Evening star., 1938-08-28
By John &. Henry.

- Tor the 1unCGlOnlng OF American
democracy. has covered itself with
new dishonors or at least bigger and
better examples of old ones, in recent
primary-scarred months.
One of the results, in addition to ehe
election Of some of the most ingenious of
those abusing what standards there may
be in politics. will be an effort during the
coming Congress to extend Federal control.
while purifying Federal participation, in
primary contests.
From the very first primary of the 1888
season, that of Illinois last April there has
been a steady stream of nearly discovered
scandal lurking in the background of the
intra- party contests for various nomina-
tions. particularly those for the United
States Senate.
Florida and Pennsylvania primaries of
May really set the fashion; Iowa. Minne-
sofa and Oklahoma did nothing to disturb
the growing conviction that the 1888 cam
paigns would be noiser and more dis
graceful than customary. Tennessee, Ken
lucky and Ohio proved the conviction to
have been understated. California. Mary
land and Georgia. yet to reach their own
beautiful climaxes, are close to the worst
in every way.
Taking Over Jobholders.
All these and others not mentioned. un-
doubtedly we're marked by the ordinarily
reprehenSibe tactics of political cam
paign. but it was their elaoorations upon
the idea of taking over whole squadrons
of public iobholders. and getting full value
for each expended dollar of public funds.
that have brought them the greatest
amount of notorety.
In fact. at one stage of developments, it
appeared that the quickest and perhaps
least expensive way of allowing the people
of Kentucky to choose Democratic SEN
atorial nominee would be to line up all
the State-paid workers on one side and
all the w. P. A.-paid workers on the other
and let them have at each other.
1t is situation which cannot be blamed
entirely, of course, upon the New Deal At
the same time it is fact that the New
Deal policies of providing millions of relief
jobholders through w. P. A.. even more
millions Of partial dependents through vari-
ous pension and social security provisions
and an appreciable number of outright
Government employees, have set the stage
for this current political strategy of lining
up these groups to support those who got
them what they have or those who promise
even more
Mild-mannered little Senator Sheppard,
chairman of the Senate Committee on Cam
paign Expenditures, has devoted almost an
entire summer to shutting corps of in
Vestigators around the country to probe
these tactics, but there was note of
futility in his voice when he told a recent
press conference:
1T is an entirely new situation that con-
fronts u.s. Government employees and those
depending on the Government for their
livelihood have come to constitute, in the
past few years, larger proportion of all
the population. There has been a tre-
mendous increase in the Governments
jurisdiction with the growth of its personnel
And the Government and Government Off
cials have obtained more and more power
to control elections"
Findings in Tennessee.
Developing largely out of these circum-
stances, the committee found in Tennessee
that apparently every scheme and ques-
tionable device that can be used in po-
litical contest to raise funds to influence
votes and control the election result is in
full swing
And in Kentucky the committee found
"a deplorable situation in which relief
workers and Federal employees were being
pitted against State benefciaries to an
extent that "imperils the right of the people
to free and unpolluted ballot
1t was shortly after announcement of
these findings. backed up by several we'll
publicized incidents of earlier primaries,
that Senator Sheppard announced this
month that the committee would initiate
efforts to extend Federal regulatory powers
to State primaries for Senate and House
seats Probably, he said, the action would
take the form of recommending amend
ment of the Corrupt Practices Act of 1925
As now in effect, the provisions of this act
are confined expressly to general elections
with primary elections and political con-
ventions given specific exemption. In
brief, the law requires publicity of expendi-
exceed either Cd $4,000 for candidate
for the Senate or s250O for a candidate
for the House; or (2l an amount equal to
cents for each vote cast for the Office at
the preceding election, with a maximum
allowance of SOS, 1000 for Senate candidate
and $4,000 for a House candidate State
laws take precedence if they fix lower
figures
Office Promises Unlawful.
The act declares it to be unlawful to trv
to get votes by promising appointments or
by giving money, and charges that no can
ddate for Congress nor person on the Fed
eral pay roll may solicit political contribu-
tions from any Government employe
That the act is strictly limited to general
elections may be blamed upon an unsuc-
cessful earlier attempt of the Federal Gov
eminent to regulate primary elections un-
der the Corrupt Practices Act of 1910 This
legislation met its downfall in 1920, when
the Supreme Court held it unconstitutional
As applied to primary campaign for the
Senate and thereupon set aside the con-
viction of Truman H. Newberry OF Mich
igan and number Of others who had been
found guilty of violations
The court, although of an obviously diff
ferent temper than that of today, split S
to 4 on the decision. and it Is generally be-
ljeyed that speciflc extension of the nreSent