Evening star., 1940-04-01

sert certain allies on the Democratic
side who have been pushing the bill,
are likely to be accepted rather than
to endanger passage of the meritori-
Gus additions to the original Hatch
law. These latter clauses would pre-
vent State employees working on
projects supported by Federal funds
from being regimented for political
purposes.
There are two sabotaging amend
mentS, however, to which in mo-
ments of thoughtlessness some ad-
ministration leaders have given their
support in the Senate and to some
extent IN the House. One provision
in the Senate bill would limit in
dividual contributions to $1,000. An
other provision adopted by the sub
committee in the House which is
dealing with the bill would limit
any political committee to $3000000
total expenditure in any one cam
paign
The language of these two
changes is so loosely phrased by
those who hoped to kill the bill that
they have inadvertently introduced
new elements in campaigning which
are apt to prove boomerang.
Means Nothing.
Thus S3O00.000 limitation for
the Republican National Commit
tee and for the Democratic National
Committee, respectively. will merely
mean that all kinds of decentralized
committees will be formed. each of
which will be able to collect $3,O00,-
600. The so-called Labor Non-Par-
tisan League can collect $3000,000
and so can DeWey-for-President
club or a Vandenberg- for-President
case may be. Also there can be
formed a dozen American Liberty
Leagues, with broad general pur-
poses, but using their funds for
political campaigning. AS long as
contributions are properly reported
to the clerk of the House of Repre-
sentati these various national po-
htical committees can arise by the
scores.
Then there are the State commit
tees. Such political committee
need have no name on it referring
to any national candidate at all, but
simply the name of the Republican
or Democratic nominee for the gov
ernorship. Contributions can be
gathered all over the country and
sent to these different State COM
mittees. 1t would take a board of
psychoanalysts, if not G-men, to
discover when paid precinct
worker who urges the voter to cast
his ballot for the gubernatorial can
didate and straight ticket" is
really being compensated for ma
tional or State purposes.
These are practical considerations
which everybody familiar with pol
itics knows about. Thus the sup
posed virtue of the plan to limit
expenditures to 100000 for each
political committee is transformed
into particularly vicious sort of
political campaigning. For the more
political committees in existence the
more racketeering there develops.
Decentralization of national cam
paign into 20 or 80 collection agen-
cies will only mean that more money
will be collected and more will be
wasted. and possibly as the funds
sre trebled there will be even more
corruption than before.
Better Plan.
A much better plan would be to
take the highest campaign expendi-
ture in the past by any political
party and set that as a top limit
for each party with the proviso that
no funds can be expended except
through the regularly designated
national committees of any party
entitled to place on the ballot.
Even this cannot touch the oues-
ton OF State political committees.
Nor can $4,000 contributions be con-
fined to national committees. for
there Is a lawful right to contribute
to State campaigns and the Federal
Constitution cannot be stretched to
cover the conduct of elections to
State Offices where no Federal funds
are involved in the picture.
Much can be done to purify poll
tics by specific legislative prohibi-