The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-09-14
The MAINE ELECTION.

The result OF the Maine state election
Monday may be construed in two ways,
according 10 the viewpoint from which
the observation is made From the Re-
publican side The plurality Of 27.cO0 for
Governor-elect Cobb is considered great
triumph fer the dominating party mas
much as the plurality far exceeds The pre-
diction made Just before the election From
the opposite standpoint the Democrats
fird source 81 pleasure ii tie fact that the
Republican plurality in sure Republican
state vas held below the fgnres of the
last two elections ii presidential years
In 1926 the Republican plurality was IN
preceoensed. being 1910 -Four years
ago i vas s4,ls2. Thus il will be seen
that compared with The results of the last
two state elections in presidential years
this year Rer-s iean plurality shows a
falling Off, Bot the two elections men
tlcned hardly make true basis Tor com-
pariscn a. the Democratic party of Maine
was I'd badly demoTalized state through
the BryaDic influence. In neither ysar
did they present anything like their nor
NAL strength. ard they were consequently
overwhelmed The usual Democratic vote
ranged between 55.e0o and 90, eco for the
fifteen years prierso 1853. In the 1895
election their sose dropped to "a $50. rep
ressnting less Of something Ike "a, ZOO.
The Democratic raEty rot hack Eve thou
sand 0f these sCss votes foar years later,
bringing their total strength ID to nearly
5000. Hhen 80 total figures fol this
years easgstun aFs ID they will show that
the party hgs also secured several thou-
sand more o. thssf noEmal strength OF
twelve years aso. II sens that the re no.
Gratis q Maine are sl0wiy coming back to
themselves after their wandering Of the
last eight years.
But Il The true basis for comparison is
sought it will be found in the period prior
10 the detection from the Democratic ranks
through the Bryan influence. A glance
at the plurallties for the presidential
years from 1871 shows that the Democrat
il strength was such that il I'd year did
the Republican plurality 60 above 10000
In fact the average plurality was shout
5000 The highest vas 1875. Count
ing in The last two elections prior to the
present year, the average goes slightly
above 10000. Compared with the aver
age in either case the Republican plural
ity Of this year was overwhelming. But
it was scarcely 70 be expected that the
Democratic party ii that state would re-
gain any considerable portion Of Its usual
strength II eight years time. Like sick
man who Ia recuperatiDg, the Maine Dem
ocratic party will be slow in getting back
its strength. Il will take much ncurish-
ment and tender care. Probably the par
~ will never be itself. The party may,
however, take some hope through the
election Just held. It shows that by stages
the party is recuperating. That the
well party showed up so much stronger
than the estimates made by its managers
Is not surprising, and for this reason the
Republican managers we're sly enough TO
place the figures 50 low that any great
increase over them would appear like
Republican landslide. The average esti-
mate was $4,000, ridiculous figure when
the condition Of the Democratic party is
taken into consideration. Without doubt
the managers knew full we'll that their
party would poll much greater vote than
such plurality would indicate. II may
have been foxy political trick to place
the estimate low