The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-04-22
ROOSEVELT HAS
 BRAND NEW PLAN
Let Government Pay Campaign
 Expenses of Candidates
IS IDEAL TO BE SOUGHT
Thinks Plan Would Do Away With All Unfair Contributions Made By the Corporations and
 Others.

Chicago, April A.-(special.)--A Wash ington dispatch to the Tribune says:
 President Roosevelt is studying over d new departure in politics, which, whether it is carried out to any practical result or not Is certain to excite widespread dis cussion among public men the country over.
 His Idea Is not formulated he has no detailed scheme in view, he Is fully aware of the complexty of the subject, and he sees in advance the manifold objections that will be made to 1t. Nevertheless, he believes the idea is worth considera- ton, and 1t Is receiving his earnest at tention at the present time.
 The scheme Is enthusiastically Roose- veltan, because it breaks all precedents, defes all argument and yet has In 1t the germ of something intrinsically good
 The agitation for publicity of campaign expenses and various laws in the diff ferent states for official primary elections 1 has caused President Roosevelt 10 ques- ton in his own mind whether 1t may not be possible to devise a scheme by which the government may assume the responsibility not only Tor the actual expense of the election, as at present. but for the legitimate campaign expenses of the regular nominees.
 May Excite Ridlcule.
 So revolutionary and 50 extraordinary | is this proposition that it will surely pro- yoke endless amount of discussion, and 1t will probably be received with | some rldicule by that class of persons who are always willing to see objections to any plan and who are willing to rec ognlze the fact that the germ Of u good | idea may grow in the fullness of time, under careful gardening, to a beauti- ful tree.
 It is more than likely that if President | Roosevelt were asked to define his | scheme, even in the vaguest manner, he would be unable to respond to the re- | quest. It is an idea in embryo as yet, but 1t is an idea, and it Is tucked away in the mind of a man who has the habit of getting results out of what other peo- pie consider as mere theories. It is easy enough to see the benefits of such plan. 1t is far easier to see the objections to its practical execution. | They are many and great, and they l will readily occur not only to every prac- | tical politician, but to every voter who | studies the affairs of government with the slightest intelligence
 Echoes of Last Campaign. | For long time. President Roosevelt, as every one knows, has chafed under | the imputation that the great corpora | tions contributed to his election, with | the idea they would be favored because of their much giving, just as the Phari- see thought he would be saved because | of his many prayers. When the Presiden. | responded in his famous letter to Can didate Parker, he did not attempt to | deny, and he never will deny, that the | trusts and corporations contributed to the republican campaign fund of 1904 What he did deny and what he always | will deny, is that these contributions were received by Chairman Cortelyou under | any pledge to protect or assist the cor l porations which made the contributions | Candidate Parker practically charged | President Roosevelt with downright politi- cal blackmail. It was this which caused | the President to flame up and to violate | all precedents, and to reply to Parker | in a letter which absolutely removed l the democratic candidate rom the polltl- cal field.
 1 Ever since then partisan newspapers and partisan speakers have attempted to make 1t appear that President Roosevelt denied the contributions, and have point ed to the revelations in the insurance cases as an evidence that the President had been guilty of an untruth.
 Election Certain Anyway.
 As every one knows, President Roose- welt would have been elected if not a dollar had been contributed to his cam paign fund. For this reason, the mere | existence of these contributions by the great expectations has been a thorn in the flesh of the President He has al ways looked with favor upon the scheme for publicity of political contributions, | but he has been quite ready to see that the federal government could not by any stretch of its powers interfere with in | dividuals n the states or compel them to disclose their contributions to local cam paign committees, any more than to their churches. or their lodges or their wives miliners.
 | The problem of preventing political par ties from putting themselves under obli- | gatons to corporations or individuals which would be benefited or injured by legislation, or by executive action which | the parties could dominate, is one dif- | fcult of solution. Various states have | attemtped to take a step in this direction but most of the steps have been hesitat- ing and vagrant ones. A certain measure | of publicity has been secured in New
 
 been manifestly no limitation upon the amount of contributions. The party with the biggest purse may be able to buy an election. just as well with publicity as l without 1t.
 Where Difficulty Lies.
 The difficulty which constantly presents itself 10 practical men, and Presiednt Roosevelt Is as practical anybody else IS to prevent the undue use of money, to prevent the use of money in improper sl ways, and to free the election from the tant of money, so that the voters may | register their will without regard to the | influence of bosses. or of corpora tions or | of persons who are willing to buy legisla- ton or executive action.
 | In casting about for some means of cor | recting what every one knows to be a great evil. President Roosevelt has taken under consideration the question as to whether the government, either state or national, or both, might not recognize the | necessity of campaign expenditures, limit their amount on some reasonable basis, | and pay the bills on proper vouchers | furnished by regularly organized commit tees or political representatives of the | individuals.
 This Is not a plan nor a policy 1t is | an ideal in embryo and nothing more The President has not yet talked of 1t seriously to any one so far as I know. The information I have on the subject comes to me through third person. The President apparently has not yet l reached the stage where his idea can be put in shape sufficiently to be discussed If Is under con onsideration and now that