The Democratic advocate., 1908-11-06

usual were unable to vote properly
Covington's victory is a remarkable
! one and went far beyond the eXpec-
tations of his friends. Those who
knew the real situation on the East
ern Shore had been confident for some
weeks that Mr.. Covingtons fight was
won and that he would be elected by
majority that would leave no doubt
and no room for a contest, but that he
would get 2,S72 plurality and that he
would carry eight of the nine counties
on the Eastern Shore, insiuding Dor
chester and Talbot, was not antici-
pated by either Mr.. Covington or his
| friends or the Democratic leaders. 1t
went beyond what they claimed by a
long way.
| Covington's success and his almost
phenomenal plurality are due princi-
pal1y to two things-his own aggress-
i've, capable and vigorous fight and,
second, the fact that Uncle Bill'' was
unable to "open his barrel" From
the start the only thing Covington and
his friends were afraid of was that
Jackson would again put into the dis
trict, despite the Corrupt Practices
act, so many thousands of dollars that
the district would be swamped with
money. They determined to prevent
this, if possible. Mr.. Covington, in
his speech accepting the nomination,
made the Corrupt Practices act the
keynote of his campaign. The DEM
ocratic States Attorneys responded to
his call. Governor Crothers sent his
secret service men down on the Shore,
and even if ''Uncle Bill" had intended
to "open his barreT' he certainly
abandoned the idea Some money, it
is claimed, was put out by the Repub-
licans, but anything like a repetition
of Mr.. Jackson's campaign two years
ago was made impossible, and, in con-
sequence, Covington swept the dis
trict.
Of course, the absence of sample
ballots helped him, too, and he had
the advantage of having more of the
big guns of the party on the stump in
his district than any of the other can
didates. His victory, however, is
chiefly due to his own efforts and he
made a campaign unprecedented on
the Eastern Shore for activity and
thoroughness.
Covington not only carried Wicomico
the home county of Mr.. Jackson
but his own county of Talbot, which
is normally Republican by several
hundred, and Dorchester, the home of
Mr. P. L. Goldsborough, who managed
Mr.. Jackson's fight for him, and which
had been expected to give 600 for
Jackson Governor Crothers' home
county of Cecil gave Covington a plu-
rality of STA and gave Bryan 519. The
Governor was deeply interested in
both Bryan and Covington and did all
| in his power to elect both. While
Covington ran ahead of Bryan in all
of the counties, this was to have been
expected, and Bryan received from
the Eastern Shore district a plurality
/ that exceeded any claimed for him at
State headquarters during the cam
paign.
Democrats look upon Covington as
having redeemed" the Eastern Shore
and are confidently claiming that it
means that this district will continue
t to send Democrats to Congress and to
elect Democrats to State Offices. 1t
is said that the farmers almost to a
man on the shore voted for Bryan.
The efforts of the Republicans to win
over the oyster vote does not seem to
have been successful and all over the
shore the Democrats made gains.
Somerset, while not going Democratic,
gave less Republican majority than
! had been expected.
Second Congressional District.
In this district the vote of Congress
me n Talbot went beyond what had
been claimed for him by his friends
He got more in Hartford and Carroll
counties than he had expected. He
fell Off slightly in Baltimore county,
but gained greatly over the Garrett