Evening star., 1932-11-13

III
Smith was addressing Demo-
cratic dinner as part Of his
IL party's effort to raise campaign
funds in preparation for the
present election. He said
1T takes money! 1t takes money!
You can't make anything in the world
move today without financing i'll!
The most expensive presidential can
didete the Democrats ever had knew
what he was talking about. The Demo-
cratic National Committee in 1928 had
spent upward of S3,500,000 in an effort
to elect him, with some more thrown In
for congressional and senatorial cam
paigns throughout the country. Thc
Republicans had spent a similar amount
of money to send President Hoover to
the White House, with even more
chucked into the pot for subsidiary
ballots.
A roughly recapitulated estimate of
the 1928 campaign shows that the two
major parties spent approximately
| $1,000 600 on their combined cam
paigns, affecting in one way or another
| the prospective national administration.
The political campaign costs Of 1928
broke all records. They were approx
imated only by the profigate outpour-
ing of cash in the Mark Hanna CAM
pa1Rn Oh 1880. IL WAS III SOIIiG doPCIbS
almost as spectacular an that famous
fight against Organism and free silver.
Since the final quarter of the last
century the limit upon presidential
campaign expenditures has depended
/ only upon how much money and credit
the party's national COMMITTEES could
command. For that reason, when the
treasurers of the Democratic and Re-
publican Committees send their final
expense accounts TO the clerk of the
House of Representatives presently, 1t
| probably will be disclosed that the total
| expense of the presidential election in
| 1882 was considerably less than the
! outlay four years ago. The contributors,
considered both in number and in the
| customary size of their contributions,
| did not have the money.
! Effect Of Empty Pockets.
II the Nation found its political
| budget cut for the recent campaign,
| therefore, 1t may thank merely its own
| empty pockets AS in the development
| of the Nations business. industry and
| finance during the last half century, in
political war chests the slogan has been
bigger and better"
In the last IS years the dominant
parties have spent approximately $685.
| 100000 to elect Is Presidents. That
does not take into account the cost Of
party organization maintenance between
| elections, which lately has been an in
creasing item of expense.
The deluge of money poured into
presidential campaigns did not start
until after the Civil War. Even then
its acce,eration was moderate, but once
the spending policy got its head it ran
wild.
In 1850 the Republican National Com
mittee got along on 100000 for the
election Of Abraham Lincoln. Twelve
years afterward it cost only $250.00
to elect Gen. Grant for a second term.
The first election in which nearly a
million dollars was dumped into the
vote making hopper by each Of the big
parties was in 1876. during the close
and bitter struggle between Hayes and
Tilden. In that campaign the Repub-
lican outlay reached the unprecedented
1 total of $950,000. The Democrats also
set their first major record as spenders
oy backing Tilden with only $50000
less than their rivals put on the table
fer Hayes. The million-dollar mark
was topped in the next election. in 1880.
when the Republicans poured the then
enormous sum of $l,l00,000 into the
election of Garfield.
The first really great flood Of money,
however, came in 1896, when the Re-
publicans were fighting the free silver
program CT Bryan. 1t is of record that
the Republican party, under Mark
Hanna, that year spent $3.50 900 to
elect Mckinley. Big business was
alarmed and the conservatives turned
their money loose. Bryan's' backing was
enthusiastic, but lacking in cash.
Stories Of G. o. p. Fabulous.
The stories Of the Republican outlay
in that campaign, of course, are fabu-
lous The c-st was undoubtedly much
larger than the record shows. Hanna is
reputed to have caused the expenditure
of as much as sic, 100000. His exploits
/. included importation of colonies from
safe Republican States into doubtful
Republican States Some CT these colo.
nies have remained as permanent land
. marks. The existence OF the important
, industrial center of Gary, Ind, today
may be credited to Hannas successful
|, efforts to carry that pivotal State.
, It Is interesting to note that a cam.
j paign's expenses are not necessarily
high when the presidential candidate Il
particularly active In many cases tht
. contrary seems to be true.
, The Mckinley race introduced tht
first CT the "front-porch" campaigns, II
. which the candidate merely sits anC
waits for the voters to come to hin
rather than travelling extenefvely to Sc,
, them. Delegations by the trainloac
) were carted to Ohio to see Mr.. Nc
Kinley and the Nation was flooded
, with party documents which ctherwis'
might have been disseminated through
, the speeches of a travelling candidate
, Through these and other expedients In
; augurated largely through Mark Hanna
the expense Of that original sedentar,
. undertaking resulted in the first cam
paign outlay to approximate the cos
of todayis elections. AS against tn