Evening star., 1936-10-15

contribute. In other places. even
guards and attendants in the State
prisons and hospitals have been
"asked" to supply money for the
Campaign.
Here is the form letter addressed to
teachers in Franklin Township by
Ed Cook, town trustee. and attached
to the pay checks of all the teachers:
ITO teacher:
Enclosed find check and voucher,
sign voucher and return in envelope.
Beg to inform that I will pay one
half month salary October 81. day
before teachers association; another
one-half month salary two weeks
later, once month thereafter
Individual Quotas Assigned.
"Also as township official, have
been asked by Democratic Committee
to solicit campaign funds from all
employees. The quota placed by them
shows your allotment as being SIS.
Please place your contribution in en-
velope and return with voucher at an
early date to school principal; an
official receipt will be given by said
committee"
The authenticity Of the letter has
been admitted by Cook in an inter-
view in the Indianapolis STAR" which
first published the document, but
Cook considers it to be making
"mountain out of a mole hill
A fund vari0usly estimated at about
e240,000 year, or at least S600,000
In the last three years, has been ac-
cumulated by the Two Per Cent Club,
constituting the biggest campaign
fund ever collected for State purposes
here.
But, naturally. the Roosevelt-Gar-
her ticket benefits by the existence of
this fund because very little money
has to be sent into the State by the
Democratic National Committee, mas
much as the State Democratic organ
ization is interested in keeping the
State organized for straight ticket
combination. In other words, Gov.
McNutt, who is the boss of the State
organiza ton, having played very close
to the New Deal and believing that
he might outstep Gov. Earle of Penn
sylvania for the 1910 Democratic pres
idential nomination. has been trying
to carry Indiana for Roosevelt by
keeping the State organization on its
toes for the national ticket.
Investigation in Order.
The sum of 100000 is lot of
money to spend in State, and while
the New Deal high command has been
eleverly keeping attention focused on
such things as fifty thousand du
Pont-Liberty League dollars in Maine,
1t does not turn the searchlight of
scrutiny on what is happening in In
diana, where 10 times that amount is
extracted from the pay envelopes of
poor employees.
The situation here calls for COM
prehensive inquiry. Money spent by
the State Democratic Committee has
been used for national ticket purposes
and hence comes under the jurisdic-
ton of Congress. There is little like
lihood that that Senate Committee
would do anything about this before
election, but, in the interests of better
government, there ought certainly to
Is over.
For one thing. it ought to be ascer-
tained how many of the supposedly
"voluntary" contributions were really
voluntary and what pressure and in
timidation has been applied to make
State employees give of their salaries to
a political fund that is used to elect a
president of the United States and
members of Congress.
The excuse given by the Democratic
leaders here is that the Republicans
in the old days used to levy a tax,
too. The Republicans deny that they
ever did anything as bold or far
reaching as the 2 per cent club is
doing. 1t is conceded that State Off
cials were asked by Republican COM
mittees to contribute around election
time, but it is argued that at no
time was pressure used or regular
monthly collections made.
Agent Calls on Pay Day.
The Democratic system is to ap-
point some one in every State bureau
and Office to act as collecting agent,
and on the days when the salary
checks come in, the employees are sup
posed to hand in their y per cent"
The Republicans claim they never
had a third of the money the Demo-
Gratis are now collecting
But even granting that the Repub-
licans did something like this. the
argument is much like that which was
used in Wall Street in 1880 and 1881.
when practices of reprehensible kind
were exposed to view.
The cry then heard was: Everybody
was doing it."