Evening star., 1934-10-21
u. S. CASH AS VOTE ISSUE
CALLED NATIONAL PERIL
Danger of Undermining Morals and
Habits by Stressing Relief Question
Cited by Commentator.

"s. Obtained 100000 r. F. c.
AUTHORIZATION to rebuild Auburn.
"12. Obtained $500 more C. w. A.
jobs for Maine than the original al
lotment."
Maine Wants Its Share"
And so on for 26 numbered accom-
All were either money Sc
cured for his district or State, or
jobs secured or other material bene-
fits secured. we know" said the To-
cal Democratic party chairman. ad-
vocating reelection of Mr.. Moran
I'VE know that there will be a Demo-
cratic administration in Washington
during the next two years; we know
that the various relief agencies will
continue. Maine wants its share"
We must get the public to think
about the political use Of relief money
in larger terms than epithets and quips.
Mr.. Frank Kent's statement is per-
fectly true-that the Democrats.
through the administration's relief
funds, have the largest campaign
fund in history" Equally true is the
statement Of the independent Demo-
cratic Baltimore Sun that those
canny folk Tin Maine) say that Jim
Farley is rolling the biggest pork barrel
that ever came down the pike, and in
the presence of 1t the Republicans
can't make their boys behave" Equal
ly true, or at least equally depressing,
is the Suns cynical aphorism, Where
the bacon is, there the flies gather" !"
Equally cynical Is the old Southern
saying about the obligation that goes
with accepting benefits, Whose bread
I eat, his song sing"
But 1t would be a pity for the
country to dismiss the matter with
that sort Of cynical humor. What is
going on has future implications far
more serious than the defeat, in the
year 1884, of one of the great parties
by another of the great parties.
Also, 1t is not Democratic candi-
dates only who are doing 1t. Obvi-
ously, because Democrats have con-
troll of the National Treasury at Wash
ington, Democrats are the chief bene-
ficiaries Of the national funds. 1t Is
fair to say, too, that Democrats are
setting the pace-that is natural un-
der the circumstances. But in States,
cities and counties where Republicans
are locally in power, Republicans
hopefully and energetically match
their local dimes against the Demo-
cratic dollars from Washington.
Moral Damage Is Severe.
The extent of the moral damage is
almost unreliable. In hardly any con-
gressional district in the country-cer-
tainly in few-is any candidate for
Congress brave enough, or reckless
enough, to feel free to say outrightly,
I am against the New Deal" lest
the voters think that being against the
New Deal is being against getting
funds from Washington. Millions
of voters are being led to feel, wholly
Or primarily, that the New Deal means
money from Washington And feeling
that, they don't much care what else
it means.
For proof that money from Wash
lngton is the real issue of the cam
pa1gn, cite few sentences from an
article entitled Votes for Victuals. /"
written by Walter Davenport, who
is a careful and impartial reporter.
and printed in the October IS issue
of Golfers which is prevailinely
to the New Deal quote:
There is just one political issue
in the West and Middle West today
Relief. The politician who talks
about anything else loses his audi
ence and wastes his time. An
overwhelming majority of the voters
are going to cast their ballots for
continued and increased relief appro-
prlatlonS. The result of this
wholly unnatural situation leaves us
completely cockeyed. The jobless, re-
Sentful to begin with, are forever
being urged by political candidates to
demand and expect continued and
increased relief
With that sort of thing, we must
deal more thoughfully than merely
to say, as some Republican partisans
do. the election is being bought" The
word bought" does not fully describe
what is going on. In all bribery, there
are two parties, the briber and the
orlbed-the bribee. And the moral
blame is often put too exclusively on
the briber. What we have now is a
changed standard, shared by whole
communities. That Congressman shall
be judged by their ability to get
money from Washington Is a senti-
ment shared by more than the bene-
f1ciaries of relief. Local business men,
often Republicans, men of the
Chamber of Commerce type, in many
cases take the position that the more
relief money they can get from WASH
lngton, the less they need pay out
u their own pockets, or out of local
taxes.
A Better Way.
The one definite suggestion I have
seen for remedy of the deplorable effect
relief distribution is having on the
Nation is made by the Daily Okla
homan of Oklahoma City. The
is an exceptionally good
newspaper. In politics, it Is inde-
pendent Democratic, prevailingly it Is
rather strongly sympathetic to the New
Deal. But the Oklahoman recognizes
what is going on, and has a sound
idea about remedy:
Better results would be achieved
and real evils would be avoided If some
non-political organization, like the Red
Cross, were given sufficient funds to
meet the public needs and empowered
to dispense those funds in the way that
seemed to it best. The Red Cross would
be keenly interested in relieving the
needy and in keeping itself above
suspicion. 1t would have no
disposition to favor the State or county
or section that voted right, or punish
the one that voted wrong. In particu-
lar it would not dream of telling needy
voters that the continuation of their
dole was dependent upon their voting
one party ticket and defeating another
party ticket. 1t takes a political
to reveal the sordidness, the
the downright callousness,
and the frequent dishonesty of politi-
cally-minded relief set-up. Needy
voters. whose aggregate number is suf-
f1cient to determine the election result
IN any close State, ARE brazenly told
that If they fail to vote right, their
dole will be stopped. A stricken multi
tude is told that If the governing party