The San Francisco call., 1908-08-13
VOTE BREAKS ALL
PRIMARY RECORDS
Ballots PoIled Tuesday Foot
up the Enormous Total
of 33,536
Herrin Draws on Other Parties
While Leagues Support
Is All Bona Eide

All primary election records in this
city were broken Tuesday. The total
vote polled was 1886 and it over
topped by 1.O15 the record primary
vote cast in 1899, when the Stratton
laws first application brought out
32.521 voters.
The fact that this is the year of
presidential election undoubtedly has
something to do with the proportions
of the vote, but the principal explana-
tion is found in the spirited contests
waged by the opposing factions In the
republican and democratic parties.
To decide the points at issue in the
republican party between the Lincoln
Roosevelt league and the Herrin ma
chine. 22,5s4 men registered as repub-
licans went to the polls. In the hotly
contested primary of 1907 only 1908
republicans participated, while the re-
publican vote in May was 1885
To explain the defeat of the Lincoln
Roosevelt league, Tuesdays republican
vote as compared with the republican
vote in the primaries of last August
and of May this year must be taken
4hlO dNCO4Al SlIGHu-
Gus efforts the Herrin organization
was beaten in August and again in
May. For Tuesdays primary the ma
chine men prepared by systematic
registration of democrats and union
labor men as republicans. Two defeats
demonstrated that the bona fide re-
publicans of San Francisco were for
reform. Hence the remarkable in
crease in the republican vote must be
explained TO great extent by the
volunteers from other parties drummed
up by the push" to do Hessian service
against the Lincoln Roosevelt league.
HERRIN MAJORITY Is SMALL
Notwithstanding all their efforts,
the leaders of the Herrin organization
obtained Tuesday a majority of only
1926 in the entire city. While this
majority was sufficiently distributed
throughout the districts to place 13 out
of Is in the Herrin column and to give
the machine control of the local con-
vention, the interesting fact remains
that this latter result would have been
prevented by change Of 40 votes in
the hotly contested thirty seventh dis
trict
The organization recaptured the
thfrty-seyenth from the league by a
majority of 237. If 120 voters had
voted the league ticket instead of with
the machine the league would have
captured the district The "a dele
gates for the thirty-seventh. added to
the 65 elected in the thirty-second,
thirty fourth, thirty fifth, thirty ninth
and forty second, would have given the
Lincoln Roosevelt a majority of five in
the local convention.
While many votes were given to the
machine by accommodating democrats
who registered republican to help out
Johnny Lynch and the other push"
leaders, the great bulk of this assist
ance came from the union labor party.
There was practically no opposition to
the union labor slate, and as a result
only 1,436 union labor votes were
polled. In August of last year, with a
spirited contestt, the union labor poll
was 5.310 Most of the union labor
men who voted Tuesday lined up with
the Herrin machine. 1t was to swing
these men into the republican column
that Tom Finn and other leaders of
the union labor party were employed
by John c. Lynch
LEAGUES VOTES BONA FIDE
While the machine thus borrowed
votes for the purpose of beating the
league, the Lincoln Roosevelt workers
depended on bona fide republicans in
sympathy with the league principles
The returns show that 2.S32 more re-
publicans voted the league tickets Tues
day than in May.
The heaviest majorities for the ma
chine were in the big thirty-eighth. for
tieth and forty-first districts The
league won the thirty eighth in Nav by
a narrow margin of two votes. with
Wolfe fighting for his political life.
the machine won it Tuesday by a ma
jority of 4S2 The league carried the