Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 May 1908 — THE FEAR OF BEING “CAUGHT” [ARTICLE]

THE FEAR OF BEING “CAUGHT”

A member of the Republican congressional committee says that the Republican party will need from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 to make its national campaign “if we are to have a real fight.” He added that $5,000,000 might be needed. The managers are thinking about how they are going to get the money. A Republican senator is quoted in a letter to the Indianapolis News as follows: “I should not want to say so over my signature at this time, but I am convinced that if the Republican party is caught accepting money from the trusts next fall it will go, down to defeat on that one issue. I know what the temper of the people is on this subject.” Just notice the language used by the honorable senator —“if the Republican party is caught accepting money from the trusts,” etc. So, therefore, the Republican party does not propose to take any chance of being “caught,” and the campaign contribution publicity bill will not be passed by congress. The letter to the Indianapolis News, from which the above quotation is made, declares that the backers of the publicity legislation “see a willingness on the part of the dominant party managers to leave the way open so they can quietly take tainted contributions if they shall be offered.” The Republican managers will take the money fast enough, but they don’t want the people to know about it.