Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-05-28
BARRELS AND sAR'Ls
Rum and Hard Cider Of Wash.
lngton's Time Succeeded by
Golden Stream Which Flows
From "6ar'ls" In Presi-
dental Years
u1GH cost of living has been q fruit

this land Of the free, Il became we'll
nigh intolerable.
Not alone the peaceful populace of
the United States, or the "proletariat"
Of less favored countries on the farther
side Of the Atlantic. were affected by
the altitudinous cost Of about every
thing necessary to keep body and soul
together. No indeed. Within the last
few days the high price of politics has
become headliner in the daily press,
the reports of the Senate investigation
of presidential campaign funds giving
concrete evidence of a condition and
not n theory that confronts the can
didatc for nomination to an Office which |
veracious historians have recorded cost
its first incumbent, George Washing.
ton, "a few barrels Of rum punch and
hard cider"
But that was back in 1888, and that,
as Mr.. Kipling probably would phrase
it, lis another story
Different Kind Of Barrels"
TIMES have changed in the interven-
i ing 1872 years, and the barrels have
changed with them. Today, according to
the reports that have come from
United States Senate committee room
during the last week. the barrels tapped
in the pre- convention presidential race
gave forth not the rum punch and
hard cider" of Washington,s day. hnt
golden stream of dollars when |
flowed into the waiting and patriotic
maws of campaign managers.
When the astonished reader is con
fronted with the statements of fluent
witnesses testifying before Senator
Kenyon and his associate Investigators
that the campaign funds OF the various
candidates for the nomination they rep
resented ranged, up to date. from SIOo,-
600 down through such snappy items as
S114 ,0S4, ST5. 900. ST2,00O. S86. .OOO'
500 900, and so, on until they reach one
candidate who confesSes no funds' no
organization" he must at hrst gasp
Then lie realizes what piKers the
predecessors of the present managers OF
candidates must have been in drawing
rho golden stream, not from the
snirot but from the bunghole OF the
political barrel.
When They "Fried the Fat
Dt'T is it so? If statistical genius
ID were to set to work at gathering up
and colating the figures that have made
monetary sensations in presidentlal
campaigns far antedating this amazing
ycor of 1920, with its disclosure OF mil
lions speut. before the conventions III
advancing the interests OF aspiring can
didatps. it is pretty certain ne Wouid
bc able to show that tho hustling man
ayers Of a past generation were not IN
fants in the game of FRYING the tat
out of more or less cnthuslaStlc cohtrlD-
utors TO the work of grcaSing the wheels
Of the national political machinery.
Frying the fat" by the way, was
cant phrase in more than one cam
noign not entirely eradicated from the
mon cries of the middle aged man of
today.
Unfortunately. there exist no otiicial
records of primary election expenditures
until within the last dozen years or
thprcnbouts. Various states passed
laws requiring reports of such outiays
hy candidates. in this course TO ,rwlhg
tho rX>mple of Congress in c.S:ting
statutes setting forth limitations i'll
which money might logitimately be
spent in boosting a candidate for pubic
otiiC2.
The Bari" of the Daddies
DUT waving the disadvantage result
ID ing from lack of this official in
formation and the eXactness OF such
figures as those revealed by the Senate
investigation now in progress, 1t Is pos.
sih,o to form an idea of the "barI' of
our daddies-it was called 'bar'l' back
in the DAYS of the Tildrn Hayes cam
naign Of 1876. when San nel j. was
reunited to have established his famous
,Iitrrarv bureau at the tidy cost Of
$3.50 900, and when his campaign for the
presidency. which he lost by the eight
70 seven decision of the electoral COM
1,a.- i,nH or nd n
million dollor dent in the capaciouS
Tiden 'bar l.
These sums. it must be borne in mind,
apply to the election, not to the pri-
mary campaign, such as the one now
undergoing the senate probe, put they
serve to throw light upon the fact that
as long ago as forty odd years the
"Dcmocratic simplicity" of Jefferson
dav had passed. The historic horse on
which that old patriot rode from his
Virginia home to the Capitol, tying the
boast TO a post while he went indoors
n take the oath Of office, had given
way to the celebrated mules FUSED
entirely in a fgurative sense) with
which William II. Barnum, sometime
chairman Of the Democratic national
committee. sought to draw his can
didate to tn" White House.
Millions Instead of Thousands
IT'S difficult, really impossible, to
l "get down to brass tacks'' in esti-
mating the actual cost OF modern
nresidential campaigns for the reason
stated, viz, that until the last few
yoors there has been no law governing
| exnenditurcs or requiring reports OF
| The same. Rough estimates placed the
sum at between $4,000, 900 and So.
600 600 for each Of the great political
narties. In the very old days the an
nual expenditures ranged in the thou
sands
This is a sufficiently vivid contrast
IN tLe few barrels of rum and hard
cider said to have been employed in
tha choice of the first President of the
renuhlic. and the $1,000 which the
committee that directed Abraham Lin
coins first election, to show the devel-
onment of the great American game of
UHi;tirs, Indeed, it had made quite a
aatridn when Lincoln made his second
raro in 1854. and when the expense
nf his election was put at 5000 900.
Nv way Of "a modern instance" of
the phenomenal increase III the cost of
nresidential electiOns-and again it
must be borne in mind that the pre-
cnnyrntion expenses are not included
th" renort filed by Cornelius y. Bliss,
chairman of the Republican National
| ComInittpe in 1916, Is Illuminating. 1t
showed total contributions of 81. 445,-
42l.
In the matter of the local transit