The Washington times., 1916-07-01
CAMPAIGN BEGU n
BY Committeeman
Congressional Mills Begin to
Grind Literature to Win
Votes Next Fall.

The Congressional campaign commit
tees are grinding out the literature FOR
the campaign. The mills for the manu-
facture OF arguments to convice the
voters have begun to stir. The man
ayers OF the respective committees have
been busying themselves since the con-
ventions and the preliminary operations
Of the struggle for the control OF House
and Senate are well under way.
The business OF getting out literature
for o Congressional campaign ana q
Presidential campaign gets to be q moro
strenuous proposition each year. an
election Is held. When tho congressional
campaign and the Presidential campaign
come together. In the same year. the
amount OF political matter which 10 cir
culated 10 enormous. lhis year. the
mass Of literature will be particularly
great. In part because OF the intense
nature Of the struggle. and in part be-
cause of the fact that campaign funds
will be plentiful, according to the
opinions OF the managers.
Speakers Text Book.
The party campaign textbook II, OF
course. the piece de resistance OF the
campaign literature OF each party.
This Is not because It is widely read by
the voters. Mr.. Average Voter hasn't
the time or the inclination to read such
a production. And he doesn't.
The campaign textbook IL sort OF
Scripture for the speakers of the party
and the gentlemen who write partisan
matter. The speakers draw texts liber.
ally from the work. as do also those
who write reiigiously for the party.
In addition to the textbook. which Ia
under preparation already by each
committee, there is a vast mass OF
speeches to be distributed. These have
to be selected with care. The Other
day 1t appears that through a mistake
In mailing from the House. thousand,
OF copies Of a free-trade speech were
sent out to Washington State under tn,
frank Of Congresman Humphrey. well.
known high-tariff advocate Of tina,
Commonwealth. This was an embar.
RAISING circumstance, and Mr.. Hum
phrey labored with great diligence anc
some success to head OF distribution.
Requires Care and Tact.
1t Is not easy to select speeches to bs
mailed out which will suit Republican.
Of all types-old guard and progressiv,
Republicans. Much care ami tact 1,
required.
Speeches which would be highly &C
ceptable In one district might prov,
ruinous In another. The Republican,
are no talone In having their troublei
to fit the speeches they send out to the
people to whom they want to senc
them. The Democrats have much the
| same experience. OF course. tn,
franked envelope Is a big asset in tn
management OF a campaign. Congress
| men and committees ply the franket
envelope freely.
This is so much the case that tn
Government loses many Thousands o.
dollars In postage yearly because o.
the frank. Its losses In campaign yea
| are enormous. Senator Kenyon hai
repeatedly tried to curtail the frankini
| privilege. but without success. One o
the chief reasons why he has failed 4
! that the frank In a great convenienc
! in political campaigns.
| Additional to the textbook. tn
| speeches in House and Senate. and va
| rious documents emanating from Con
sress. the campaign committees hav'
much other political literature to han
die. Editorials are distributed for SOM
| OF the smaller newspapers. maRazine
and newspaper articles are prepared
and a great deal OF campaign adver
tising Is put out. II 10 a notion 81
some quarters that the campaign man
aEements, when they Ylean large cam
paisn funds. are seeking to use tn
money to buy votes. Actually. tn
chief expenditures are for publicity an
speakers. not to buy the voters. bu
to convert them.