The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-10-25

Walter Wellrnan in Chicago Record
Herald tReD.).i
For some time past the presidential
battle has seemed a very complex ana
puzzIing field in the eyes of most OBJ
servers 1t has, indeed. been difficult
to gain a clear view of it amid all the
smoke of uncertainty. rumor ana the
conflicting claims from both sides of
vast areas in doubt But OF late the
field has cleared in the most marked
fashion It is now practicable 10 size
up the country with something Ike
assurance that We are dealing with
facts. or with probabilities so strong as
to be good substitute therefor. rather
than with rumors and SGesses. TWO
dominant features are TO be seen upon
the battle field now that ii is so largely
cleared of the smoke and haze which
have hitherto enveloped il.
l. The much talked-of Bryan land
slide in the agricultural west, in the
mountain states and on the Pacific
coast. is not a reality. 1t is true Bryan
is making heavy gains in all this ter
ritory. SO far as the popular vote Is
concerned. But il does not cut deep
enough to spell general revolution. The
Republican pluralities as whole will
be very much reduced-in some states
almost to the point of disappearance
but Bryan's actual gain of electoral
votes will be very small indeed-not
enough, on the present alignment of the
whole country. to have any effect upon
the result. The basic facts are that the
farmer is too prosperous to join po-
litical revolution, and save in few
small mountain states there are not
enough of the labor vote to give Bryan
the victory. West of Chicago there
will be heavy losses of Republican plu-
ralities, but the loss of electoral votes
will be. relatively speaking, a negligi-
BILE quantity.
.. The hot and heavy fighting in this
campaign has shifted to the industrial
states east of Chicago. to the states
where the labor vote is relatively large,
to states where the local conditions are
abnormaEand most of them working
against the Republicans-to the three
great states of New York, Ohio and In
diana. Two of these are the pivotal
states of the past-states which have
shifted from party TO party in presi-
| Dental yearS-and the other is a state
which has often been upon the verge
of doing So In all three of these states
this decisive triumVirate-the person.
al liberty or sumptuary legislation ques-
| tion has been raised by Republican
governors or Republican legislatures
Win tne result mat the natlOIat Re-
publican ticket is confronted by an in
cidental opposition which has no proper
place in the campaign. Here the labor
vote is heavy. and here also, particular
| ly in Ohio and Indiana, other factors
are working against the Republicans
| 1t now appears that in New York, the
greatest of the trio. the Republican
] leaders have taken advantage of pc
culiar local circumstances to turn the
unfavorable into salvation Ohio is
desperate fighting ground. with the
chances, in my opinion. in Bryan's IA
vor. Indiana seems hopelessly lost tC
Taft But IL New York stands Taft car
easily win without Ohio and Indiana.
! From information reaching me in
many ways, from personal visits tC
some of the states, from confidential
conversations with leading men of botE
parties, from many private letters.
believe the following to be a fair an6
impartial statement of the present
alignment of the battle.