in the ballot box, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not less than fifty ($50) dollars nor more than two hundred ($200) dollars, or by imprisonment in jail for not less than fifteen days nor more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment, and one-half of such fine collected shall be paid unto the informer and the other half to the County Commissioners of any county for the use of the public roads. CHAPTER 737, ACTS OF 1908. 160W. Nothing whatsoever in this Act shall be taken or construed to prevent the application to the primary elections held hereunder and to the acts of all persons in connection with or relating to said primary elections of the provisions, prohibitions and penalties prescribed in Chapter 122 of the Acts of the General Assembly of Maryland of 1908, relating to corrupt practices at general and primary elections in this State and all the provisions, prohibitions and penalties prescribed in said Act, so far as the same relate to primary elections, are hereby declared to be applicable to the primary elections in this Act provided for. CHAPTER 737, ACTS OF 1908. 4. And be it enacted, That any law or laws heretofore enacted affecting the subject of primary elections in any of the respective counties of the State be and the same are hereby repealed, except so far as such laws or any of them may be saved by the provisions of this Act. CHAPTER 737, ACTS OF 1908. 5. And be it enacted, That sections three and four of this Act shall take effect on and after the 1st day of January, 1909. CORRUPT PRACTICES. CHAPTER 122, ACTS OF 1908. 161. The provisions of this Act shall apply to all elections of all officers for whom ballots shall be cast pursuant to the provisions of this Article of the Code of Public General Laws, and to the election of all officers by the General Assembly of Maryland and to all primary elections preliminary to any such other elections, and to all candidates to be voted for at any such elections or primary elections, and the term "Primary Elections'' shall include, (a) all elections held to nominate a candidate for any public office, or to elect delegates to a nominating convention; (b) nominating conventions of such delegates; (c) caucuses of members of the General Assembly. CHAPTER 122, ACTS OF 1908. 162. The term "Political Committee," within the meaning of this Act, shall include every committee or combination of two or more persons to aid or promote the success or defeat of any political party or principle in any election, or of any proposition submitted to vote at a public election, or to aid or take part in the nomination or election of any candidate for public office. The term "Treasurer '''shall include all persons appointed by any political committee or candidate for nomina tion or election to any public office, to receive or disburse moneys to aid or promote the success or defeat of any such party, principle or candidate. The term "Political Agent" shall include all persons appointed by any candidate before any election, or primary election, to assist him in his candidacy. No person shall act as any such treasurer or political agent unless, after his appointment, and before the primary or election for which he is appointed, a writing, signed by the political committee or candidate appointing him and designating him as such treasurer or political agent, shall be filed with the Secretary of State, except that in case the duties of such treasurer or political agent shall relate to any county, city ward or district election exclusively, or to any primary election preliminary thereto, such writing shall be filed with the clerk of the Circuit Court of the county within which such treasurer or political agent resides, or with the clerk of the Circuit Court of Baltimore city, if such treasurer or political agent resides in Baltimore city, instead of with said Secretary of State. Every such writing shall designate the particular period, election or primary election within which such treasurership or political agency shall continue. Nothing in this Act shall prevent the treasurer or political agent of any candidate from being the treasurer or political agent of any other candidate, and any candidate for public office may designate himself as his own political agent. No person shall be appointed or act as treasurer or political agent in any election or primary election who is not a citizen and resident of the State of Maryland. CHAPTER 122, ACTS OF 1908. 163. Every political committee shall appoint and constantly maintain a treasurer to receive, keep and disburse all sums of money, or other valuable things, which may be collected, received or disbursed by such committee or by any of its members for any purposes mentioned in section 162 of this Article, or for which such committee exists or acts, and unless such treasurer is first so appointed and maintained, it shall be unlawful and a violation of this Article for a political committee, or any of its members, to collect or receive or disburse money, or other valuable things, for any such purposes. The treasurer appointed under this Act by the State Central Committee of any party, and the treasurer appointed in any county or in the city of Baltimore, by the members of the State Central Committee for such county or city of any party, and the treasurer appointed by the city committee of any party in the city of Baltimore, before proceeding to act shall give bond to the State of Maryland in such penalty as the committee by whom he shall be appointed shall prescribe conditioned for the faithful performance by him of the duties of his office, without loss or detriment to any person interested in the performance of such duties; upon which bond an action may be maintained in the name of the State of Maryland for the use of any person interested in the faithful performance of his said duties and injured by a breach of the condition of said bond. The premium re quired to be paid for such bond may be paid by him out of the funds that shall come into his hands as such treasurer and shall be allowed to him as a credit in the settlement of his accounts. All money or other valuable things collected, received or disbused by any political committee, or by any member or members thereof, for any of the purposes aforesaid, shall be paid over to and made to pass through the hands of the treasurer of such committee and shall be disbursed by him, and not otherwise; and it shall be unlawful and a violation of this Article for any political committee or for any member or members of a political committee, to disburse or expend money or any other valuable things, for any of said purposes until the money or other valuable things so disbursed or expended shall have passed through the hands of the treasurer of such committee; and any person other than a member of such political committee or other than the political agent, as herein before defined, who shall engage in receiving or disbursing money for any of the purposes aforesaid, shall be deemed a treasurer of a political committee within the meaning of this Article, and shall be subject to all the requirements, obligations and penalties hereby provided for and in the case of such treasurer; provided, however, that the treasurer appointed under this Act by the State Central Committee of any party, or the treasurer appointed in any county or the city of Baltimore by the members of the State Central Committee for such county or city of any party, or the treasurer appointed by the city committee of Baltimore city of any party, may appoint