Evening star., 1924-12-07
Campaign Funds Abolition
Best Corruption Preventive

willing to sell their votes. ], myself,
cannot understand how they could
| so believe. The average voter is pur-
chasable neither by money nor lies.
The American electorate as a mass
| is sound, sincere and wholly honest.
| In view of the result of the last cleo
| ton and of similar results of other
elections in the past, j, as a Demo-
crat, am not prepared to argue that
| the voice of the people is the voice of
| God, but 7 stand to believe that the
voice of the people Is as honest as
| Gods voice.
If our elections can be purchased
| then America is In it's decline and
| near it's fall. America survives on the
! honor and honesty of it's citizens. 1t
| can survive on nothing less. If one
| half or one-third Of us are dishonest
and dishonorable, something more
| than regulation of campaign con-
| tributtons and expenditures will be
needed to save the Republic. The
| Republican party this year reported
| contributions upwards of $4,000, 900.
| This would have enabled 1t to pay
rs cents for each vote it received, so
| cents each for one-half the votes 1t
| received, 81 each for fourth the
votes it received, or So each for one
| eighth the votes it received. But the
| money OF course, was not spent that
| way. Elections arc not bought in
| America. AS matter of fact. how
ever 1t would not have made the
| slightest difference in the result if
| the Republican party had used it's
| funds unlawfully and bought 2,000,-
| 900 votes.
Let It not be understood that / am
| crfticizing the Republicans or ques-
| tioning their expenditures. The diff
| terence between parties on the sub
ject of contributions and expendf-
| lures is a difference that is to be
measured by their ability 10 raise
| campaign funds. We Democrats do
| our best at raising money. No doubt
| we, too. would have spent $4,000. 900
| If we could have got it.
| x X X
| Nevertheless, the use of money in
| politics is vicious, and the present
system of expensive campaigns ought
to be abandoned. There should be
a return to the idea of the office
| seeking the man. Full treasures
| do not elect tickets anyhow. Once
in Indiana we had more money thar
| we knew what to do with. We hat
no desire to use it unlawfully-fn fact
were determined that it should not
be used unlawfully. But we had much
money, and the boys knew we had
~" Ciio ID p" vi use was 10 employ
| watchers at the polls. We came near
| having more watchers than we haC
| voters. The outcome was even worse
! than this years Democratic defeat.
No considerable number OF our
citizens are politically corrupt, and
| 1t is not because of the corruptnes,
| of few that I favor limitation OF
political contributions and control o,
political expenditures. But / am in.
clined to believe that regulation
would put the people to a more
| thoughtful consideration Of public
| office, measures and candidates. Thi.
is really needed. l take no STOCK
| in the talk of tho necessity of or.
! ganiZdtion and of information SO that
| the public may learn of men au(
parties and the things they stauc
for The newspapers cover the EN-,
| tire field. All the facts, all the truths
all the lies about every candidat Il
and his party will be disseminated
| without the aid of expensive publicity
| bureaus. Campaign literature /.
largely superfluous. Campaign ora.
tory does not convert. Most Of ou-
! political expenditures bring small re-
suits. We can we'll do away witt
campaign contributions, not that the,
are corrupting the American electo.
| rate. but because they constitute ar
| excuse for the electorate not doine
its duty in selecting officials.
tCOnyrighf 1925