Omaha daily bee., 1909-05-02
New Campaigning
Victor Rosewuter in the
New York Independent.

Few people may fully realize it but it is
nonetheless true that an almost complete
revolution is in progress in the methods Of
conducting our national campaigns. The
old has not yet been wholly discarded nor
is the new entirely installed, but the
transition is on and much Roadway al
ready made. The new campaigning, IL it
may be characterized in a word, is simply
the application of business methods to the
work Of political organization and political
education. The revolution has proceeded
further on the republican side than on the
democratic side, but it is by no means con-
fined to any one political party. 1t does
not belong wholly to the campaign just
closed, although more radical departures
from previous practice were taken this
year than ever before.
In the first place, the qualifications de-
manded of the national chairman in these
days go beyond being merely "a good fell
low" He must have a business head upon
his shoulders. He must have a personal
acquaintance that he can utilize to get
into close communication with the represent
tatives Of important factors whose help is
httuths III Ndoh 10 y ~ n AS"
weeks a nationwide piece of administra-
tive machinery that in ordinary big bust
ness would be built up gradually year by
year and to put it in good running order
for a sixty-day high-pressure squirt that
would throw out of gear the best con-
structed Industrial mechanism ever put to-
gether. Early in the present campaign 1
heard Mr.. Bryan say, with reference to
the difficulty he encountered in getting the
right man for national chairman:
II am rather glad that we were unable
to find the ideal chairman; for if we had
a man in our party able to meet all the
requirements of the ideal chairman, he
would have been nominated for president
instead of me-
The chairman, of course, cannot do the
whole job alone. He has to have aides
and lieutenants and the test Of demon
strated ability has come to be applied to
their choice, alsp.
So 1t has come about in the evolution of
things political that the national headquar-
ters is no longer simply a loafing place
for idlers who, by some sort of a pull.
have managed to connect with the payroll.
Quite the contrary. the visitor to head
quarters discovers at the door that he has
entered a business Establishments great
suite of offices very similar to what is
occupied by the management of some large
industrial concern doing business all over
the country or around the world. The
work of the campaign headquarters is de-
partmentized and the visitor is quickly per-
mitted to relieve himself of the object of
his mission; If requiring further attention
1t is sifted to the particular place where
rhfg ,,gfnagz a., ca IA, I. La, A.oa 49,
for many of the old-timers to wake up to
the new conditions confronting them, but a
few days devoted to the absplete practice
of CHAIR warning usually accomplishes
the result and the answer nothing doing
is at last accepted as final.
What L mean to say is that the really
notable reform of the new campaigning
has been the amputation of a deep en-
crusted gangrene of graft. The political
on-hanger who has an idea that he should
be taken care of simply because he was
taken care of once has had his day. The
individual with a halr-brained scheme to
sell that is to turn hundreds of thousands
Of voters has bumped into an unsympa-
thetic market. The blackmailer who
threatens to do all sorts of dire things if
his demands are not met forthwith has dis
covered that his political capital has been
wiped out. To eradicate these abuses and
run the risk of consequences takes courage.
Refusal to accede to polite and impoIite
requests invites resentment and reprisals.
The man who has merely mercenary ends
to subserve and does not get what he
wants at the national headquarters of one
political party is quite apt to look for 1t
at the other party headquarters. The
shortness of campaign funds on the republi-
can side has helped much along this line
and the prospect of a public accounting of
the campaign expenditures has helped even
more.
Like wise in the contracts for legitimate
services and supplies. 1t is not mere favor
itism that rules. 1t is a reasonable assupp-
ton that the democratic management will
give preference to democrats and the repub-
lican management to republicans. The
bids, however, are bona fide, the goods are
ordered by requisition, their receipt
checked by a purchasing agent and the bills
are audited the same as bills rendered to
any good business house. This feature of
the reformed methods was first to be
inaugurated and has been an established
feature Of all parties for several campaigns.
The real business of the national cam
paign management in a presidential cleo
ton, as already indicated, is that OF pOliti-
cal organization and political education.
The work of political organization, which
eliminates in getting out the vote" must
necessarily be executed by the state and
local committees and the national COM
mittee officers can exercise only a super
visory oversight. This supervision is COM
ing to be more and more efficient and
effective with a regular system of inspec-
ton, reports, polls, checking and counter
checking. Only in particular cases or with
reference TO particular classes, does the
national organization do anything except
TO work through the state and local or
CARNATIONS. With something like 100000
voters scattered through forty-six states,
il is manifestly impossible for any one or
two central offices to reach out to in
dividuals In fact. so huge has the cleo
torate grown and so immense is the ex-
panse Of our country that a dual organiza-
ton Of the national campaign management
has become imperative and the continent
has been cut in two by an arbitrary line on
the map to constitute IN eastern and a
western division to facilitate the transac-
ton of business.
The work of D~oIiticaI education falls