large.