Weekly journal-miner., 1912-11-20
THE STAY-AT.HOME VOTE.

since the election on the stay ar home vote, but nowhere have we
 seen SO clear an analyst, q, that pre-
 ,cnicd in ihoughtful editorial m
 the Washington Star The Star 'ays ~, inc Star pointed out thc other
 day, the returns of the election oi | Tuesday will be subjected to more critical and keen andy ,is than the voting figures of any election m re. cent years Already enough has been
 reported from the count to warrant certain significant deductions. While | the figures available are not official
 and are in some eases only approXi-
 mate. and furthermore while they do
 not include the total votes of the
 three minor candidates, DcbS. Rci.
 mcr and Chain. they are ncvcrihc-
 less sufficient to indicate that the
 successful candidate of the dcmocra-
 cy was not the choice of majority
 of the people. that had there been q combination of republican strength
 against him he would have been
 overwhelmingly defeated. and finally
 that there was unqucstionably re-
 markablc increase m the already
 heavy stay al home vote
 Ut was estimated by the census office before the election that as .
 rcsul, of the natural increase. in tho population. the admission oi two new states and the extension of
 the suffrage in California and Utah
 to women. the total vote would be
 approximately l6.45S.OOO as against
 a total in 1908 of l4.SSS.442 In the
 absence of the minor party fgurcS
 it is impossible yet to determine
 the actual total of the vote cast last
 week. but it is plain now that it did
 not equal the census office estimate
 by large margin. Wilson's vote
 on the basis of the present approxi-
 mate figures. was 6.lS9So5 Roose
 vel,'s vote was 4.05l .63i and Taft. vote was 3,s74.Gl Thus Wilson plurality on this basis was 2.l38,26z
 over Roosevelt. hut combination of Roosevelt and Taft votes would ! have given margin of l.436.4OC over Wilson The most striking [ phase of this is that Wilson's vote was on the present reckoning 2l9.2l , less than the total Bryan vote o 1908. although two more states vot. cd this year than four years ago
 these two giving Wilson total o approximately $500 votes. while th, combined Taft and Roosevelt vote [ fell 62.605 votes snort of the Taf , vote of l908 Thus in the case o the three. major parties this veal 5 there was deficiency of Hl.Sl, . votes as compared with the Taft , Bryan votes of 1908. Where. di, ? these votes go, They may hay,
 gone to Debs. or to Chain. or tc Rcimcr Probably some of then went to Dcbs. but no conceivable de fcction from major to the mino, - parties would account for the los . in voting strength that is apparen r on the face of the returns in thci 5 present state.
 l "In lVjS the minor parties con !. sisted of the socialists, prohibition s ists, social labortcs, populists an, ' independents The total of the vot cs cast for the five candidates O
 these parties. Debs. Chain. Gilhaus [ Watson and Hisgen, was 800.330. l , has already been estimated that ihcr, e was an increase oi abou, 500.00' - votes in the Debs strength an, $ granting other increases to Chafil , and Reimer this year--which are no - likely to be in the same proportion
 as the socialist increasc---it is fai r to assume that the total of the min c ar party vote will not he more tha, - i.500.00O. and this is probably
 C widely liberal estimate. This woul, y give total vote cast by all partic q this year of approximately l5.325 t GOO. or about l.l20,00 less than th ,, estimate of the census office
 c At the outset of the campaign C was asserted by some of the politi f cal leaders that there would be a
 unprecedented ouipouring of th
 people to vote on the vital issue
 presented, great popular uprisin
 bringing from their retirement th '- several million potential voters wh, d for one reason or another. do nc d exercise the franchise. The ccnsu C estimate of l6,445,000 votes made al d lowance, on the basis of previous e C cctions, for those who are thus sell '- disiranchised as well as those wh v for various causes have been depri,
 ed of the right to vote Thus. wit