one sub-treasurer for each voting precinct in the said county or city, as the case may be, which sub-treasurer is authorized to expend such money as may be placed in his hands by the treasurer appointing him for such purposes as are lawful under the provisions of this Act and 1or no other purpose, and it shall be the duty of every such sub-treasurer, within ten days after every election or primary election, to make a report in writing under oath to the treasurer appointing him, stating in detail the amount of money placed in his hands by the said treasurer and for what purposes the said money was expended by him and to whom paid; and it shall be the duty of every such treasurer to file the report of every sub-treasurer appointed by him along with and as a part of the account and statement required to be filed by such treasurer under the provisions of section 167 of this Act. Any person or persons violating or failing to comply with any of the provisions of this section or of the preceding section of this Article, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than three hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both fined and imprisoned in the discretion of the Court. CHAPTER 122, ACTS OF 1908. 164. Any person nominated as a candidate for public office, or a candidate for any nomination for public ofiice, may make a voluntary payment of money to any treasurer or political agent, subject to the provisions and restrictions of this Act and for any of the purposes permitted by this Act, and for no other purposes, and no person other than such a candidate shall, to aid or promote the success or defeat of any political party or principle or of any proposition submitted to vote at any public election, or of any candidate for public office, or of any candidate for nomination as such, within six months prior to any such election, make a payment or contribution of money or property or incur any liability or promise any valuable thing to any person other than to the treasurer or political agent. Nothing contained in this Act shall limit or affect the right of any person to expend money for proper legal expenses in maintaining or contesting the results of any such elections. CHAPTER 122, ACTS OF 1908. 165. No person other than a treasurer or political agent shall pay any of the expenses of any election or primary election, except that a candidate may pay his own expenses for postage, telegrams, telephoning, stationery, printing, expressage and traveling and board. The payments, expenditures, promises and liabilities which any candidate before nomination or election, or both, may make or incur, directly or indirectly, whether in money or other thing of value, under this or the preceding section, shall not exceed in the whole twenty-five dollars for each one thousand (or the major portion thereof), up to fifty thousand and ten dollars for each one thousand (or the major portion thereof) in excess of fifty thousand of the registered voters qualified to vote for the office in question at the next preceding election therefor, all to be paid, handled and disbursed by a treasurer or political agent and not otherwise; and any payment, contribution, expenditure of, or promise or liability to pay, contribute or expend any money, or valuable thing, in excess of said sum, shall be unlawful; provided, however, that a candidate may pay personally, in addition to said sum or valuable thing or things amounting thereto, his own expenses for postage, telegrams, telephoning, stationery, printing, advertising, publishing, expressage, traveling and board; and provided further, that nothing in this Act shall be taken or construed to prohibit the chairman of the State Central Committee of the State or of any county or of the city of Baltimore of any political party from soliciting contributions for campaign purposes, which contributions, however, shall all be expended in accordance with and subject to the provisions and restrictions of this Act. CHAPTER 122, ACTS OF 1908. 166. It shall be lawful for any treasurer or political agent in connection with any election, or primary election, and in making provisions therefor to pay the following expenses: (a) of hiring halls and music for the conventions, public meetings and public primaries and for advertising the same; (b) of printing and circulating political articles, circulars, pamphlets and books; (c) of printing and distributing sample or specimen ballots and instructions to voters; (d) of renting rooms and headquarters to be used by political committees; (e) of compensating clerks, stenographers, typewriters and other assistants employed in the committee rooms, and also of challengers, watchers and messengers employed in the registration rooms, in the voting rooms and at the polls; (f) the traveling and other legitimate expenses of political agents, committees and public speakers; (g) of necessary postage, telegrams, telephoning, printing expenses and conveyance charges for carrying persons to and from the polls, or to and from the office of registration; (h) the cost and expenses of messengers sent by direction of the chairman of the State Central Committee of any political party in connection with party matters or interests, and also the cost and expenses of any person or persons summoned by or at the instance of the chairman of the State Central Committee of any political party to the committee's headquarters or offices in connection with party matters or interests and also for the accommodation and entertainment of such persons; (i) all expenses incurred by or under the authority of the chairman of the State Central Committee of any political party in providing accommodation and entertainment for the members of the State Central Committee or for the transportation of such members, when assembling for any meeting of said committee or visiting the headquarters of said committee in connection with party matters or interests. No treasurer or political agent shall incur any expense or liability or make any payment for any purpose not authorized by this section, and every liability incurred and payment made shall be at a rate which is proper and reasonable and fairly commensurate with the service rendered. It shall not be lawful for any treasurer or any political agent, to expend any money for printing or publication of any political matter whatsoever, which shall not purport on its face to be printed or published by the authority of said treasurer or political agent, and which, if published in any newspaper or other periodical, shall not be marked as an advertisement. The treasurer appointed and acting for or in connection with the State Central Committee of the State of any political party shall not expend or disburse any money or valuable thing, or incur any liability whatsoever, except by the authority and subject to the direction of the chairman of the State Central Committee of the State for or in connection with which said treasurer may be appointed or acting. Every person expending money in violation of this section or of sections 164 or 165 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than three hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both fined and imprisoned in the discretion of the Court. CHAPTER 122, ACTS OF 1908. 167. Within twenty days after every election, or primary election, every treasurer and every political agent shall file a full, true and detailed account and statement, subscribed and sworn to by him before an officer authorized to administer oaths in the office of the clerk of the |