The morning journal-courier., 1908-04-28
THE COST OF ELECTIONS.

It Is not surprising that the recent election at the city of Hartford should have attracted the attention 1t has at tracted from the point of view of the cost 1t occasloned the victorious re- publican candidate for mayor An ex- cellent man, apparently in every way qualified to occupy the office, states that 1t cost him nearly s7,OOO to meet the expenses of campaign for the mayoralty, which in the course of two years will reimburse him to the extent of s6,OO0 This amount was expended in excess of the amounts expended by other candidates and by the conven- tional expenses of the political enter prise,
 Says the Springfield Republican Tn commenting upon thls extraordinary expenditure of money by one candidate in a municipal election: Why should @ decent and promising young man spend s6Sl9 as a candidate for mayor of city like Hartford? He Is now Mayor Hooker, elected by small plur- ality of 352 in a total vote of l4,09O But he might have begun his public career under better auspices. The salary of the office for two years will not equal the expenditure out of the new mayors pocket in campaign expenses and while this may not be a matter of con- cern to person of wealth, 1t Is fact which reveals things in rather peculiar relations. our Hartford correspondent has made a very pertinent and timely criticism of this excessive use of mon ey, and no one can dispute his conten- ton that the Connecticut law Is very defective at vital points In regulating expenditures in elections"
 Two facts stand out strongly in this connection. Tn the first place Mr. Hook CT, because he was able to do so with out embarrassment, did and was willing to meet with open hand whatever ex- penditures were put up 10 him as le- gitlmate under law. In the second place the law permits a candidate for office to spend practically what he pleases in legal statement His willingness to i spend an amount of money to secure the election which was in excess of the | income of the office for two years shows a lack of appreciation for the haneful influence of modern political i life which grows out of the unrestrict ! ed use of money His readiness to make a sworn statement of his election expenses, down to the last penny, was creditable No one can fairly say that a cent of his money performed corrupt duty of course 1t can be said that hundreds out of the seven thousand ex- pended should never have been expend ed at all by single candidate for the office. He appears to have paid for ser. vice which cannot be attacked on the ground of ilegtimacy and yet appears to have recognized no limit to the de cency of that service. MT Hooker ir other words. obviously acting under bad advice, practically made his pri. vate ability to pay his measurement, of what he should pay, thus elimnat. ing entirely the obligation as a citizer and candidate which was morally his to keep campaign expenses down tC the lowest possible amount consistent with actual needs.
 That Mayor Rockers majority wa' out of all proportion, in It's smallness to the immense amount of money ex pended proves conclusively how little practical good the campaign contrbu
 ton did It is conceivable that had h, expended more he might have beer beaten out of his boots, and that if h' had expended less he might have beer elected by a much greater majority This Is surely sound logic unless tn, plea Is to be entered that the expen
 dture made was essential to the smal
 majority earned, which we are no prepared to hear made, All of whicl calls renewed attention to that pro
 vision of the corrupt practices act, a
 reported to the legislature by the com
 mission, which limited the amount 0
 money a candidate could contribute t' party fund to an amount carefully es timated by the salary received and th
 size of the constituency appealed to The general assembly of 1905 rejected it. for obvious reasons. The genera assembly of 1909 cannot do better thai to revive it and enact 1t into terms O law. The Hartford municipal campaign unmasks the evil of unlimited cam
 paign contributions, An avowedly de cent campaign which can cost wha
 that did tells its own story of what 1