Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1908-09-18
PUBLICITY OF CAMPAIGN CON
TRI:5UTIONS.

notwithstanding the unwilling
mes OF the Republican party to
agree to a submission OF It's cam
pa!gn funds to the public. IL IS
probably true that the present cam
paign vii very nearly mark the end
Of lavish corporation contributions
to any party. This not SO much be-
cause the Democratic party - pledg-
ed to II. and the Republican party
has been forced to a reluctant and
grudging assent, as because public
opinion. vo,cing the aroused con-
science OF the people. demands that
wholesale corruption at the ballot
box shall cease.
The protected interests OF the
country were for years the sourc,
OF Republican campaign funds, and
frying the fat" out OF protected
manufacturers was the scandal of
the campaign of 1888. 1892 both
parties made a bid for corporation
favors, and Havemeyer, of the sug-
ar trust. swore in 1894 that he had
given $4,000 to both parties, and
as a result was to write the sugar
schedule in the tariff bill to be
passed by the fifty-first congress.
The food tide OF corruption was
reached in 90 when theelectorate
of the nation was debarched by
Mark Hanna. 1t was bold. who.
sale debauchery and fraud, the Ike
of which was never seen before, and
never will be again. Under the
plea of Saving the nations honor"
the insurance companies, the banks,
the railroads and other great cor
porations poured out money like
water.
Commenting on the fact, the Wall
Street News, a strong supporter of
the Republican candidate that year
stated:
However desirable il was to de-
feat the free silver agitation in
1896. did the end justify the means
employed to accomplish that defeat?
1t is not too much to say that the
money spent in 1896 to prevent the
election of Bryan resulted in pollt-
zeal debauchery such as was never
before experienced in the United
States. and from which the politics
and business of the country have
not even yet recovered. 1t is not
far from the truth to say that the
country has suffered more by reason
of the political corruption of the
SO campaign than it would have
suffered from the triumph of free
silver, lamentable as that would
have been. Bryan's triumph of
| free silver would have given the
markets a terrible shock, but Bry-
an could not have really done much
harm in a practical way and the
country would have made a speedy
| recovery from the disaster, but it
will take many years to recover
from the effects OF the political de-
hatchery which has been brought
| about by the use Of millions of dol
lars in political campaigns"
The stream of political corruption
flowed on and on. The sole reli-
ance of the Republican party came
to be the unstinted use of money
and the wholesale purchase Of votes.
The 100000 campaign fund raised
by Hartman in 1904 at Roosevelt S
personal solicitation showed the eX'
tent of the corruption that infested
the Republican party.
The millennium has by no means
arrived. Party corruption and vote
buying still prevail and will. but
the ground gained this year VIII
not be lost, and with mandatory
law that will be enacted by the next
congress compelling publicity be-
fore elections making still more
stringent the restriction as to cor
porate contributions, many OF
the evils Will be done away with.
It may be true, as ingalls,. Of Kan
saS, once cynically remarked. that
Purity in politics is an irrides-
cent dream" 1t IS likewise true
that wholesale debauchery by polit.
zeal parties will not be tolerated by
the American people.-Bristo Her
aid Courier.