A very important question is raised by one section of the Wisconsin law of 1897,[96] which provides that contributions to aid certain candidates may be made only by residents of their districts. So far as ascertainable this is the only case of a geographical limitation upon the gathering of campaign funds. It is a matter of common knowledge that in national contests very great sums collected on the outside are poured into doubtful states, sometimes with material influence upon the results. Large amounts of money are occasionally massed in a single district to elect a particularly strong, or to defeat a particularly obnoxious member of Congress. In state and local contests the same sort of financial manipulation is not unusual. Our laws, unlike those of England, do not permit plural voting. An American citizen votes where he resides. No matter how great may be his property holdings he cannot vote elsewhere. But he may spend his dollars anywhere in support of candidates and policies, or his contributions may be similarly employed by the party managers to whom they are handed. It is too early to discuss the equities of a situation the moral obliquity of which is as yet so dimly perceived. A principle of some importance, however, would seem to underlie the Wisconsin prohibition against invasion by foreign campaign contributions. Assuming publicity and other necessary restrictions of campaign funds to have been put into effect, the question may be raised as to whether business interests could secure proper hearing for themselves in political affairs. It must be conceded at once that government should act always with due regard to economic factors. Many campaign contributions of times past, including even some of the most objectionable, were made by business men who felt that while by so doing they were pledging public officials in their favour they were at the same time pledging these officials to that course of conduct which was best for the prosperity and welfare of the country as a whole. Quite apart from all moral considerations such contributions were looked upon as a sort of business tax, made necessary by our democratic political conditions, and as such fundamentally justifiable. There is no excuse for not knowing better now; in a short time there will be absolutely no justification for tolerating contributions made on this basis. Business men who pursued the old policy were following what looked like a short and easy cut to their immediate ends. In reality they were piling up class hatred, restrictive legislation, obnoxious taxes, and various instalments of socialism. Fortunately this destructive process, so far as objectionable campaign contributions minister to it, is likely to be checked. But legitimate businesses, including big monopolistic concerns properly conducted, will not be debarred by publicity and the regulation of campaign contributions from the use of a great many open and effective means of bringing