Evening star., 1940-08-08

tIlCSC COIIlilllIOccS.
Second, to collect contributions in
excess of $4,000 from individuals
provided the sums used are for spe-
cific candidates on State tickets as
differentiated from national tickets
and provided that the expenditures
collectively do not promote "the
success of any national party"
AS practical proposition Wendell
L. Willkie, Republican nominee for
the presidency, has already declared
he will not permit his party mana
gers to take advantage of the loop
holes in the law which permit the
organization of these separate COM
mittees in his behalf. What Mr..
Willkie intends to do about the Sec
ond aspect-the right of individuals
to contribute in excess of $1,000 if
they confine themselves to State
committees-is not yet known, but it
would be surprising indeed if the Re-
publican nominee didn't put his foot
down hard on the use of any loop
hole to violate the spirit If not the
letter of the law. What President
Roosevelt will do is not known, but
1t is a fact that in 1886 he and the
Justice Department winked at the
violation of the Federal Corrupt
Practices Act in connection with the
sale of Democratic campaign books
to corporations.
First Loophole in Act.
The first loophole in the Hatch
law of 1940-and it probably isn't
fair to call a palpable exemption by
such a name-occurs in section 20.
1t says that mo political committee
shall receive contributions aggregat-
ing more than 100000 or make
expenditures aggregating more than
S3000,000 during any calendar year"
But what is a political commit
tee?" To find out the meaning of
any term used, the Hatch law says:
Terms used in this section shall
have the meaning assigned to them
in section 302 of the Federal Corrupt
Practice Act, 1925, and the penalties
provided in such act shall apply to
violations of this section
Going back to the text of the 1925
Federal Corrupt Practices Act we
find this paragraph:
1.-THE term political committee in
cludes any committee, association or
organization which accepts contribu-
tions or makes expenditures for the
purpose of influencing or attempt
ing to influence the election of can
didates or presidential and vice pres
idential electors Cd in two or more
States or (2) whether or not in more
than one State If such committee,
association, organization (other than
duly organized State or local COM
mittee of political party is a
branch or subsidiary of national
committee, association or organiza-
ton"
Ward Against Embarrassment.
Now it is possible for political Or
ganizations to rise up in every State
of the Union in either political party
and for each to maintain absolutely
no connection with a national po-
litical organization, but as a prac-
tical matter, political campaigns
aren't handled that way. There's an
exchange of literature as well as
ideas and local political committees
must be kept from doing things of
their own bat which might en-
barrass the national tickets. Indis-
cretions are sometimes the BOOM
erangs that lose votes overnight
after costly expenditures have been
made.
The safety course for both major
parties to pursue is to warn all
individuals they must not contribute
any more than $1,000. This doesn't
mean that other members of the
same family cannot make such
contributions, but the gift tax laws
must be observed so that if money
is donated to any other member Of
a family for the purpose of a
political contribution, the letter of
the tax laws as well as the Hatch
law shall be followed.
The Hatch law says, morever, it is
unlawful "for any person, directly
or indirectly, to make contributions
in excess of $4,000 during any
calendar year." The words directly
or indirectly" would seem to pre-
clude the possibility of having a
contribution made to a State COM
mittee which ultimately finds its
way into some use that benefits the
national ticket. 1t will be hard
thing to prove just where State
committee work ends and national
party organizations begin, but it
is doubtful whether either political
management in the presidential
campaign will wish to take any
chances.
Nothing Contributor Can Do.
A contributor, of course, who
sends money to State committee
does so wit hthe expectation it will
be used for a State campaign, and
II the managers of the latter use 1t