Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-09-13
SHERMAN IS CONFIDENT.
Says Republicans Will Have a Saft
 Majority in the Next Congress.

Washington, D. C., Sept 13-"Wt shall have substantial majority 1T the next congress-not merely a
 working majority, but majority that will enable us to do the public
 business as the republican part!
 wants to do it."
 Representative James s. Sher man, of New York, chairman of tht republican congressional committee expressed this view after having con sidered the whole congress situation in the light of the latest information available to the committee.
 Mir Sherman was in Washington { few hours looking after some busi
 ness in the departments. He has
 been spending practically all of hi. time since the middle of August al
 the New York headquarters of his committee. He devoted much time to the congressional contest in Maine
 which developed into a spirited fight on account of the participation oi President Gompers and the American Federation of Labor.
 "Of course," said Chairman Sher. man, "it would be foolish to say that Mir Gompers and his followers did not cut any figure in the Maine fight but it is fact that careful andy sis of the returns from the four con- gressional districts indicate that Lit tlefield, against whom the Gompers batteries were particularly directed ran ahead of his ticket. You know, Gompers and his labor friends con- ducted an unusual campaign against Littlefield. It was house to house campaign. About a score of men under Gompers' direction went about the district interviewing voters of all classes and urging them to vote against the republican candidate. but expressed entire willingness to have the man whom they were talk ing vote for the prohibition candidate or the socialist candidate. It was anything to beat Littlefield. As a matter of fact, the slump in the re- publican vote in Maine last Monday was due not to Mir Gompers and the agitation of labor. but to purely To- cal conditions which. without Comp CTS, would have affected the yote in any event. It will be noticed that the majorities of all the republican candidates for state officers as we'll as for congress fell off in about the same proportion; yet no fight was made on any candidate by the Comp CTS people except Littlefield, and, as I stated. he ran somewhat ahead of his ticket.
 The situation in other parts of the country looks pretty we'll for the republicans at this time. We now have in the house 114 republican majority. We shall have no such ma jority as that fin the next congress. because the conditions under which we elected that majority were nota- bly exceptional: but we shall have a majority that will enable us to meet all our engagements with the people"
 Now that the campaign in Maine is over, work fin other parts of the country has been begun with vigor. Chairman Sherman says that from the latter part of this month to election day the pace will be pretty warm.
 Secretary Shaw already has start ed on a three weeks tour in the course of which he will visit many congressional districts: Secretary Taft will give us at least two weeks: Vice-President Fairbanks will be on the stump almost continuously until election day. although he arranges his own dates for speaking: Speaker Cannon will start out again the lat ter part of this month and speak nearly every day during the cam paign: Senator Beveridge. of Indi- ana. will speak two weeks under the assignments of the congressional committee and scores of other able republicans will do their share. It wiIl be a pretty warm campaign. 90 far as we are concerned. unles I miss my guess very badly"