Evening star., 1950-12-09
The Political Mill
The Political Mill
1850 Campaign Costs
Put Above S. Million
Supplemental Reports Due
To Send Figures Higher
By Gould Lincoln

10 SEND Figures nigner
By Gould Lincoln
The congressional campaign OF 1850
was no cheap affair-it cost real money.
A tabulation Of official reports filed with
the clerk Of the House Of Representa-
tives, made by Congressional Quarterly.
shows that 81 national political commit
tees listed expenditures Of $6,307.970
and receipts of $6,247,917, from January
/ to November 2. Supplemental reports
are expected to shoot these figures still
higher. Further, there are a large num-
ber of voluntary" committees and Or
ganizations which took part in the cam
paign and which under the law are not
compelled to file statements with the
House clerk.
In the opinion of Senator Gillette Of
Iowa, Democrat and chairman Of the
subcommittee Of the Senate Rules Com
mittee which has been investigating the
conduct Of the campaigns In a number
Of States, the totals reported by Con-
gressional Quarterly, while correctly
stating the official reports, do not any
where near approximate the millions Of
dollars actually expended. His subcom-
mittee is at present engaged in an at
tempt to get a much more extended
picture Of the situation and has re-
quested all States to furnish the COM
mittee with material bearing upon cam
paign expenditures. After this has been
collected, and the committee has an
opportunity to go over the entire sub
ject, Senator Gillette hopes to be able
to present amendments to the Corrupt
Practices Act which will put greater
limitations on campaign expenditures.
Charges BY Both Sides
During the campaign, charges flew
thick and fast that great sums of money
were being put into this and that battle
for Senate and House seats-and in the
gubernatorial campaigns. For example.
in Ohio the labor groups charged the
Taft camp with spending literally mil
lions of dollars to re-elect Mr.. Taft
The republicans, on the other hand
attacked the labor committees which
were supporting Mr.. Ferguson, his DEM
ocratic opponent for the Senate, with
huge expenditures. AS matter of fact,
the labor leaders themselves had boasted
long before the campaign actually began
that they would spend millions of dol
lars in Ohio to beat Senator Taft-the
author of the Taft-Hartley labor law
if it were necessary.
The compilation now presented by
Congressional Quarterly from official
files shows Is labor organizations re-
porting $1.198,469 spent and $1,22O,10l
collected. Thirteen Democratic commit
tess reported $2,406.10 spent and $2,-
1864 received. On the Republican
side, 19 groups reported $2,371 ,586 spent
and $2,283,671 received. The reports
highlight the extent to which labor
organizations have gone into politics
since they expended approximately half
as much as each of the major political
parties. And on the basis of these re-
ports. more money was expended for
Democratic candidates than for Republi-
can-Since the great ms j24ity of candi-
dates supported by the labor organiza-
tions were Democrats. Furthermore,
most of this money was expended out
side of the "solid South" where only
Democrats are elected, and in the States
of the North and West
About Half of '4s Cost
The total reported received and ex-
pended for 1850 is about half of what
was reported in 1948, when the presi-
IL.
be expected, since the interest in a
presidential campaign is usually much
greater than in so-called "off year,.
There are no charges on contested
elections growing out of the expendi-
lures in 1850. either in the primary or
the general elections. Back in 1926,
two elected Senators, both Republicans,
were denied their seats when they pre-
sented themselves in the Senate on the
ground that excessive sums had been
expended in their campaigns-Vare of
Pennsylvania and Smith of Illinois. The
Senate and the public were greatly
stirred by the reports of vast and cor
rupt spending, and an example was
made of the two Senator's elect. More
recently, under the leadership of former
Senator Hatch of New Mexico. now a.
Federal judge, the Corrupt Practices
Act was amended with particular intent
to prohibit political action by employees
OF the Federal Government. This fol-
lowed charges that WPA and relief
funds, distributed by the Federal Gov
ernment, had been influential in con-
gressional elections.
Senator Gillette admits that it may
be extremely difficult to close all the
loopholes in the existing law, so as to
prevent excessive spending in political
campaignS-but he intends to try it.
Further, he insists that if something is
not done it will soon be impossible for
men of moderate means to run for
ofhce-unless they are backed by spe-
cial interest groups which have the
money to finance campaigns.