The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1936-10-01

SEEN
HEARD
around the
NATIONAL
CAPITAL
By Carter Field y
By Carter Field /.

Washington.-The Democratic and
Republican organizations alike are
proving again this year what every
politician knows-that presidential
campaigns are the most wasteful
form of activity known to man, sur
passing even the red tape, wasted
energy. duplication of activities and
poor judgment of government it.
self.
A very wise politician once told
the writer that 80 cents out of every
dollar spent in presidential cam
paign is wasted. That is still true.
No one has much idea at this mo-
ment how much the two major
parties will spend before the cam
paign is over. Reported figures do
not give much idea. There will be
big spending later. Moreover, there
is big spending by all sorts O. agen-
cies, which do not directly tie in to
the national organization, and much
spending by amateurs on sidelines.
The probability is that not less
than ten million dollars will be spent
altogether, and, If the old politician
mentioned is right, nine millions OF
that will be wasted
Nine million dollars is not much
waste if one thinks in terms of fed
eral government spending. And it
has the redeeming side that no one
has to pay for any part of it if he or
she does not want to do SO. But
there is something about this waste
which shocked such a mind as that
of Calvin Coolidge. who in 1924 put
his friend William M. Butler in
charge for the main purpose of
holding the costs down--knowing all
the time, incidentally, that Butler
knew very little about politics, but
a great deal about business eff
cheney.
Yet even in that campaign, with
an efficient business man in charge,
and with no real necessity Of doing
anything whatever, literally millions
of dollars were wasted.
Redistributed, if you like. For OF
course the money spent went mostly
for salaries, postage (Which helped
the Postoffice Departments deficit
and thereby helped keep taxes
adoWn), printing, etc. There weren't
many special trains. Coolidge didn't
| think much of thcm!
Consider Pamphlets
4
In close battle, such as this one
| is, however, the difficulty about
eliminating waste is that SO few
people really know what does count
in changing votes and what does
not. In considering the question, one
can dismiss the really effective work
that of a local political organiza-
ton getting the voters registered
and to the polls on election day.
Most of that does not figure in the
reports of campaign expenses, any
| how.
But consider pamphlets! This
writer has been touring the country
during presidential campaigns since
1920. In every campaign the closing
days have found tons Of pamphlets,
prepared at prodigious effort and
after all sorts of wrangling over
texts, standing in unopened pack
ages at local headquarters in states
cities or counties.
| With a moments thought the
directing head in either politica
headquarters would know that mos'
of these pamphlets would meet this
fate. Yet they were delayed unit
| it was physically impossible fol
them to be distributed as their au
thors fondly imagined they woule
be, and then rushed out when there
remained no possible chance o
their finding their way into thu
hands of the mythical undecided
voter who, by reading it, might b.
influenced.
Even the much discussed cam
paign textbook rarely appears, ever
in national headquarters, until vel
into September. Yet it is supposed
to guide speakers who have beel
busy since early August! And VIII
by the time it appears have lon
since discovered what points max
hits with their audiences, and Wha
do not.
And there remains the point tina
nobody really knows whether an
pamphlet ever changed vote
There is a known case, about tWent
years ago, where a speech IN tn
! senate changed vote, so mayb
pamphlets also do.
Case of Talmadge
, Mad Democrats" beat Wist
cracking, rough talking Eugen
Talmadge, most colorful souther
: governor for many years, in n
race for the Georgia senatorshl
against Senator Richard 3. Russel
Jr.
/. Talmadge, according to shrew
!, Georgia politicians, went out on
2 limb and sawed it off. He was
! safe ground as long as ne mere
. followed the lead Of Senators Carte
Q Glass and Harry F. Byrd Of VI
. pinia. and Willard E. Tydings
MARYLAND. They merely criticize
6 what the New Deal did. They cidn
n 49, tl,asy ,uarn ornGcn1