Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-09-27

NdS0lDEtOU. sept. -t.-1dlhpdiS
funds are running low this year. No
authoritative statistics have been COM
piled, but on a conservative estimate
dimes are being dragged in where dol
lars formerly flowed in, and it is not
to be overlooked that there is a decided
difference between dragging" and
flowing"
All of which means that the polltl-
clans of all parties are up against 1t.
They have on their hands a fight that
would call normally for larger expendi-
lures than have ever been made for
such purposes, and they are discover
ing that they will have only about a
tenth of the resources that they should
be able to command. Party organ
izations have almost doubled in size
since all the women have suffrage, and
the demands that are made on the
committees have more than doubled.
but when the hat is passed it comes
back practically empty.
Men who are responsible for financ-
ing the various committees are growing
gray and haggard. Others who have
always counted in campaign years on
. lucrative employment or profitable
business relations with the committees
are job-less and contract-less. 1t is O
| Cdu clludIIDAs hN NV
the Joys out of politics.
1t is not many years since a national
chairman announced that in his ludg-
ment contributions to campaign funds
should be limited to $1,000 and another
politician of equal prominence declared
that that limit was too high-$l0O
should be the maximum.
5 This year the man who could get
Thousand do1lor drratioOq Uoflld he
hailed as his party's savior, while the
= h~undred-dollar producer would be rated
as little less than a genius.
Those who would question the truth
, of this need only go to the headquar-
{ ters of either of the dominant parties
, and undertake to sell any plan or prop
o~sition that involves the spending OF
] money. They will be convinced in short
, order. They will hear tales of poverty
that are more than distressing, and
what is more to the point, they viii
: find it next to impossible TO do bust
ness with the committees for the good
and sufficient reason that the commit
tees have no money with which to dc
business.
!, One Mans Sad Experience
: One man whose business is in the
] line of campaign publicity features haC
! a particularly unhappy experience II
Washington this week. He had worked
out a plan that had everything to rec
ommend it and that he was confident
, Of selling to a certain committee as
! soon as he could lay it before the chair
f man. He expected a contract repre-.
: ~senting several thousands of dollars
: He got what tradition says the htti'
e boy shot at.
. did you sell your proposition
-, friend inquired.
did | sell it, he echoed. Say
S that chairman isn't buying. he's selling
: He sold me a poverty and hard lucl
l story that was so sad we wound W
D weeping on each others shoulder ant
before l left he had me diggfs NJ
= a ten-spot to help keep his COMMITTEE
t out of the poorhouse. And | guess
was lucky to get off at that price,
AS yet no one has come forwar'
with a satisfactory explanation of thi
e state of affairs. The same individual
and the same interests that heretotor
have been interested in the success o
!, this or that party to the extent tina
they would contribute freely and NOR
k or less literally to campaign funds ar
presumably, still interested. Their
are as many reasons why they shout
contribute in 1922, as in 1920, or 1915
or 1900, or in any other year. Our po
; litical methods have not changed. ]
d has not been made unlawful to do tina
p which will cause a campaign treasure
to smile.
e As a matter of fact. this having bee
s a tariff-making year it would be take
for granted that contributions woui
: be more liberal and more numerou
It than ordinarily. Moreover, a bitterl
contested election is in prospect, wit
/ a possibility of a shift in the part
S, control of the legislative branch of tn
Il government. and that would be expect
ed. normally. 10 be productive of ff
Ie party exchequers.
In the face of all this the actu;
situation at the time the campaig
"a should be in full swing is little shol
of appalling to the party workers. an
that may be said for both the reput
j. licans and democrats. Expected col
, tributions simply are not materializini
On the contrary. there seems to /
n an actual conspiracy on the part {
the give-uppers TO hold out on the &c
getters.
{ Popular Fiction and FaIIacles
Writer'S of popular fiction anent pc
itics rave been responsible largely fc
r popular f~allacies as to the size of can
l paign funds and the ease with whic
they have been collected. The impre'
sion has been created that fabulor
IT sums have been gathered in by part
"a leaders. and that this has been accom-
plished by processes almost as simp
y as turning on a faucet. According
,e these breezy tales, the party boss hs
=, scores of other leading citizens {
d Montana.
j. Voters will be given a separat