Evening star., 1926-06-15
SLUSH FUND PROBE
| BLOW TO PRIMARY
High Cost of Nominating
/ President by Direct Vote
Held Pr0hibitive.
BY ROBERT r. SMALL. +.

Whatever else may come of the
Senate's inquiry into the cost or the
Pennsylvania senatorial primary. the
revelations made thus far have SOUND
ed the death knen of the NOV eme mt
to nominate Presidents of the UNITED
States through the direct primary
system.
Secretary of the Treasury Mellon
has declared the huge expenditures In
the keystone State to be justified en-
tirely by conditions 1t is to be pre-
sumed, therefore. that MIR. Mellon.
hailed as the greatest ina ever
in the Government service, regards
the expenditure of $2,000,000 in this
one State as entirely legitimate.
At such a rate of primary expense
Il will be seen at a glance that the
cost Of nominating President of the
United States would be staggering.
Would Cost $4,000, 900.
According to the census OF 1920
Pennsylvania contained about one
thirteenth the entire population of the
United States. AT the ratio established
in the recent primary it would cost at
least $26, 900, 900 to conduct Repub-
Gcan presidential primary.
1t would not cost that much to con,
duct a Democratic primary. because
the Democrats of the country haven't
got that much money.
These Democrats, by the way, have
been casting watery eyes at the grow
ing total Of the Pennsylvania expendi.
lures. They have looked on with min
Id tc Cyixy an
public expression In gestures of horror
and Indignation. The other emotion
has to do with Where did they
get it?"
The Republicans spent as much or
more in their nice little family SQUAD
BILE in Pennsylvania as the Democrats
spent in their futile effort to elect
John w. Davis President of the
United States.
If there existed any lingering
doubt as to which was the money
swept entirely away.
II II takes as much money as Mr..
Mellon estimates for legitimate ex.
penses of a campaign, the Democrats 6
might just as well close up shop and
stop running for office. They can
never conduct a Legitimate" cam
paign. for they will never have
enough iegltlmato money.
Oh. for a Joseph Grundy.
The Democrats are praying that
somewhere, somehow, a Joseph Grun-
dy may be given them. He appears
70 be the champion, free ha anded,
catch-ascatch-can campaign contrib
utor Of the ages Every time he,turn-
ed around he produced a roll of bills
which would choke the proverbial and
have never had contributor who
could choke a sparrow. Bernie" Ba-
ruch has been their one best bet, as q
rule. but Bernie never saw the day
he could compete with Mr.. Grundy.
The two are not in the same class,
are not even members of the same
club. Mr.. Grundy is a campaign con-
fribution wizard. a sort of HERNIA mn
the Great, turning rabbits into $50
from willing sheep. Mr.. Baruch is
just a plain, common or garden vari.
ETY. of the oldtime Democrat, who
likes TO see the party get along.
Some Democrats have been howl
ing down the wind for the direct
nominations of Presidents. Now that
they know what legitimate primary
expense Is. according to the Mellon
and Pennsylvania standards, they are
going to execute wolfe face" which
In plain English means turning
around the other way ''toute de
suite or as fast as you can
If the Democrats had to spend $26,.
100000 to nominate a presidential
candidate, the United States might
as well become a monarchy, limited
or otherwise.
Some six years ago there was quite
q vail in certain directions as to the
amount of money spent in the pri-
mary campaigns OF Gen Leonard
Wood and Gov. Frank o. Lowden for
the presidential nomination. Some
States have presidential primaries.
They may not keep them very long,
but they have them now There was
even a great wave Of indignation
ebout the sum of $4,000 which
couldn't be exactly traced somewhere
down in Missouri
How tame that all seems now.