The morning journal-courier., 1908-09-16
ANOTHER STATE ELECTION.


 When the good Green Mountain state Of Vermont entertained the country fortnight ago with the first round of the election controversies of this pres ldential year, the wiseacre politicians looked on complacently Some saw much or little significance in the re- suits according as they favored or did not favor them and their party As a matter of fact the results of the Yer mont election, whatever they might have been. could have had but little significance in relation to the greater countrywide controversy of the two national parties Local issues alone were at stake and they were decided solely without reference to the national issues, The election showed only too plainly the definite advantage lt would he for Connecticut could it al- ways decide Its state Issues at special elections separate from the national elections SO that those issues might stand or fall entirely upon their own merits.
 But, if the Vermont election was of little significance as straw to show the way the national political breezes were blowing, the, more recent elcc- ton In the state of Maine is of even less importance as such. Those who undertake to prophecy the election of Mir. Taft or Mir. Bryan, basinF their conclusions upon the results Of the spe- cial state elections in Vermont or Maine are far afield. That the Repub- licans of Maine carried their state by small majority Of 5000 is of no more national importance politically than that in the special election in this city Of registrar of vital statistics on the same day, the Eighth ward, a died-n- the wool Republlscan ward, should be carried by the Democratic candidate for office and that the Fourth ward. which has long been known 10 be as thor oushly Democratic as the Eighth has been Republican, should be carried by the Republican candidate
 There are those-and their number is increasing yearly-who believe that municipal political problems should not be settled as between local branch es of the national Democratic party and the local branch Of the Republican par ty These citizens tells us that they come to this conclusion because the national parties are concerned with such problems as the tariff, the cur rency and others that bear no direct relation to the political questions of municipalities But the results of the state elections in Maine and Vermont and the small significance that Is be- ing put upon them as bearing upon the coming national election would seem to substantiate the belief that the feeling referred to as regards municipal cleo tions Is gradually spreading to state elections. Really there is absolutely no guarantee that the candidate of say tho Republican state or municipal par ty is worthy of support simply because the candidate of the national Repubi- can party is worthy of that support The truth of this is shown in Connecti- cut this year. The time Is rapidly coming when this will be more gener- ally recognized.
 As for the great local Issue at stake in Maine, 1t was of course that of pro- publcans. That will mean a lax en- forcement of the prohibition law of the state as opposed to the severe enforce ment of 1t favored in the past, which calls to mind the fact that. of the fourteen states that adopted prohibit ton in the decade preceding the Civil war, all but Maine have since repealed 1t. The fourteen included the six states of New England, New York Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wis consn, Iowa and Nebraska In Maine there are now indications that 1t will not be long before the so-called Surg | Is prohibition law will be reconsdered and possibly repealed too.