New-York tribune., 1908-10-12
POSTAL CARD cANVAsSEs,

The nos+aI card canvass of New York City con
5r.+a5 nv our neipbhor THE New York World,
indicates If nothing else that the people are not
losing their sense of humor If any one hao d
suspicion that the city was beginning 10 take i'
politics sadly he has only 70 read the Fesu's VI
rThe Worlds" canvass TO find the same sprishlS
gavety that moved the postal card voters 10 III
dicste in 1904 when President Roosevelt carried
the state bv about 175O0o the success or Judge
Parker bv 2n0OGO or So Since that election no
newspaper has until now given the people ai
opportunity to exercise this particular gut oI
humor but it apparently has not grown rusty III
idIeness. for 1.-The World" has heard from o'oo+
of our blithest spirits. who indicate Win 'he
most solemn mien conceivable that out OF totdl
vote of $4,000 in greater New York MI Chahier
will roll nm the tidy majority of 303.7S5. A few
moro of these ways have been heard from regard
ing the Presidency. and they indicate that Mr..
Rrvan will get in the whole city the f1attering
pl1lralitv of 131 SOC We say "fattering because
that is more than Mr.. COler got in his famous
rrn for Governor in 1902 And anybody surpass-
ing CoIer I'm New York's affections may Justly
feel fattered.
This 3O3,7 ,7S5 majority for, Mr.. Chanler is
worked out on the percentage basis, the percent
age of those who have shifted their politics in
the last two years being used as the determining
factor This method is employed because every
nOilflP3l
familiar with it. and it would be unkind to
adopt n new system which might hamper him
in his little joke On the face OF the returns.
out OF about 1900 postal cards received from
voters taken at random in fairly typicai-that
is TO say chiefly Observation-Disclosures. 4,So9
voted for Taft and 3.112 for Bryan, while 4,o9'
voted for Hughes. 10 3.S70 for ChaDler THESE
results. of course. are insignificant. To pay any
attention to them would be to heed the straw
vote" an index discredited in the days of our
grandfathers We Will consider only the
Hughes ChanIer vote In this the really sig
majority but that 2O39 men who say they voted
for Mr. Hughes in 1906 are now going TO vote
for Mr.. Chanler, while only 394 men who say
they voted for Hearst at that time have now
shifted Properly worked out, this shifting vote
shows that Mr. Chanler will get a 100000 ma
jority On the basis of about 1900 sample votes
out Of 100000 each wag puts into the calcula-
ton seventy elements of humOr.
We should like TO figure out from "The
Worlds Hughes returns just how many humor-
lists there are among S.654 Of our fellow citl-
zens taken at random, and we believe the com
putation would be not only valuable to science
but fattering to the national pride. If we had
as much faith in figures. percentages and the
like as our neigbbOr has. we believe could
do so and that the results would be fully as
useful and significant as those it reaches. From
Fl casual inspection of the figures, however we
will say that we feel satisfied that the ma
iority of iokers-election postal card jokers, at
least-among the $4,000 is much greater than
the 3O31S5 calculated for Mr.. Chanler. We
should put the majority of these humorists at
exactly $4,000.