"Backed by Backus"

When blind Senator Thomas D. Schall goes home to Minnesota he will feel and hear a disturbance in the political air. Malignant Minnesotans, particularly friends of Magnus ("Magnavox") Johnson, whom Mr. Schall defeated in 1924, are saying that bootleggers contributed to Mr. Schall's campaign fund. Such charges being "a dirty mess on the doorstep of the state," the State Senate last week voted, 54 to 1, to conduct an investigation. It matters not that the U. S. Senate looked into Mr. Schall's election last spring (TiME, June 28) and found it pure enough to allow him to hold his seat.

Said Senator Schall on hearing of the investigation: "It is a well laid political move, backed by the same big moneyed man, E. W. Backus of Minneapolis." Mr. Backus is a paper-lumber-bankerman.