The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1920-06-11
~ A RECORD or SHAME

There will be approximately 800
pledged delegates in the Republican
National Convention. The total ex-
penditures of the candidates thus far
revealed before the Senate committee
are about $3,000,000 Each pledged
delegate has therefore cost at least
| $4,000.
Two of the Missouri delegates have
| testified that they each received
| $500 from the Lowden campaign
manager, but intended to return the
money if Gov. Lowden was not nom
mated. How many other delegates
| have received money directly and
credited themselves with equally
benevolent intentions is a matter of
| conjecture and speculation. The plain
fact of the matter is that the repub-
! lican party is involved in another of
| it's recurrent campaign-fund scandals.
and a particularly unsavory scandal
at that.
No such amount of money was ever
before used in nominating a candidate
for president as the republican aspir-
ants have employed this year. Thorn
as B. Reeds friends protested bitterly
against Mark Hanna'S methods in the
pre-convention campaign of 1896; but
Hanna himself would have been stag.
gered by the Wood campaign fund and
would have been shocked by the open
confession of delegates that they had
taken money from a candidates man.
ayers. Yet Hanna employed money
in politics more freely and more open.
ly than any of his predecessors.
Tho Rnnnhlinan marty 10 hucipocc
party. 1t prides itself on its business
methods, and one of the methods of
business is to buy what it wants. The
first thing the republican candidates
thought Of was getting a campaign
fund together: the last thing any of
them dreamed of was making a clear
and unmistakable definition of prin-
ciples and policies.
The presidential primary affords an
easy means of campaign expenditure.
None Of the aspirants having a general
popularity or an extensive political
following, money was employed as a
substitute. 1t could buy workers. It
could buy orators. 1t could buy adver-
Using. 1t could buy political commit
tees. 1t could buy enthusiasm. 1t could
get out the vote, and getting out
the vote is very important when none
Of the candidates can inspire sufficient
public enthusiasm to attract a large
voluntary support.
Gov. Lowden financed his own cam
paign for the most part. Gen. Wood
has been the beneficiary of a group
or millionaires who found in him their
ideal OF a 100 per cent. red-blooded
American" and who were glad for
reasons of their own to help buy his
way into the White House, presum-
ably not unmindful at the same time
of what Plat used to call "the moral
obligation" involved in the acceptance
of large political contributions.
The chief fault, however, does not
rest with Wood or with Lowden or
with Harding or with Johnson or with
anybody else in particular. 1t goes
back to the crooked and corrupt par.
tnership which has been maintained
for years between the republican
party and the great business and fl
nancial institutions of the country. A |
party that has sold tariff legislation
for fifty years is always in the mar
ket. A party that has made a prac-
tice of trading government for cam
privilege and immunity, is bound TO
return to its evil ways the moment
that money becomes a consideration
in winning a nomination or control |
ling an election.
In the case of Gen Wood ii is ap- |
parent that his managers went out to |
drown all opposition in the flood of |
money that they poured forth, and in |
spite OF all the evidence that has |
come to light since The World first |
called attention to the scandal, they |
are astonished only at their own |
moderation. They have tried TO bluff |
it out just as Roosevelt bluffed out |
the Hartman contributions the Stand |
ard Oil contributions. the life-insur- |
ance contributions. the Beef Trust |!
contributions and all the other Big |
Business contributions TO his cam
paign fund
What is revealing itself before the
Kenyon committee is another sordid
chapter in the use OF money to con-
troll government in the United States
IL is only one of many such chapters,
most of which have been written by
republican campaign managers and
republican politicians, all OF which
constitute a record of shame without