The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-09-27
BY FREDERICK j. HAsK1N

] WASHINGTON, D. c., Sept. 81
/ Campaign funds are running low thi
! year. No authoritative statistics hav
been compiled, but on a conservative
estimate dimes are being dragged il
where dollars formerly flowed in, an
it it not to be overlooked that Their
is decided difference between drag
ging'' and flowing"
All of which means that Politician
of all parties are up against it. The,
have on their hands fight that would
call normally for larger expenditure!
than have ever been made for sucl
purposes, and they are discoverin,
that they will have only about a tent
OF the resources that they should b.
| able to command. Party organization:
have almost doubled in size since al
the women have suffrage, and the de
mands that are made on the commit
tees have more than doubled, bu
when the hat is passed it comes prac
tically empty.
Men who are responsible for fin
nanclng the various committees ara
growing gray and haggard. Other;
VINO have always counted in campaign
years on lucrative employment or pro
htable business relations with the
committees are job-less and contract
less. 1t is sad situation. The
glooms have driven all the Joys out
of politics.
II Is not many years since a nation.
al chairman announced that in his
Judgment contributions to campaign
FUNDS should be limited to $1,000 and
announcer politician of equal prominence
oeclared that that limit was too high
300 should be the maximum.
ms year the man who could get
$1,000 donations would be hailed as
MS party's savior, while the hundred
dollar producer would be rated as
little less than a genius.
Those who would question the truth
OF tbs, need only go to the head.
quarters of either of the dominant
parties and undertake to sell any plan
or proposition that involves the spend.
ing OF money. They will be convinced
IN short order. They will hear tales
OF poverty that are more than distress
ing, and, what is more to the point.
they will find it next to impossible to
do business with the committees for
the good and sufficient reason that
the committees have no money with
which to do business.
One Mans
Sad Experience.
one man whose business is in the
line of campaign publicity features
mad a particularly unhappy experience
In Washington this week. He had
worked out plan that had everything
10 recommend II 10
lluent or selling to certain commit
zee as soon as he could lay it before
the CHAIRMAN. He expected contract
representing several thousands of dol
lars. He got what tradition says the
little boy shot at
Did you sell your proposition" q
friend inquired.
Did l sell it?" he echoed. "Say.
that chairman isn't buying, he's sell,
ing! He sold me a poverty and hard
luck story that was so sad we wound
up weeping on each others shoulder
and before l left he had me digging
up a ten-spot to help keep his com.
m1ttee out of the poorhouse. And /
guess | was lucky to get off at that
pTice!"
AS yet no one has come forward
with a satisfactory explanation of this
state OF affairs. The same individuals
ana the same interests that heretofore
ave been interested in the success of
lhlS or that party to the extent that
lhey would contribute freely and more
II less literally to campaign funds are
-presumably-stil interested. There
are as many reasons why they should
contribute in 1922 as in 1920 or 1915
Or 1900, or in any other year. Our
political methods have not changed |
u mas not been made unlawful to do
nat Whlch will cause campaign |
treasurer to smile
AS matter of fact, this having been
. taillI-maklng year it would be taken
-or granted that contributions would |
be more liberal and more numerous
nan ordinarily. Moreover, a bitterly
contested election is in prospect, with
possibility of shift in the party
control of the legislative branch of
he government, and that would be ex.
oected, normally, to be productive of
at party exchequers.
In the face of all this the actual sit.
1atlon at the time the campaign
'hould be in full swing is little short
u appalling to the party workers. and
hat may be said for both the Republi.
ans and Democrats. Expected con
rlbutions simply are not materializ.
ng. On the contrary there seems to
'e an actual conspiracy on the mart
Il the gIve-uppers to hold out on the
Writers of popular fiction anent
'olitics have been responsible large
Y for popular fallacies as to the size
# campaign funds and the ease with
which they have been collected The