dates,
rental of rooms for committees and halls for meetings, payment of
musicians and speakers and their traveling expenses, printing campaign
material, postage for distribution of letters, newspapers and printed
matter, telephone and telegraph charges, political advertising,
employing challengers at the polls, necessary clerk hire, and
conveyances for bringing aged or infirm voters to the polls. The maximum
amount that can be spent by candidates is fixed, and they are required
to make under oath a detailed statement of their expenses in both
primary and general elections. The various committees, also, must make
detailed reports of the funds they handle, the amount, the contributors,
and the expenditures. Corporations are forbidden to contribute, and the
amount that candidates themselves may give is limited in many States.
These exactions are reinforced by stringent laws against bribery.
Persons found guilty of either receiving or soliciting a bribe are
generally disfranchised or declared ineligible for public office for a
term of years. Illinois, for the second offense, forever disfranchises.

It is not surprising that these restrictions have led the State to face
the question whether it should not itself bear some of the expenses
of the campaign. It has, of course, already assumed an enormous burden
formerly borne entirely by the party. The cost of primary and general
elections nowadays is tremendous. A few Western States print a campaign
pamphlet and distribute it to every voter. The pamphlet contains usually
the photographs of the candidates, a brief biography, and a statement of
principles.

These are the principal encroachments made by the Government upon the
autonomy of the party. The details are endless. The election laws of New
York fill 330 printed pages. It is little wonder that American parties
are beginning to study the organization of European parties, such as the
labor parties and the social democratic parties, which have enlisted a
rather fervent party fealty. These are propagandist parties and require
to be active all the year round. So they demand annual dues of their
members and have permanent salaried officials and official party organs.
Such a permanent organization was suggested for the National Progressive
party. But the early disintegration of the party made impossible what
would have been an interesting experiment. After the election of 1916,
Governor Whitman of New York suggested that the Rep