The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-06-29
DR.. I. LADD'S
WEEKLY LETTER
Will Political Corruption Continue to
Exist Regardless Of the Will of
the People

E the People L. /.
In the development of our nationa
life we have witnessed the agradua
degeneracy and debauchery Of the po.
iticM machinery that has operated te
4 furnish us with our public officers
h The gradual spread of corruption ane
: bossism reached the point where there
was a suspicion abroad in the land
that party, conventions did not always
designate the kind of candidates fol
! public offices that the popular will de.
I manded. This condition of affairs led
to the growing conviction that party
( convention, with nominating power
must be supplanted with machinery
! that would give the people more voice
in the selection of candidates and les
sen the power Of the corrupting in
fluence of nnoney-that so frequently
served to place men in office who
I sought the office with ulterior mo-
tives and sinister designs-men who
had but little regard for that which
was for the best interest of the ma
JOflCy OF the people.
& The direct primary was a protest
against the machine method of party
conventions and the character Of can
didates that these conventions pro-
duced. But the direct primary has not
y done all that was hoped Of it. While
it has done much to correct the cor
rupt tendencies, yet at the same time
we have witnessed conscienceless
methods meet with more or less sue
cess. We have seen the undeniable
evidence Of the corruption of wealth
in the purchasing Of offices and posi-
stions of power and trust. Such corrup-
tion strikes at the very tap root of our
Z American institutions, and the people
need to be constantly on guard lest
their sacred@birthrights of American
citizenship be jeopardized. Theodore
Roosevelt realized the currents into
which we were drifting, and in his
seventh annual message to Congress
he made a very pertinent suggestion.
He said:
"Under our form of Government
voting is not merely a right but a du-
ty and, moreover, fundamental and
necessary duty if man is to be a
good citizen. It is we'll to provide that
corporations shall not contribute to
Presidential or National campaigns,
and furthermore to provide for the
publication of both contributions and
expenditures. There is, however, al
ways danger in laws of this kind,
which from their very nature are diff
ficult of enforcement; the danger be-
ing lest they be obeyed only by the
honest, and disobyed by the unscrupu-
lous, so as to act only asa penalty
upon honest men. Moreover, no such
law would hamper an unscrupulous
man of unlimited means from buying
his own way into office. There is a
very radical measure which would,
believe, work a substantial improve
ment in our system of conducting a
campaign, although I am well aware
that it will take some time for peo-
pie to so familiarize themselves with
such a proposal as to be willing to
consider it's adoption. The need for
collecting large campaign funds
would vanish if Congress provided an
appropriation for the pfoper and le-
gitimate expenses of each of the great
national parties, an appropriation
ample enough to meet the necessity
for thorough organization and mach
inery, which requires large expen-
diture of money. Then the stipulation
should be made that no party receiv-
ing campaign funds from the Treas
ury should accept more than a fixed
amount from any individual subscrib-
er OF donor; and the necessary public
ity for receipts and expenditures
could without difficulty be provided" !"
William J. Bryan, the great Demo-
! cratic leader, emphasized this part Of
! Roosevelt's message as follows: 4
"The presidents recommendation
ought to be taken up and discussed
in, all section of the country. 1t ought
to be, as we have no doubt it. will be,
ultimately enacted into law. II to this
is added provision forbidding priv
n dIc %C0lIIIUuIlOilS, &GilS law WILL So AoA
toward the elimination Of corruptness
in politics, for when the government
furnishes the necessary. funds it will
require a strict accounting of the
money spent" s.. 81
Roosevelt's . recommendation has
never been enacted into law, but Con-
gress did enact into law the Corrupt
Practices Act, which was designed to
prevent great deal Of the corruption
which was generally acknowledged TO
exist. To the great establishment Of
= great many people, the Supreme
Court, with OMNIBUS decision, prac-
tically nullified this Act. There is one
consolation, one Of the last acts Of
former Chief Justice White was to
write a dissenting opinion ia the New
berry case ii which the gist Of his
opinion was there was practically no
hope for the, nation unless there was
i some constituted authority with right
to control the situation in primaries