Show TIlE THE BIG SHOW COSTS SOME presidential Candidates are waited wafted into office on a cloud of smoke while the aspirations of others oth- oth others ers are dashed to oblivion by the same breeze All of which IS by way of saying th that the cigar making industry is due for ir a b boom m now that f a presidential presidential election year is with us As far back as 1888 1883 when Harrison was elected the astounding number num num- number ber of more cigars were manufactured than the preceding year By 1920 and its increased population the boost in cigar mak mak- making making making ing for the presidential year came to the tidy total of above that of 1919 The astonishing thing about the big countrywide show of an elec elec- election tion is that the Havana filler the politician stuffs into your mouth is merely an item in the whole campaign cam cam- campaign campaign and election costs The lat lat- latter latter ter it has been estimated by com com- competent competent competent and conservative cons rati e observers reaches In addition to that huge sum there are arc other millions impossible to compute Out of all this spending it is perhaps fortunate for the Ameri Ameri- American can public that usually snort more good than merely the choosing of a President Pres Pres- President ident is the result For one thing hundreds of thou thou- thousands thousands sands of persons are employed employed- not the least of them beine news news- paper workers who wh figure briefly I but actively in compiling election returns In Chicago for example the busi busi- business business ness of collecting returns is in inthe inthe inthe the hands of the police An officer officer visits each precinct obtains two results of the vote voie One of these he speeds to the board bO of election commissioners the other to the City News Bureau which has moved bodily into Chicago's coun coun- council count t cil chambers for the evening I Rents are paid out for organization tion quarters down to the smallest precinct precinct spellbinders are em em- employed employed with all expenses paid bands are hired banquets are I spread and the politicians pass out cigars I Did we say expense i Well its it's a conservative estimate i anyway i |