The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-02-11


columns many times that politics is
-. a business. If any,
Fotrtlcs body desires proof
Is Business of that statement
I think / am able
now to offer the best possible evil
dence of the truth of that statement.
Lately, w. Forbes Morgan, treas
urer of the Democratic national
committee, has demonstrated be-
yond the shadow of a doubt what
politics as a business actually
means. He did so in the recent an
nouncement that the Democratic
national committee would seek to
build up ''war chest" of $40, 000, 900
that the vast New Deal party ma
chinery can 60 on at top speed; that
the momentum gained by the sue
cessful Presidential campaign OF
1886 can be maintained and that the
party can continue to function as a
cohesive unit through which millions
OF voters may speak.
It appears that Mr.. Morgan will
not succeed in getting anything like
100000 together but it is very
significant that he is thinking in
terms SO large as those mentioned
in his announcement. 1t means SIM
ply that the present control of the
New Deal party is determined to
carry out to the nth degree the the
DRY of its chairman, James A. Far
ley, only recently reappointed as
postmaster general of the United
States.
Mr.. Farley plays politics in ex-
actly the same manner that he
would engage in business VEN
ture. He takes chances when the
stakes are high, he knows his men,
his workers, and moreover, he
knows how to get the best results
out of the material he has. His
operations are not unlike the func-
tons of a sales manager of great
concern-he sells what he has to the
voters and if any salesman fails to
function, Mr.. Farley looks for re-
placements.
We might illustrate the Farley
methods further by reviewing some
of the methods he employed in the
last four years. For, when it comes
to raising money, the Democratic
national committee, under Chair
man Farley, is both businesslike and
versatile. 1t will be recalled how
whenever the pretext arose, the
Democratic national committee
sponsored such things as dinners
to which the faithful partisans
were asked to buy tickets, usu-
ally high priced tickets, for an
ordinary banquet. 1t will be re-
called also how elaborate pro-
grams of the Democratic national
convention were sold by the hun
dreds of thousands; how those pro-
grams were loaded to the gunwhales
with advertising of concerns that
could not well refuse to buy adver-
Using space; how victory dinners
were given, and how finally the in
augural ceremony when Mr.. Roose-
welt took office was turned into a
gigantic political rally that spread
itself into every hotel in Washington
that had space for great dinners
and dances. These things are but a
few which demonstrated the Farley
versatility but they prove to my
mind that if the Democratic ma
tional committee sets out to build
up a real "war chest" it will ac-
complish exactly its objective.
The committee set-up is the most
pretentious yet attempted by any
political organization. 1t has large
and exceedingly efficient staff of
trained men and women and it runs
like the well oiled machine that it is.
It will cost money to keep
that machine running at high
speed, but Mr.. Farley recog-
nizes how elections are won. His
philosophy is that the early bird
catches the worm and so, al
though there is not another election
for two years, the Democratic ma
tional committee is making ready
for that election campaign right
now. Unless the wise political stu
dents around Washington are badly
mistaken, Mr.. Farley will know
pretty well when the congressional
and senatorial candidates take to
the stump early in 1888 just what
the last two years of the Roosevelt
administration will be like. 1t goes
without saying that he will be pre-
pared for them.
In contrast to the circumstances
I have just related, it must be dis
heartening to wit
L, e. Ii Il