The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-07-20
COST OF ELECTING PRESIDENT.
Estimated That Over $5O,OO0,OOO
Will Be Spent in 1916 Campaign.

Fifty million dOllarS, dt lO"eSI es
innate, will be spent in 1916 on ou'
uuadrennial political jag, says the
New York Herald. 1t is a moderate
estimate, for, by. being a little fal
fetched, it could be doubled. 1t may
indeed, amount to cool hundred
million.
But a. total expenditure of fifty mil
lions means an expense of S3.oO pei
voter and so cents per capita for the
entire population. 1t can be defend
ed on the Tom Reed theory that this
is a ffty-million-dollar country.
Laws of recent years enacted by
congress and most Of the States re-
curing the filing of sworn state
ments of the origin and disposition
of campaign funds have lately for the
first time in the history of the nation
made available fairly accurate data
on the high cost of politics in this
country.
Politics come highest in presiden'
tial election years, not only be-
cause of the large expenditures of the
national committees, but because
three fourths of the 100000 and
more elective oficers-national
State, county and municipal-are fill
ed at or about the same time. In
deed, scarcely more than 5 per cent
of the total cost of politics for the
country as a whole this year will be
borne by the big party committees.
Some 100000 individuals are now,
or soon will be, seeking offices in the
United States. Ali will spend some
money, and money will be spent by
others for great many of them.
There will be several thousand cam
paign committees of various kinds
and quality.
The taxpayers directly will have
to take care of the largest single item
of expense, that for the election ma
chinery. In New York State alone
the cost of registering the voters and
conducting the November election
will be about s2,500,O00. For all
the States it will amount to not less
than s25,O00,000. Several hold
their State elections on dates other
than for selecting a president; one,
Maine, has different day for choos-
ing representatives in congress-. This
makes the election machinery almost
doubly costly in those States. Most
of the town and city elections, which
will take place in three-fourths of all
the municipalities this year, will be
on other dates.
If you were to add to the direct ex-
penses the indirect losses caused by
selection year." such as the depress-
ing effect on business and the loss
from industry of the time of the
Thousands who will give several
months of their time to politics
alone, not omitting the celebration of
election night-a half million dollar
item in New York city alone-in
other words, if you were to figure the
stcost' as many figure that of the
European war, the expense OF our
leap year political exercises would
reach a total of more than a half-bil-
lion dollars.
Some of the election reform legis-
lation of late years has tended to
lower the high cost of politics, while
other legislation has increased it..
The necessity for, filing statements OF
expenditures, now almost universal, ,
makes candidates and committees
more circumspect in soliciting and
disposing of funds In quite a num-
ber of instances expenditures are linn
tied by law, and to exceed the legal
maximum disqualifies the guilty can
didate and makes com mitteemen sub
ject to Indictment. The extension Of
the primary election idea has in
creased the expense because it neces-
states an extra election and forces
many candidates to make two popu-
lar campaigns where one suficed be-
fore. About half as much money is
spent in the pre-convention as in the
post-convention contests.
The expenses of the national COM
mittees of the two big parties rarely
fall below 100000, and frequent
ly go beyond s5,OOO,OOO in presi-
Dental year.
1t is generally admitted that the
Republican national committee of
1896, under the leadership of Mark
Hanna, first made "the roof the
limit in spending money. The funds
used to elect Mckinley have been es-
timated at from s3,000,000 to ST.
100000. They probably were near
est the last figures. However, memo
randa left by Cornelius N. Bliss, who