The Ypsilanti daily press., 1944-09-22
Observations
Political Campaigns
Discovered TO be
Very Expensive -
BY Helen Esssry

OF "quips and cranks and wanton
wiles. Expense accounts are
tricky.
The most eXQuisitely honest per
son when turned loose with an eK-
pense account goes slightly spot'y
in his otherwise pure soul and
wonders: Seems odd that | can
manage TO get in few extra par
ties or a present or two. Or even
that traditional new overcoat under
the heading OF tips and incident.
ais
II. however. limpid honesty
washes out the spiritual spots in
our heros libido COR wherever IT
is in which psychoanalytical spots
lurk) then the poor wretch is likely
10 forget what he spent for dinner
on Thursday and what he gave the
porters Ion the train and end with
the expense account owing him
money.
Such, dear voters, is not always
the case with the holder OF the
campaign expense account Par
ticularly the account, the vast, ex.
traordinarily vast expense account,
allowed the candidates for the
White House This account is call
ed the presidential campaign fund.
II is limited, officially, TO a paltry
$1,000 600.
Before Carl A. Hatch. United
States senator from New Mexico,
began 10 inquire closely into con-
tributions TO campaign funds, the
sky was the limit 10 offerings -
any campaign fund for chief execu.
tive or-dogcatcher.
After Senator Hatch got 10 think
ing out loud in the Senate about
where campaign contributions come
from and where they go, he got the
Hatch act organized and propped
il up in the campaign circus as the
stiffest hurdle any campaigner had
had TO jump since misled citizens
began running for public office.
won't go into the details OF the
Hatch act Ii is pleasant and APP
propriate TO know since it's pur-
pose is political purity, that its au
thor came from a little mountain
town fragrantly called Clovis. II
Is also soothing TO the reformer
who has not yet seen the light, to
realize that every expense incurred
by a candidate am talking now
about the expenses Of candidate
ha
sworn 10 and submitted by both the
Democratic and Republican nation
al committees every three months
TO the Senate committee on cam
paign expenditures. The proper
name of this important committee
Is privileges and election commit
tee" OF which Senator Theodore
Green ia now chairman.
Yet, try az the Senate committee
and similar conscientious commit
tees do, TO obey the law and the
letter OF the law, there are means
of getting around the Hatch act"
For example, under the act, $4,000
ia the limit for any contribution to
a presidential campaign fund. Yet
there 10 a record OF one gentleman
who gave $4,000 in eight states to
the campaign fund OF the same
presidential candidate. This made
$4,000 in all.
Under the federal corrupt prac-
tices act no corporation is permit
ted 10 give to a presidential cam
paign fund. Hovever-that same
old "however"--the president CT
any other officer OF any corporation
may send his personal check to
either national committee. Once
this Is done, there are ways-(Fm
only repeating what people tell
me)--of maneuvering the corpora
ton into a position to reimburse
the check writer.
Seems to me that 81 900 900 is
something OF a sum. even in the
Rooseveltian era, 10 spend on the
task OF -eieetiHg a-eitizen without
whose guiding hand this nation and
all other nations must perish from
the earth
Three million dollars - Why
that's nothing at all knowing
public servant told me. Think OF
the cost OF radio time Those ma
tional hookups are simply terrific
SO are the special trains. And
the hand-out 10 little towns who
want to stage a meeting and cant
AFFORD to pay the expenses OF a
speaker, or the expenses OF getting
out paraders. or literature. ] find
that the cost OF literature" is ap-
palling. Almost as much as stamps.
Why. you cant conceive what
stamps cost in national cam
paign,
almost neglected that little ad-
vantage possessed by any president
in Office when he wants TO make a
campaign trip. He can call the trip
by sweeter name-an inspection
trip Calvin Coolidge and Herbert
Hoover visited practically every
hamlet and farm in the L. s. A. On
inspection trips. And Just the
other day President Roosevelt went
on that naval survey in the South
Pacific where the soldier vote
grows"
Sic semper expense accounts
They're all alike. There's an over
cost concealed in every one oi
them.