Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-03
APATHY IN KENTUCKY
VERY LITTLE INTEREST MANI
TESTED IN POLITICAL AFFAIRS
Democrats Will Garry the State-Re'
publican Hopes in Several Congress
sional Districts-Even Chances.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.


LOUISVILLE, KY, October 1, 1904.
In spite of the fact that the election Is
only about a month away, there is a great
lack of interest in affairs political in Ken
lucky. Nor is the apathy confined to one
party, for both democratic and republican
leaders are calling on the boys in the
trenches to get busy"
There is little doubt that the democrats
will have good majority in the state. al
though the republicans in several of the
congressional districts are making claims
of strength which should they materialize
would change the complexion Of the Ken
lucky delegation in the House. They de-
clare that they have a fighting chance In
the ninth district, where Representative
Kehoe (democraD is opposed by former
Representative Pugh, who is one of the
most popular men in the district. whether
their claims are well founded remains 10
be seen, but it is certain that representa-
tive Kehoe lost some strength In his fight
last spring against the Beckham machine
in the state convention, when he made the
race against Beckham's candidate, Lewis
McQuown, for the state Craftsmanship. The
democrats, however, deny that they are
worried over the outlook and claim that
Kehoe will go back to Congress with as
large majority as he had last election.
Then there is the third district, now rep
resented by John Rhea, who refused to run
for the nomination this year on account or
his opposition to Parker and the gold
standard, and who claims that the demo-
cratic machine adopted methods in nomi-
mating James Richardson that could not be
countenanced by fair-minded men. He
made a bitter speech in the convention,
practically saying that he would not sup
port the nominee. Hence the republicans
with a strong nominee, Judge Jones, have
some hopes of being able to overcome the
democratic majority, though it must be ad
mitted that their chances are small.
The Hunter-Edwards Contest.
In the eleventh district the fight between
DR.. Godfrey Hunter and d. c. Edwards
for the republican nomination has been
settled in favor of Edwards, but there is
much hard feeling in spite Of the fact that
the decision of the district committee was
unanimous, and the democrats pinning their
faith to George Stone, a very popular man
throughout the district, declare that they
will cut down the usual republican majority
considerably Before the settlement of the
fight they even claimed that they had
good chance of carrying the district. but
it is hard to see how they could have hoped
for this as the eleventh. the only real re-
publican district in the state, Is so over
whelmingly anti-democratic that it would
be almost an impossibility for demo-
crat to slip in.
The one thing that may affect the vote
in Kentucky considerably Is the senti-
ment of the populists throughout the state.
The recent speeches of Tom Watson in
which he urged the members of his party
not to aid In the support of Parker seem
to have had considerable effect If the state
ment of ]. A. Parker. the chairman of the
state committee. is correct. He declares
that not populist will cast his vote for
the democratic ticket this year. But even
should this be so 1t will not be a great
drawback to the democratic party in the
state, as its majority, according to all past
SO large that they have little fear, and
1t is more than probable that they will
have between 1900 and 10000 to the good
after the ballots are counted
Incident May Help Blackburn.
A recent incident In the state that has