The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-11-27
TOO MUCH Cash
USED, PAPER IN
new HAVEN SAYS
Asks If Election Was Cor
rupt and Points Out Some
Strange Figures.

new haven, November Z1.-COn-
| corning the expenditures of money
in the recent election, as sworn to by
representatives of the two leading
political parties in the state, the New
Haven Journal-Courier says in a
leading editorial:
"The sworn statements required
by the law of the state presenting
the expenditures of money in the
campaign which was brought to a
close in the early part Of this month
by men who were candidates for Of
flee, by party officials, party agents
and local committeeman have been
filed with the proper authorities. Not
having all the data before us we can
not give the exact amount, but 1t is
evident that it is of sufficient amount
to make honest men wonder where
the money went; whether it is pos
sible for political parties to collect
and expend such vast amounts in, a
spirit of strict accountability
According to the sworn statements
of the chairmen of the two old parties
in the state of Connecticut, they ex-
pended on the election in round fig
ures $4,000, the Republicans spend
ing two dollars to every one spent by
the Democrats. To this fund must
be added the amounts collected and
expended by town committees, by
political agents and by candidates.
We take it that it is fair to assume
that more than one hundred thous-
and dollars were collected and ex-
pended in the campaign of 1915.
"The state manual and register for
1916 gives as the total of registered
ynfo iyo to{o ~, fhn Aer-
ures 230,627. OF that number 1867
3S5 voted on the election Of that
year. This year, of course, the num-
Der was larger lowing to new cleo
tors and the greater interest taken in
this particular lection. Assuming
that two hundred thousand citizens
voted this year in the state, which we
take to be a liberal estimate, it cost,
or at least SO cents per capita were
utilized to move tho election ma
chinery.
'In the much discussed and mys-
terious city of Bridgeport, whose
citizens on the whole resemble close
ly the people of New Haven and
Waterbury and Hartford, where a
different result was recorded, it APP
pears from sworn statements by the
party officials that the Democrats ex-
pended less than $500. while the
Republicans expended between s13,-
900 and $4,000. These are figures
which compel the most trusting of
humans to ponder on the probabili-
ties of straight dealing.
1--WE do not hesitate a moment to
denounce the expenditure of these
vast sums to move the election ma
chinery of Connecticut as scandalous,
and probably in large part dishonest.
If the two hundred thousand peo-
pie of the state of Connecticut have
so little interest In the political fate
of their home that it requires a tax
of 80 cents head to enthuse them,
then they should be deprived of their
right to vote. But, of course, it is
not true of the two hundred thous-
and that this amount Of money Is
needed to teach them their duty as
citizens.
cit is miserable lie.
sLet each one whose eyes happei.
to fall upon these lines ask himself
what amount of money was required
to arouse his interest in the cam
paign and send him to the polls to
there deposit ballot free from every
Take all the money ex-
halls, in paying the expenses Of
speakers, and in meeting the other
conventional costs Of an election and
still there is a vast sum to account
for on decent grounds.
"a rumor has reached us that In |
the mysterious county OF Fairfield
the Republican machine there had a
working organization Of 1900 men
to advance the welfare of that party.
We should like to know, if the story
be true, what those 1900 able-bodied
men could do which could not as well
have been done by quarter Of that
Tor even less
"It is folly for men to close their
ideas to the moral significance of
such figures, and to see in a. result
favorable to their ideas of political
progress the Justification for din
ner of congratulation attended by
the official dignitaries of the COM
In the dntercollegiata
game Of football it is sin to signal
from the sidelines to the players.
The man caught at that trick,
whether there are men who run the
risk or not, if caught would be re-
scented of all his fellows. Is signal
ling from the sidelines in the politi-
cal game less offensive, and yet that
is exactly what the expenditure Of a
fortune in single election in the
tight little state Of Connecticut
means.
"Men can talk all they please of
superior political sagacity in the dis
cussion Of political results, and they
may continue to celebrate it in such
manner as their sense Of good taste
suggests, but the mere fact that an
election required, in the judgment of
these men of superior political sagac-
ity, the appropriation of so cents a
head to move the machinery places
upon those who did the expanding the
burden of proof. not upon those who
question the honesty of the transact
ton. The state of Connecticut ought
not to live in the kind of atmosphere
this sort of a transaction creates
longer than the means can be~found
to make it's creation impossible. Far
more important than the election Of
one set Of candidates over another
set; far more important than the
Endorsement Of one platform over an
other Is an incprruptible electorate.
eve do not believe the returns
from the Connecticut polling places
represent the honest voice Of the
people.
1--WE do not assert, because we have
no means Of knowing, that the honest
vote of the people would have given
Mr.. Wilson a larger vote than he re-
ceiVed We are not Interested in