New-York tribune., 1920-08-01
Use
Chain Letters
For Big Fund
System Halted After Ex-
pose by The Tribune Re-
vived; 3OO,OOO Already
on the Committees List
Expense Is $2,OOO,OOO
Card Index System May
Reach 100000 Persons
and Bring $40, 900, 900
Bv Carter Field

WASHINGTON, July 31-To raise
the tremendous fund required for the
Cox " hite- Harrison idea Of a Presi
! dental campaign the chain letter sys-
{ tenn started last winter by w. D..
sJamieson, of Iowa, is to be revived.
Admission of this was made by No-
tonal Chairman George White to-day.
Three hundred thousand names of
I Democrats who might be expected to
contribute already are in possession of
/; the committee Mr. White said, due to
the operations of the Jameson organ
ization last winter The chain letter
system devised and put in operation for
the Democratic National Committee is
very simple. Starting with an original
list, every one On it is sent 9 letter ap
pealing for a contribution, and is asked
TO fill out q blank inclosed with the
names of at least five Democrats who
ought to contribute, with the amounts
the person supplying their names
thinks they should give. The letters
are repeated to the new list thus OBJ
tanned and so on ad infinitum.
Just before The Tribune exposed this
gigantic money raising scheme last
winter Mr. Jameson had three floors
of the Bond Building here crowded
with clerks, while about fifty electric
typewriters pounded out their appeals
so that each would appear like an in
dividual letter.
Cummings Halted Project
Immediately after The Tribune print
Ted the facts Homer S. Cummings, then
national chairman, ordered the jamie
son organization disbanded and the
typewriters hushed. Shortly thereafter
&. he issued q vigorous denial that the
Democrats intended to raise q big cam
paign fund. laying great stress on the
figure $50 100000, which some enthusi-
astic admirers of Mr.. Jameson thought
ne would be .able to collect.
How successful the plan had been
up to the time it was choked off in q
virtuous moment by Mr.. Cummings
officially to-day, when Mr.. White ad-
mitted they had run the original list
up to 100000 names. If the replies to
the first batch Of letters sent out on
the reopenlng of the scheme, therefore,
should average the five new names re-
quested the new list wouN total
100000, in addition to the 800, 900 now
enrolled
a card index system of all these
potential contributors is kept, with in
formation as to their annual earn
ings, the amounts their neighbors think
they should contribute, and mail al
ready sent them. They are not neg
lected If they fail to answer the first
request. The list of ''follow-up" letters
eventually reaches strength, if no
money is forthcoming, which virtually
reads them out of the party.
Cost Estimated at 100000
Friends of Mr.. Jameson have esti
mated that the expenses of operating
this machine, if worked through the
campaign, would be between one and
two million dollars, while the amount
which probably could be raised they
placed at between ten and twenty mil
lion dollars
Chairman Pat Harrison, of the
speakers's bureau, when asked to-day
how much he thought the speaking
campaign which he outlined yesterday
and which involves placing orators in
every hamlet" in "every debatable
state. said:
"Oh, it won't cost much money. The
Democratic orators are so patriotic
that they will just 60 forth thout
thought of what it is going to eost."
Chairman White declined to nj ,mpt
to answer the questions propounGed to
Governor Cox by Senator Harding yes
terday as to his position on the League
of Nations and the international situa-
tion
II don't want to get into q news
paper debate with Senator Harding ~
he said. Governor Cox will make his
position abundantly clear in his speech
OF acceptance. 1t might be pertinent