Note 75 — VI CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS AND THE THEORY OF PARTY SUPPORT
Reading edition
“Republican Campaign Text Book,” 1908, p. 25. In his message at the beginning of the second (i. e., the first regular) session of the Sixty-first Congress on December 7, 1909, President Taft returns to the subject as follows:
“I urgently recommend to Congress that a law be passed requiring that candidates in elections of Members of the House of Representatives, and committees in charge of their candidacy and campaign, file in a proper office of the United States Government a statement of the contributions received and of the expenditures incurred in the campaign for such elections, and that similar legislation be enacted in respect to all other elections which are constitutionally within the control of Congress.”
The passage in the foregoing, italicised by the writer, is noteworthy in that it indicates a step in advance by the president. His speech of acceptance referred to contributions only, whereas the message of December 7, 1909, demands publicity of expenditures as well as of party income.