Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-10-27

All forecasts Of the probable result of
the election in this State made prior
to last Saturday, when the registration
closed, were utterly without value.
They were crude guesses by political
amateurs, and as they were all of rosy
Republican hue, made through the
columns of Republican organs, were
merely instances of ''the wish" that
sis father to the thought" The man
who knows anything about politics
never bothers his head about election
estimates while the registration is yet
open. He devotes all his time and
energies to getting his party registered,
to the last man. After the books are
closed, and it is known to certainty
how many people can vote, he scans
the lists of voters and puts his esti-
mating pencil into play. The fellows
who shouted victory, one way or the
other, before there was anything tangi-
BILE to estimate upon, may attempt to
either emulate or discount his claims
of victory, but the public will only
laugh at their efforts. They have
proved their utter ignorance of the first
principles of practical politics, and
their future guesses will but accentuate
their folly.
But, with the figures at hand, ex-
perienced politicians are already at
work estimating upon the result of the
election to take place in Delaware one
week from next Tuesday. As far as
New Castle county is concerned, the
totals of the registration speak elo-
quently. They show that the negro
registration is fully one thousand short
in Wilmington, and at least three
hundred short in the rural districts.
Here is a dead loss of between 1900
and l, 400 votes to the Republican party.
The Republican plurality of two years
ago, which ranged from LOCO to 1000
in the county, is thus absolutely wiped
out, and few hundred placed on the
other side. In addition, the Demo-
Gratis are in fifty per cent better shape
in this campaign than they were two
years ago, and many Democrats who at
the last election helped to make the
Republican majority, this year will
vote their party ticket. The Single
Tax and Prohibition totals are not
likely to exceed those of two years ago.
1t is both reasonable and intelligent,
therefore, to estimate that New Castle
county will surely give good Demo-
cratic majority at the coming election.
Registration details in Kent and
Sussex counties are not yet at hand,
although at this time and at this dis
| lance, lit looks as though the Union Re-
publicans, by desperate efforts, had
managed to make a strong showing on
| the last day of registration. But,
while they may have majority on the
county ticket in each county, there is
no possibility that they will elect a
majority Of the Legislative delegation
in either. Nor is it sure that their
majority on the general vote in the
two counties if they have a majority
will be sufficient to overcome the
heavy margin which the Democratic
| ticket is sure to have in New Castle
county.
A Democratic Legislature, therefore,
is absolutely sure, and Democratic
victory in all other respects is strongly
prospective. No intelligent reasoner
of political events can doubt the cor
rectness of this estimate, and further
knowledge of the registration figures is
likely to make it even more secure.
This is not partisan forecast, but a
practical one, and no intelligent Re
publican or Democrat, who reasons
from facts and not from feelings, can
avoid any other conclusion.