The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-11-18

sits where all the selfishness of the party
with which his party is permeated, all
the greed OF mankind, all the cOrrup-
tion RlAd moral weakness, are reflected
as in a mirror Campaign managers all
agree that service through one of these
presidential struggles in enough to cause
one to lose faith in human nature. But
it must be remembered that the voters
whose susceptibility to improper inGu-
ences thus passes in review before the
campaign managers number no more
than l per cent. of the great body Of
electors whose sutfrages decide the cleo
ton. Not more than one man in hun
dred-indeed do not think the ratio is
as great as tIlis-is to be influenced by
money or any other improper considera-
tior. III close states and in stubbOrnly
contested national conflicts the purchas-
able vote undoubtedly holds the balance
of power.
And the lesson of this campaign and
of every campaign is that the American
people must raise aIoft the standard of
purity in the suffrage and go on in the
work of perfecting their ballot laws till
corruption of men becomes well nigh
impossible. The ballot law that will do
Iill3 HIS not BGtil ISGtl, anu dlil
afraid never viii he. The ingenious
politicians have found ways of cvading
every provision against their practices
so far put upon tie statute books. If
they dare not hire q man to vote GER
tain ticket they hire linn to stay away
from the polls altogether. They have
an erraud for him which will take him
away from his voting precinct the night
before election and not permit him to
come back till after the polls are closed. |
There is only one way to suppress all
these various forms of corruption, and |
that is to educate the people. improve |
their moral sense, I'LL submission to un- !
worthy influences in connection with the |
right of suffrage becomes as disgraceful |
as stealing or arson. 1t would also be |
good idea for right thinking voters to |
frown upon any party which seeks to
control the election by such means.
Right here arises the question what a
voter is to do when both of the leading
parties are guilty, for, so far IS I am |
able to see, they are equally guilty. AS
long as one party raises a large corrup-
fiOn fund and seeks to win the day by |
its use the other party must do the same |
thing or go down in defeat. That is pre-
cisely what happened in this campaign. |
I say it upon positive information that |
both national committees raised larger |
sums for use in the campaign just ended |
than any Of their predecessors had ever |
done. TIE Republican national commit |
tee handled all told more than$2, SOC, 900 |
and the Democratic committee about 81. |
SOOO 600.
Not all of these vast sums We're spent !
in improper ways. Perhaps not more |
than one-third of the whole was devoted !
to purposes which might fairly be called |
corrupt. and of this one-third probably |
not more than 20 or so per cent ever |
found its way TO the voters for whom
it was intended. Campaign money al
ways gets lost on the way. 1t is dishib-
utcd honestly enough perhaps 10y the |
national and state committees, but-after
it leaves their hands the absorbing proc
ess begins to work. Small politicians
take out what is jokinEly called their
commission" but for which the good,
smart English word is stealing. In this
way it is as often the politician as the
voter who is corrupted by the campaign
money.
The Democratic national committee
hll IOI nave 4llt S%S lIllNI IlOA4ty tiS
their rivals, but they had all they want
ed. For the first time in the history of
national campaigns the Democratic man
ayers lad enough money to satisfy all
claims made upon them. They did not
receive = single call to which they failed
to respond. Take, for instance, the case
of Illinois. There the Democrats were
unusually aggressive and ambitious
early in the campaign. They wanted
western headquarters established, and
promised if given direct management of
their own campaign in this way TO raise
ali the funds with which to carry on the
work But they failed to keep their
promise Though in other respects they
did good work, their finance committee
failed to raise funds III sufficient
amounts, and during the last week of
the campa; IN the Illinois national com
mittcclum came TO Now York for money.
Don Dickinson and Lir. Whitney sal
lied out and raised Il purse of Il good
many thousand dollars for the Demo
Gratis Of Illinois. This was done in the
case of = good many other states. OF
all the money contributed to the Demo-
cratic campaign fund more than 30 per
cent. Of ii was raised in New York city.
II NeAtl-C AAbAAA AAttt Nl4sblALS III ltBL ltiSs
bankers, capitalists. Probably Mr.. Whit
ney himself put up more than Il quarter
of million dollars Of it. The Rep H. ic-
ans got most cf their money from Penn
sylv&nia. Philadelphia and Pittsburg
were vcritable gold mines for the Re
publican campaign collectors. New
England did pretty well by the Repub-
hcans too.
Tie politicians say that politics Is
purely business matter. Their theory
is that every mans place in politics Is
governed by his financial interests Ii
is his pocEetLook and not his imagina-
ton that controls him. Here again the
politicians oyclshCot the mark They
always go TOO far. They are altogether
too sor.id ANA too diStrusrtul of the peO-
pie. IN my Judgment they are only
half right. AKA unwilling to take
the narrow view that the poclietbook
rules politics. and that the corrupt
voters necessarily hold the balance of
power. Sentiments the greatest factor
in the control Of human actions. 1t is
sentiment that makes Il political party
possiblc-not sclfshness Ask yourself
or your Eeighbor if he votes one ticket
or the other through sordid considera-
tions, and the answer will invariably be
negatiye,