The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-08-30

and the day that does not boast of q dozen of them fs rare one. Miilions
 of dollars are turned loose In these
 meetings. Other millions are given to the railroads. The distinction of being "conventfon city" Is so attractive to
 big cities that they all boast of the
 title. and some of them have perrnan- ent committees as convention boomers.
 First and foremost. of course. are the
 big political conventions which pick
 the entries for the auAdrennial presi- dentiai race. This race is no free-for
 all in which anyone may enter with an equal chance of coming under the wire
 first. The fayorites in this classic
 must have entered and won convcn-
 ton handicap before they are eligible
 to this one. Only two of its entries
 are started to wfn--the others are
 known to be In company that is too
 fast before they ever leave the post
 It costs millions to nominate . presf-
 dential candidate by either Of the two
 big parties. taking no account of any thing but the conventions which do it. To start with. there are some 2,sO0
 counties in the United States where the two leading parties hold p6iiticai con ventions to choose delegates to, the national convention. If is safe to as ventfons represents an outlay Of s250 In time and money. s7oo,0eo by each party for its county conventions. Then there are the forty-slx state cdnyen. tions- There are at least thousand people who attend each Of these, and in railroad fare. hotel bfiis ani the other incidentais of convention at- Is pretty safe to assert that the time and money spent by each one who at. tends amounts 10 fifty dollars. Thie means an outlay of $2.a0O.00o by each party for the stae conventions.
 Then come the national conyentfons. Experience has taught that s1o0oe0 suffices for the official expenses of q national convention. and leaves a nice little nest esE In the contribution box for the expenses of the preliminary weeks of the campaign. But that is not the heaviest expense, by any means
 The 1000 delegates must all pay their way, and since the pAse has been legfs- lated out of the realm of good stand Ing this is no small expense. It is a
 safe guess that the average delegate spends fifty dollars with the railroads
 and the Pullman Company. Then If he gets off with another hundred dol lars while attending the convention
 he finds reason to ebngratulhte him self. That makes smother s1S0.000 in
 the aggregate, and the outsiders who come make up the remainder of the
 
 who attend q national convention. Thus. directly and indirectly 1t costs
 not far from s4.0o0. 00o' to select each of the two leaders around whose
 standards the political hosts are ex-
 pected to rally In the November battle
 of the ballots. The other conventions Prohibition. Independence League,
 Popuiists. Socialists and Non. Descriste all cost something. and 1t ie not fIny
 probable that nearly si0.0ee. .0eo is spent in one way or another in get
 ting ready for q great presidential campaign
 Next in importance to the political
 conventions in the outlay of money are the church conventions and Sunday School conventions. There are perhaps 300 church organisations of one kind or another In the United States which holds some sort of a national con
 vention, varying in size from a great
 international Christian Endeavor Con vention down to the small gathering of
 hundred or more. Railroad fare is of course their principal expense. for the
 majority of attendants find entertain
 ment in private homes at little or no
 expense. Count the average attend
 ance at 300. and the average outlay at
 s20--both of which are likely to be under estimates rather than over4es-
 times-and the total cost Is Si.s0o, 900. AAAN NtiAa tH BUb Att OA ttlC expense OL church organizations for the holding
 of conventions. There are the State
 Sunday School conventions. Christian
 Endeavor conventions and the like Each state probably has more than
 twenty of these every year. But talk ing that as an estimate. and an at-
 tendance of 100. 1t means s2.e00 rail-
 road fares. Place the average round triB fare at only s6---again an estimate
 obviously under rather than above the true averaEeAahA the total outlay on
 this score foots up nearly a half mill lion dollars. These figures make it
 a safe guess that the church people of
 the United States spend at least $2.5o0.- 0O0 year in attending conventions and meetings of various kinds.
 Next in importance to the church conventions come the meetings of the secret orders. No one can adequately estimate the number of these, or the average outlay which each meeting
 calls forth. A great Elks convention,
 a meeting of the Knights of Columbus, or an encamprnent of the national body
 of Masons or Odd Fellows calls forth
 thousands from every section of the
 country. Counting fifty national en- campments of the different secret or gantzations, an average attendance of 1000 and an average outlay of only fifty dollars. would give a total of S2,- o0e.000 expended in these meetings.
 The state conventions probably show
 even greater outlay in the aggre- gate than this.
 There Is almost no business or pro- fession under the sun which does not have a national organization of its rep 1 resentatiyes today, and also its State l organizations in most of the States. The following few of the conventions
 which have taken place during Au- gust or are scheduled for September suggest the great variety and wide | scope of the convention habit: Amer | ican Pharmaceutical Association, Col
 legiate Aiumnae Association. Pacific
 Coast Gas Association, Independent Or der Ladies Militant Supreme Fortress,
 Catholic Total Abstinence Union of
 America, International AcetylinA As-
 sociation. Concatenated order of Hoo Hoo. National Saw Smiths Union, Uni
 ted Brothers of Friendship and Sisters
 of the Mysterious Ten, Knife Grinders
 Association of North America, United
 States Hay Fever Association and some
 hundred others.
 During the month of September there will be some 400 conventions,
 State and national, and this Is but an ordinary month. It is certain that the 1 number held during years time Is
 not under 5000. If they bring to- Eether and average of but 800 people.
 1t means that 2.B00,000 of Uncle Same citizens have come from the various
 sections of the country to mingle with others of kindred tastes and kindred Interests. If each of them snent hut