It is well to provide that corporations
shall not contribute to presidential or
national campaigns, and furthermore io
provide for the publication of both con
tributions and expenditures. There is,
however, always danger in laws of this
kind, which from their very nature are
difficult of enforcement the danger being
lest they be obeyed only by the honest,
and disobeyed by the unscrupulous, so
as to act only as a penalty upon honest
men. Moreover, no such law would ham
per an unscrupulous man of unlimited
means from buying his own way into of
fice. There is a very radical measure
which would, I believe, work a substan
tial improvement in our system of co:i
ducting a campaign, although' I am well
aware that it will take some time for
I people to so familiarize themselves with
such a proposal as to be willing to con
sider its adoption. The need for collect
ing large campaign funds would vnr«f it
congress provided an appropriation i'or
the proper and legitimate expenses of
each of the great national parties, an ap
propriation ample enough to meet the
necessity for thorough organization and
machinery, which requires a large ex
penditure of money. Then the stipula
tion should be made that no party re
ceiving campaign funds from the treasury
should accept more than a fixed amount
from any individual subscriber or donor
and the necessary publicity for receipts
and expenditures could without difficulty
be provided."
Wants Improvement In the
Ocean Mall Service.
