Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-10-31
Both Parties in Indiana Resort to Mud
Singing.
some OF THE CAMPAIGN TRICKS
Review Of the Congressional Pros
poets in the State.
FEW CHANGES LIKE ELY
'pecial From a Staff Correspondent.

special From a SIAN correspondent.
INDIANAPOLIS, October 31.-The cam
paign in Indiana has reached the mud
singing stage, and from now until cleo
ton day it will fairly reek. determinations
from the campaign managers. great and
small. are heard on all sides. 'Scoundrel,"
"Boodler," Thief are few of the milder
terms All kinds of tricks are played, and
some are alleged which are not played but
there is Undoubtedly corruption in plenty.
Each side is accusing the other of intimi-
dation and fraud. The republicans say that
In the lower counties, where the German
vote is heavy. the democrats are sending
men through the rural communities repre-
senting themselves to be agents of the gov
ernment. They are alleged to make in
quiries as to the male population to be
drafted into the imperial armies
Talk of a draft will throw a German
community into a rage in a jiffy.
Then, il is claimed, that in the negro pre-
cincts men are urging the ignorant popula-
ton to register their disapproval of south
ern lynching by putting an N mark on
the democratic column when they mark
their ticket. This, of course, would cause
that vote to be thrown out.
For their part. the democrats are loud IN
the charge that the republicans are using
coercion and intimidation in the labor dis
tricts. They say that the Industrial vote
will be scourged by the trusts into line for
the republican ticket. The democrats also
insist that the republicans are using money
in large quantities, and will buy the election
if possible
Floating Vote of 10000.
So one can take his choice of the stories.
1 am prepared to believe the worst about
both parties in Indiana. If there is a land
slide in this state, an overwhelming plural
ity for either party, 1t may represent the
popular vate. If the plurality falls around
| {, 600 or 5000 it would give rise to the sus-
picion that the victorious party had been
Just little more successful In its methods
than the other. A conservative estimate of
the purchasable floating vote in Indiana
this fall fixes it at about loUo II Is
charged that in Indianapolis It amounts 10
2 600; in Evansville, to 1,5OO; in Terre
Haute to 1890, and Fort Wayne, to 1,5OO,
with the remainder scattered. The congress
sional ticket will depend in large measure
upon the popular vote. That is to say, II
| the presidential ticket should show plu-
rality of 10000 or 40,O00it would mean that
! some districts which are not normally In
| doubt would go with it, The exceptions VIII
| fights. fig IS
Two congressional districts are very
much in doubt, the ninth and fifth. the
| first and fourth are supposed to be shaky
| The ninth is now represented by Charles
| B. Lands, republican. and he has great
| fight on his hands. He was elected by a
| plurality of a little over LOCO two years
ago in a total vote Of over 1900. mr..
| Lands opponent is Mr.. David Allen, who
| is a captain in the army serving in the
| Philippines. The apparent anomaly OF a
man running for Congress on the Kansas
| City platform and at the same time direct
| ing military operations against the wards
| of democracy is excused by his assertions
| in letters that are wrong in the Philip
pine matter and should come away.
Depends on the Farmer Vote.
The farmer vote in the ninth is counted
|
are large farming communities about him
| and it is claimed that there is distinct
| movement to the republican ticket this fall
| from that class. Mr.. Bryan's closing CAM
| paign in Indiana will be conducted almost
| entirely in Lands district, showing that
| the democrats think it is close.
In the fifth district, which includes the
city of Terre Haute. there is sharp fac
tional fight among the republicans, and the
| outlook is bad for them, II a straightaway
| ballot should be east. Faris, the sitting
| republican member, had plurality Of only
242 in 1898. E. S. Holiday Is the repub-
lican and Frank Horner the democratic
| candidate. BY singular coincidence these
| men are partners In the law business and
| each has but one eye. In this district Debs
will poll a large vote, and that, coupled
with the fact that Terre Haute has largs
| floating vote makes the outcome doubtful
The republicans have given up hopes Of
| healing their factional trouble.
| The first district, represented In Congress
| by Hemenway, republican, is contested by
the democrats with Robert Dale Owen as
| their candidate. Hemenway has fine rec
| ord, and the republicans have not aban-
doned hope of saving the district. In tho
| second district Robert w. Miers, the sitting
| democrat, is having a hard fight for re-
| election, but the chances are believed to be
| in his favor. The republicans are claiming
| the Fort Wayne district, but the outcome
| is exceedingly doubtful.
| Except in the case of a landslide, there
| are not likely to be material changes in the
political complexion of the Indiana delega-
| ton. N y. M.