People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1896 — COST OF A CAMPAIGN. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

COST OF A CAMPAIGN.

TO CONDUCT A PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN NOWADAYS. Wh«r« the Money Comet From — Who Pays It and What They Pay It For — Why So Mach Money I* Cued. Topeka Co-Operator: Although most of us have an idea that millions of dollars will be spent in electing the next president of the United States, few can say definitely where the money is to come from, who will collect it and how it will be spent. The record of these transactions is not kept for obvious reasons, but it can be dispensed with. Methods do not vary. When the national committees of the two old parties assemble after the conventions make the nominations, the first thing to be done is to estimate the expense of managing the campaign. These expenses run into a fortune. Therefore they will make a list of the very rich men whose interests are most affected by the result. To these men the chairman sends personal letters asking for subscription. The Twentieth Century says William C. Whitney is expected' to contribute 150,000 to his party fund, or his backers do it for him. But the most expedient method is to have the trust magnates from a pool and make the raise by themselves in one great amount. The Pennsylvania manufacturers, led by Tom Dolan, will organize a committee and agree to raise a million among themselves for the Republican fund. John Wanamaker raised $400,000 all by himself in 1892. As a rule the tariff barons are expected to hand over two millions, because they are great beneficiaries when the Republicans are in office. The different trusts are then dealt with separately. For instance, the sugar trust

win pay nan a million to tne national committee, receiving in return a pledge not to be interfered with should the party attain power. A concern like the Bugar trust pays money to both the old parties and then does not bother its head about the result of the campaign. But sometimes two trusts find their interests opposed. Thus the beef trust cannot contemplate without a shiver some legislation which the sugar trust wants. Thereupon the two bid against each other, for the support of the party most likely to win. That is why the Republicans have so much money just now. There is a general impression that the next president will be a Republican, and all the corruptionists are hastening to secure the friendship of that party. Here we have the real explanation of the growth of civil service reform. In former years the parties found their chief revenues in struggles for office. The only rewards of victory were the emoluments of office and the opportuni- * ties of robbing the treasury. But with the growth of trusts, the creations of vast monopolies and the necessity of securing the franchises, the politicians began to find that the rank and file of the offices were poor gain. What the politicians found important was the possession of the executive and legislative branches of the government. Therefore the clerkships and inspectorships and the police and postofflee positions have been allowed to pass under civil •ervloe regulation. They do not yield tin rich rewards to be gained by betraying the people to the capital. Mkny people do not understand this And are ill-informed enough to imagine that politicians want the offices. What pofMM&ns want is power. Some of our most influential politicians care very HMli whether they are In office or not. the vast campaign fund has collected it is distributed among the doubtful states. A good organiser tMMM a campaign club. He inveigles a W of young counter skippers and 'lll--a * e earners who are given wntherms and torches or gewgaw! of the kind and are sent paradioc and st-

tending mass meetings in order to catch voters as addle-headed as themselves. The politicians pay for the noisy work, such as printing, music, hall hiring and so on, but their chief expenditure is in the bribing of voters. It is be difficult, however, to bribe voters owing to the great improvement of late years in our election' laws. Consequently most of the money goes to individuals who control voters, to saloon keepers, to stump orators and to the general run of shady characters so numerous during a presidential year. The papers are heavy subsidies. This money is never paid out openly as a bribe. It takes the form of payment for advertisements, of purchasing stock, of purchases of whole campaign editions and of the bills contracted in collecting “campaign material.” The wonder is that many newspapers have any influence at all upon voters, but for some unfathomable reason they do. In round numbers the political parties spend about twenty million dollars, directly or indirectly, in electing the president. That is little more than a dollar and a half for each voter in the land. When the campaign is over we poor, idiotic citizens of the United States wonder why the country seems to belong to the plutocrats. The country belongs to the plutocrats because they have bought it and paid for it.