The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-10-23
BAD FOR HOCH.
Poll Of Topeka Business Men
Shows Much Detection.
Secret Ballot Gives 45 Per Cent
Republicans for Harris.

During the past two days, a we'll
known Topeka bond broker has been
making a bean poll for the purpose
of finding out. for his own information,
the attitude of Republican voters on
the Harris-Hoch proposition.
A bean poll is not one of the kind
seen in vegetable gardens. The To-
peka man who made the bean polI's 2
referred to had a pasteboard box ten
inches long divided into three com
partments. The middle compartment
was open and contained a handful of
beans. The end compartments were
closed, save for a small hole in the
top of each large enough to admit OF
the Introduction Of a bean The com
partment at one end was labelled
Hoch" and the compartment at the
other end labelled Harris"
After taking this voting machine into
every first floor business. place between
Fifth and Ninth on both sides OF Kan
sas avenue, and giving all Republican
voters, exclusive Of negroes, in each
place of business an opportunity to
vote. count of the beans in the Hoch
and Harris boxes was made Monday
afternoon, with the result that Hoch
had 127 beans in his box, and Harris
had an even 100 beans in his.
That the poll was made with care
and honesty there is no ground to doubt
and the showing. while it may not be
fairly indicative of the general senti-
ment Of the people of Topeka. shows
that there is most astonishing amount
amount of Harris sentiment abroad In
the ranks of the Republican party
The man who made the poll said in
speaking of his work: Il don't want
my name to be used in connection with.
this, because it might be used to injure
Governor Hoch, who is a friend of mine.
OF course Governor HOch himself knows
who made this poll but L object to
having the public know my name, be-
cause my motive would be miscon-
strued- I took this poll for my own
satisfaction. I wanted to see whether
all this talk about Republican disaffec-
tion had any real foundation right here
in Topeka. determined at the outset
that I would receive no Democratic
votes because practically all the Dem
ocrats will vote for Harris. l also decid-
ed to receive no negro votes, because
the negroes have organized themselves
into clubs for the purpose Of beating
Hoch, and 1 might have run into nest
of these club members and gathered up
a lot of votes which fail to represent
the real sentiment of the ordinary voter
At first I thought I would limit the
poll to 100 voters and placed 100 beans
in the middle box When those beans
were voted I made count, and found
that out of the first 1O0 Harris had As
beans I was afraid that there might
have been some mistake, and that the
real sentiment of the business people
had not been expressed, so I decided to
extend the poll to cover both sides OF
Kansas avenue between Fifth and
Ninth streets. I collected a total Of 227
votes. / saw nearly all of those votes
cast. and feel reasonably sure that no
person voted twice. Several persons
voted. and then stated afterwards that
they were Democrats. at ONCE took
their votes out of the Harris box
"I found about a dozen people who
stated that they had not made up thelr
minds how they would vote. They adj
rnftted that they we're Republicans,
but said that they were not sure they
would vote at all Usually. however,
the people I met were ready to vote
promptly, and vote in plain sight. Only
a few turned their backs so that I
could not see how they voted.
Among the last places visited
with my box were the banks, and here
found that the Hoch sentiment was
strong Almost all the bankers and
bank employees voted for Hoch with
out any hesita ton.
This poll is very significant; in my
opinion 1t shows that 40 per cent of
the white Republicans in Topeka are
going to vote for Harris. I suspect
that the proportion Of cOlored Repub-
licans who vote for Harris Will be even
larger. It is fair to assume, however.
that the proportion Of Republicans
who are off is larger in Topeka and
other cities than in the country Sup
pose that instead of assuming that 40
per cent Of the Republicans viii vote
for Harris, we assume that only one
sixth of the Republicans will vote for
Harris. Allowing for the off year and
the stay at home vote. I figure that
Harris Will beat Hoch in the state by
about 10000