The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-21
SPENT $4,5I5.53;
 ITEMiZED ACCOUNTS FILED


 experiences of the ambitious ontce seeker. an6 tho financial cost of per sonal popularity to him who seeks hon- or at the hands of his fellow country man are some of the things which have been brought out by the filing of ex- penses of the candidates in the Demo cratic primary election held In Mont- gomery county. March 19.
 The amounts of money, which were necessitated in securing nominations 70 the different places on the Democratic ticket. the things for which this money was spent, the contrasts in the. cos. of the successful and those who saiieo to attain the object they sought these are shown, and according to the reouirements of the law, must be truly shown by papers which were filed with Judge of Probate J. B. Gaston. previous Thursday was the limit set by law for the filing of expense accounts
 Thirty days is the limit set by law. Every candidate. it is to be assumed knew and obeyed the mandates of the law and from that it may be taken that the total of the amounts and sub scriptions to the candidates is the totai amount of money expended previous to the election.
 Taking the statements of the can-' didates as authority, the total cost of the pre-primary campaign to the aspi- rants for political honors aggregated s4,515.s3. It was said yesterday that one of the candidates had brought Tn a belated account. one day after the date set by the law. As his account was one of the lowest. however. the total would be increased by only $99.5o.
 There were fourteen candidates for nomination on the county ticket, not taking into consideration candidates A. A. Wiley and Thomas J. Hall, who were entered for the Congressional race. The average expenses of. each candidate, therefore, was about $329.64.
 One of sthe notable features about the contest is that politics, like kiss ing, sometimes goes by favor. There are some of the. magazine writers in the country who would have the peo- pie believe that politics is corrupt. but they had not seen the records of the Democratic county primaries for the county of Montgomery. In strong com parison with those who spent large sums in the political races, stand out the records of Tyler Goodwin and Gaston Gunter. both of whom were nominated for the legislature and Frank w. Jackson, unsuccessful can didate for the same office. none of whom. according to the records in Judge Gaston's court, expended cent in their campaign for the nomination..
 Few cities in the United States In their political life can show a record which swept over the cities of the North last fall had nothing to offer equivalent to the record of these can didates. Not even the elections of Je- rome in New York, or Pattison in Ohio or of Folk in Missouri were secured with out the expenditure of some money. It remained for Montgomery to show that politics is not necessarily corrupt and that the man with the muck rake will meet with surprise when he comes to investigate the conditions in this coun- ty.
 Had any of these candidates incurr- ed any expenses in the campaign and neglected to file a correct account of them. they would have laid themselves open to misdemeanor. According to a law passed by the last session of the Legislature Of Alabama, failure to comply with this section in the election law is punishable by fine. From the fact that they did not file any account, therefore. 1t may, be taken for granted that they were the exceptions to po- liticai history in the county.
 The law governing the filing of ex- penses of candidates In county cleo tions and primaries in the State of Alabama is found in Section 23 of Act AT. passed hy the Legislature. and aDpTOVeQ OCtOutE T. lsVos HE SCSthSh follows:
 That within thirty days after such election each candidate except candi- dates for State Senator therein for any office elected by the voters of more than one county, shall file with the, Secretary of State. and each candidate therein for county office and candi- dates for the State Senate, shall file with the Judge of Probate of the coun- ty or counties in which said election is held. sworn statement setting out and itemizing the expenses of his can vass in such election. and on failure to file and swear to the same shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and must on conviction thereof be fined not less than $100 nor more than Sl,0O0."
 It might have been a serious thing for any candidate who had failed to recall the date of March 19. This. however. it is assumed, none of the as- pirants for office did.
 Anothar noticeable feature, and one which adds to the distinction of Mont gomery county which is strongly marked in the statements as filed with the Probate Judge. Is that only tri- was used for the purpose of purchas- ing spurious liquors. Only one of the candidates seems to have offended in this respect, and the money he spent for this purpose was so small that none but the most virtuous would Lave ex- cuse for cavil. Robert Taft, candidate for the Legislature. states that he spent $49.s0 for meals, cigars and drinks" combined. In none Of tho other accounts does the factor of drinking play a part.
 A comparison of the amounts spent in the campaigns for the different off, fees shows some interesting figures. For the office of sheriff. where there were three candidates. the total amount spent was $2,070. The race for the State Sena torial nomination caused the expenditure of $i.562.40. while the contests for nominations as Repre- sentatives which was participated in by eight candidates. according to the statements filed before the expiration of the thirty days set fy law, cost the five candidates who from the accounts filed. expended $ss3.13.
 Of all those who participated in the struggles for nominations. $. s. Belser was the most liberal in the matter of spending money, his expenses running up to $1.I30. The lowest amount on any of the accounts filed was S4650, which was acknowledged by Peter B.
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