New Britain herald., 1928-06-07
THE PfaE-CONvENTION CAMPAIGN EXPENSES

n JUN HAT SA>o
 Tho Senate campaign investisat- ing committee. after valiant strug- sling with evidence and testimony regarding moneys expended to fur ther the interests Of the various presidential aspirants. has made an interesting tabulatton. It iA found that the campaign to put over Herbert Hoover has cost more than tho combined totals Of all the other candidates in both parties. Which sounds terrible-if one thinks 33So, s:2 spent on behalf of the com merce secretary is terrible sum.
 Whether this is much or little is | matter of opinion. One must not forget that Hoover from the first haa been a nationwide candidate as distinguished from the favorite son candidates and those whose smbi- tons have circulated only in sec tions of the country. For the late Senator Willis, for instance. who merely functtoned as favorite son candidate in Ohio. more than $66,- GOO had been expended. If the ex- penditure for Willis had been in the  same proportion in the ~ other states his campaign cost would have mounted into the millions In the case of Lowden more than $60,000 has been spent, yet his candidacy goes no further than part of the farm belt and he has gone so far as to say he will not be a presiden- tial candidate unless the Republican party stands square upon a McNary- Hausen platform.
 The campaign in behalf of Gov ernor Smith of New York has cost S12i,l7l. naturally the highest Of any of the Democratic contcnders. Whether this is large Or small sum is matter of opinion
 Both Messrs. Hoover and Smith entered tho present campaign for nomination by far the most popular candidates In their respective par ties. But popularity Is not enough. The candidates must wade into a nationwide arena and obtain in structcd delegates; the machinery to obtain them costs money; some body must provide, the sine"s Of war. No candidate, unless he is q dark horse selected to break con- vention deadlock, could get the nomination in any other way. A reasonable expenditure Of money is essential and what amounts 10 a reasonable expenditure IS Aomet hing upon which few men will agree.
 
 X comparison with former pre- convention expenditures since the advent of the presidential primaries shows conclusively that the present expenditures on behalf of both Hoover and Smith are low.
 The cost of the pre-conventHn campaign in behalf of Leonard Wood, in 1920, was tl.773,ao3; the pre- e-convention campaign on behalf Of Lowden at that time was 4l4,9SG. The cost of the Harding pre-conven- ton campaign va. little above the sum spent had anything 10 do with the nomination IL was the dis closure before the Kenyon inyesti- eating committee that more than a million and thren-quartcrs dollars had been expended on behalf of W OOu, ana IDe IIlel nous IVlID"eU III the expenditure of part Of the Lowden fund. helped 10 create the de adlock at Chicago which resulted in the nomination Of Harding. Cal win Coolidge, by the way, the only candidate from New England before the convention. enjoyed the expendi- ture of sGS,31o on his behalf in a vain effort to attain the nomina- ton. on the Democratic side the re-convention campaign Of James NJ. Co. for the Democratic nomina- ton cost only S22.600. A. Mitchell Palmer. on whose behalf nearly sGo.ooo was spent, getting a.hcr poor support in the convention. Tn the 1924 pre- convention cam paign costs. were nil. it being a cer- i tainty that Coolidge would be th' nominee for reelection. When one compares the hlgf