The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-04-22

ations and individuals who hope to benefit 1 by the success of that party will be im-
 mediately wiped out. That is the starting
 point for the Presidents new idea. Be-
 yond that 1t Is difficult to formulate any
 details. The whole scheme seems i'm 1 practical, and yet there undoubtedly is
 back of 1t q splendid motive for serious l consideration by serious and experienced men.
 It Is easy to see that it would be ex
 tremely difficult to apportion proper campaign expenses to the different par
 ties and their candidates. Old parties disappear and new ones take their places,
 independent candidates frequently repre- sent the best elemtn in the country, and
 there will undoubtedly be opportunities
 for fraud and extrava gance if the gov ernment should attempt to pay what are known as campaign expenses.
 | It might be possible, however, to appor~
 tion the purely legitimate expenses of the candidates and parties on some reason able basis of previous performances. his would work a hardship to new parties,
 and yet there must be hardshps in poli- | tics always, and they are today recognized l by all modern election laws, which give
 regular candidates decided preference in various ways over those nominated by ir regular petitions.
 | It might be possible, as has been sug i gested to the President. to designate | certain sum for campaign literature. and | possibly to have that literature printed
 or distributed directly by the govern
 ment. It would not be absolutely impos- ] sibe to pay the railroad and living ex- penses of campaign orators if the amount could be apportioned to either party on l a reasonable basis. The percentage of | apportionment seems to be the first great
 stumbling block, although. of course,
 back of it all is the serious restriction
 upon secrecy, the right of initiative anl
 campaign methods of great party or | ganizations
 Take a Glance Backward. | Those who may feel inclined to laugh
 at the proposition, which is received re- spectful though puzzled consideration ! from the President of the United States, would do well to stop minute and go
 back over the development of the po- i litical machinery in the United States. l The electoral college as at first organ | ized was so constituted that the person receiving the highest vote became l'rcsi dent, and the man with the next highest
 vote vice president. Frat resulted in set ting two men against each other, because | they would invariably be of opposing parties. It furnished a motive for as- | sassination. Today ali that has been | changed and the electoral college votes | en bloc both for President and for vice | president, with the result that the party l which has the most votes controls both | the presidency and It's succession during an entire administration. This was an
 innovation In Its day which was violently
 opposed. but no one would turn back to 1 the system established by the fathers of | the republic.
 | It is only q few years since the primary elections began 10 be officially super | vised and paid for by some of the states. | In most of the states, and particularly
 in the south, the primary is a farce In
 great many of the southern states the | dominant party permits only white men to vote at It's primaries, and then agrees that the result of the primaries shall be carried out by all democrats in the cleo tion. The result Is that the primaries
 are attended by every one. They are ! the real battle-ground The election goes by default, and the voters do not rep l resent often more than a small percent
 age of those who are actually entitled to
 cast their ballots. the result having been absolutely established by the party pri- mary.
 Primaries in the North. Today primary elections in many of the northern states are held under the super vision of a regular election commissioner
 at designated places and times, and the expenditures are paid for the same as
 those for a regular election, by the local
 government. The states have gone far ther and have required parties in their conventions to follow out the will of the | people as expressed in the primaries. The | tendency today Is to break down the con vention as an original political force and to make 1t what the electoral college is.
 merely a convenient means of recording
 the result as expressed by the people at the polls.
 | From this it is not a revolutionary step to the payment of campaign expenses by | the government. The payment of the
 cost of maintaining speakers and send | ing out literature by a partisan cam | paign committee is no more foreign to
 the proper function of a government than ] Is the assumption of the expenditure for a party primary and the mandate to
 the party that 1t must obey the will of l its members as expressed In that pri-
 mary At any rate the new Roosevelt 1 idea is worth talking over.