The Washington herald., 1909-05-23
FINANCING 4 CAMPAIGN.
New Methods Make fer Honesty in
National Elections.


vir-u- Rosszztgr IN the IndeTendc1t.
The literary output in a political con-
test for national supremacy figures up 10
the colossal Editions Of speeches and
pamphlets are turned out by the millions.
and they are printed IN nearly every
spoken language The party papers are
enlisted and organized for a cooperative
onslaught on the political enemy. They
ara freely supplied with editorial sheets.
political news. cartoons. campaign poetry.
ready-to-print plates. and ready-to-circu-
late supplements. The billboard posters.
the window autographs. the buttons, the
songs. and the various campaign novelties
are ali elements OF campaign publicity
The question Of political advertising pre-
sents e big problem Immediately IN front
Of the campaign managers. -Four years
ago the Republicans used space in pop
ular magazines and similar class pub
licatons, and a limited amount Of such
space was used again this year by both
the greatt political parties The Repubn-
cans confined their announcements By
pToclaiming the records Of the candidates.
while the Democrats undertook 10 solicit
campaign contributions In this Ray. The
Democrats injected sor-s real hurnor into
the political arena by the wording OF
their advertisements-in large type the
reader was told that for twelve years
under Republican rule his cost Of living
had been increasing much faster than
hts wages, and then, after he was duly
impressed with his poverty. he was In
vited 20 cut on the coupon on the lower
right hand corner and mail il. together
with S. 70 the treasurer OF the Demo-
cratic National Committee. Il Is doubt
ful, therefore, II this plan Of advertising
met the expectation that II could De
made 10 pay its own way Involving, as
It would, q very large outlay, 7 consider
the matter Of political advertising one
OF the serious problems OF the new cam
paigning yet TO be solved
The financing OF our Presidential cam
paigns IS being completely metamer-
phosed. No law governing campaign con-
tributions requiring publicity or limiting
their amount has yet been enacted. 50
far as national campaign funds are con-
cerned, but the court Of public opinion
has registered several verdicts. which are
proving Just as effective as law in cur
methods were heading. The time has
passed when great sums Of money, sub
scribed by the officers Of a few big cor
porations, nav be depended OF to supply
the s;nsws OF political warfare Practi-
cally all the funds employed IN national
campaigns used to be collected in New
York. Chicago. Philadelphia. and Boston.
and II was an almost unheaTd Of thing for
contributions TO come from any part OF
/ the country outside OF these money cen
ters unless by some one already 10 Official
| life or hoping 70 be-
/ This year the Democratic campaign
fund was collected in large part by direct
appeal TO individuals through newspaper
subscription lists II was announced
that not over $4,000 would be accepted
/ from any one contributor. and while this
/ limit was evaded In ar least one instance,
there was no general rush 70 override
I il. and the subscriptions in excess Of
/ 81. .00a were very few, indeed On the Re
publican side while there were no Stipu-
lated dead lines, the large subscriptions
which would have exceeded the Demo
cratic limit could be counted on the Ar-
gers, and the total number OF contribu-
| tors not only went well into the thou
sands for the first time, but were dis
tributed geographically over al the
States and Territories.