The Daily Alaska Empire

CAMPAIGN EXPENSES

The Pauley affair-especially the suggestion that the former treasurer of the Democratic National Committee might have been tempted to exchange favors for campaign contributions-has led Representative Monroney of Oklahoma to propose that the Federal government foot the bill for Presidential electioneering.

There is nothing particularly new in this suggestion. There long has been concern over the high cost of being elected to office. William Howard Taft and William Jennings Bryan had ideas rather similar to Mike Monroney's. The late James Weber Linn used to talk about it a lot. Together with other University of Chicago faculty members, he heeded the oft-repeated admonition that good men ought to get into politics and immediately ran into the problem of paying campaign expenses-radio time, advertising; hall rent, printing and so on.

In large urban districts, legitimate expenses sometimes may exceed the salary of the successful candidate. This naturally leads to the pooling of campaign expenses through a party organization. So much money has been raised in this way that it has become necessary-through the Hatch Act--to place a limit on the expenditures of a single national party. However, many ways have been found to circumvent this rule.

Mr. Monroney comes forward with a new version of an old solution. He would have the government pay at least the expenses of Presidential campaigns. Congress would appropriate $7,000,000 for each major party and proportionately smaller amounts for the minor parties. "It is the public that pays the tariff in the long run anyway." he argues. "why shouldn't it do it openly and directly and remove the onus from the parties of having to pay their way with favors"

Mr. Monroney does not intend to introduce legislation just now. However. when he gets around to it, he can count on support at least from Senator Hatch of New Mexico. It was Hatch who wanted the Democratic convention of 1940 to write a similar proposal into its platform. Nothing came of his suggestion. However. one can be sure of a revival of interest in it whenever attention is recalled to the possibilities of abuse.

The Constitution specifices in detail how the Federal government shall be officered, but is completely silent about the practical details of elections. The result has been the development of a system which often finds patronage more effective than public spirit. It is time to give some thought to a better plan.