Where the Money Goes

Donald MacGregor, correspondent, recently wrote an article on campaign management. As a specific statement of what the Parties are doing and will do in the present campaign, it was of little value; but it rehearsed, in a general manner, the way money is spent in campaigns-- something which is not too well known by the public.

Mr. MacGregor laid out a typical campaign budget:

25% for headquarters expenses

20% for speakers and radiocasting

20% for campaign books, buttons, posters

15% for miscellaneous and emergency costs

10% for advertising

10% for press bureaus

The 25% for headquarters expenses is devoted to rent and management, to scores of clerks and stenographers and other assistants, such as are necessary in the business of spending several million dollars effectively in two or three months. If possible, the headquarters are usually made expensively elaborate, because visitors like feeling that they have been to call on a successful organization.

The 20% devoted to speakers goes mostly for railroad fare and hotel bills, since most of the speakers give their time free. Radiocasting will cut down some of the traveling expenses, but will add instead another cost-- the use of telephone wires for carrying speeches to distant radiocasting stations. Every radio speech now costs several thousand dollars.

The 20% for campaign trinkets goes into a number of things. The most elaborate is the campaign text book giving the party platform, acceptance speeches of the candidates and other good party propaganda. These are distributed to local campaigners, to editors, to correspondents, etc.--wherever they may do good--and they cost perhaps $50,000. There are also many thousands of pamphlets, much cheaper to get out, but much more numerous. There are posters and lithographs of the candidates which cost about four cents apiece. In 1920, the Republicans distributed 5,000,000 of these in crucial states. There are also campaign buttons costing from three cents apiece up, depending on their elaborateness. A shipping department must handle the distribution of all this stuff. In 1920, the Republicans spent $680,000 on shipping.

Billboard advertising is more flexible than other means of expenditure, is more likely to be practiced by those with well-filled campaign chests than by those who are cramped in their funds. Even in the gigantic year of 1920, the Republicans spent only $400,000 in this way.

The 15% for miscellaneous items covers telegraph and long distance telephone calls, everything extraor- dinary. Usually, the traveling expenses of the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates come out of this fund rather than out of the general speakers fund. These traveling expenses frequently come to 5% of the entire cost of the campaign. The reason for this is that candidates travel on special trains so that they can stop by the wayside to make speeches and thus facilitate their business. Special trains are expensive. Cars are rented by the day and 100 full-fare railroad tickets are required also. James M. Cox spent $160,000 on his expensive stump-speaking in 1920.

The 10% spent on press bureaus and news service, chiefly to small dailies and weeklies, is well spent; good writers, good cartoonists are hired to turn out news-propaganda. This is shipped out free to the small papers, sometimes as "mats" or "plates"--that is, with the typesetting already done. The little press gobbles this up greedily. In general, 11 is by far the most ably written stuff that such papers print and it has a deadly political effect.

This is the manner in which $10 million or so will be spent this year.