The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-08-14
BY RUFUS ROCKWELL WILSON.

- HE late Leonard SWEET. speaking from frst-hand
knowledge OF the facts once said that the
whole expense of LincOlns first nomination for
president including the cost OF headquarters tele
grams music, fares OF delegates and incidentals did
not exceed 500 It cost the Republican national
committee less to elect Lincoln in 1850 than it does
to conduct many state OF the present time
That committee said MT. SWEET, spent sum that
would contemplate, but it did its work as
thoroughly and successfully as any committee the
party has had since In 1864, at the most critical
hour in the history OF the nation, the sum Of 600
all that was spent to secure the reelection Of
Lincoln
It is a far cry from 1864 to 1904 and 1t is well
within the bounds 70 say that it win cost more than
So O0Oe coo to elect a president this year. This sum
viii be spent by the national committees OF the two
great parties. and does not include the funds col
eced and disbursed by the several state committees
and other smaller agencies The of large of
money IN politics as has been inferred, is growth
of the last forty years Previous TO that time poti-
cal campaigning was largely matter of hurrah and
sentiment; but in the later eos business men. alert
shrewd and fond of system and order began to take
the management of politics into their hands. and
wonderful change in methods and measures was
speedily effected. To Smaue J. Tilden. more than TO
any other man. due the credit of peFectng the sys
TEN of campaigning now in vogue. He had gift for
the management of men on large scale that
amounted TO genius. He that great issues which
arouse the enthusiasm Of the masses, though most
essential, not in themselves sufficient to insure
success in campaign. but that much Of the work
be effective must be done in secret and that it was
Of the first importance that every voter should be
brought into direct personal contact with the cam
paign management This required a comprehensive
system, great volumes of correspondence, ana al
most unlimited Of printed matter-ln q word, an
organization which reached out and embraced every
home and freside in the land and the operation of
which involved the expenditure of vast sums Of
money.
Time stamped TildeR's methods with the seal Of
success and they have taken the place of those form
erly employed In 1876 more than ss000o0 was coli
Iected and spent by the campaign managers of the
two great parties -Four years later they had at their
disposal more than s1.00o000, and IN 1894 the
paigR cost not less than s1S0e000; and in the cam
pagn of 1892 the expenditures OF the two national
committees we're quite S2000000 Finally, IN 1896
more than 100000 and in 1900 an even larger
amount passed through the hands OF Chairman
Hanna and Chairman Jones and their associates
But the charge that the greater part Of these
sums is used to corrupt voters is a false and silly
one. Nearly if not all, of the moneys collected are
anticipated by the legitimate expenses Of the
paign. These cover wide range, and their volume
swells with every succeeding cansDaign.
The first work Of a national committee is to pre-
rare campaign literature. These documents not only
inform the people, but give to orators and writers
mass of facts and arguments. They are in the main
the speeches OF leading senators and congressman,
but often brief and trenchant cards and circulars.
which pierce with a single shaft the aFmeF of the
enemy. employed with telling effect In 1884 the
famous ''Rum Romanism aad- Rebellion" utteranee
Of DR.. Burchard was printed small cards and dis
trbuted before the doors of ali the Catholic churches