The Washington herald., 1912-10-27
BUSINESS WORLD
SUPPORTING TAFT
Employers Are Exerting Personal
Influences in Favor Of the
Republican Ticket.
SLIGHT TREND TO
PRESIDENT RESULTS
Democrats, However, Claim Efforts
Will Prove Futile in the
Eastern States.
BY JOSEPH p. ANNIN.

BY JOSEPH r. AMIN.
That the Republican party Is demand
ing from the business world the fns
measure Of support for the Taft ticket
namely. the vote Of the industrial an
unsktlled labor employees, is the expla
nation Democratic leaders give for tn
recent trend to President Taft. Thi
weapon, for years considered one of tn
most valuable assets of the Republican
organization. to be brought into the fgh
at the eleventh hour in case the tide hat
turned against the party's nominee ha.
been held in reserve. The information
recently disseminated throughout thu
country that the business world Is rally
inE to the Taft standard again is taken
In Democratic quarters to mean nothing
more or less than that the employers are
exerting their personal influence to di.
vert the big industrial vote from Roose-
welt and Wilson to Taft.
This movement has been felt particu-
larly in New England. and several re-
cont developments are pointed to in
substantiation Of the report. Among the
New England and Middle Atlantic States
Massachusetts,. New York. and Pennsyl-
SdIld are ptlleSeu u De III udnkeI Oh
being seriously affected by this move
nient. For instance, the General Elec-
trio Company, of Schenectady, N. Y. is
said to have refused the opportunities
usually offered .rs 200 employees to lis
ten to touring candidates.
Railroad for Taft.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company
is reported to be unusually active in
pointing out to its employees the desira-
bility of voting the Taft ticket, and. il
is charged, is even going to the ex-
pense of circulating Republican litera-
ture extensively among its shop and
road employees.
This type of support. while not claim
ed by the Republican leaders. is set
down being directly responsible for
the confidence which has marked their
recent utterances, and which leads them
to claim for tine Republican ticket all
of the New England States and all ex-
cept New Jersey of the Middle Atlantic
States.
In a recent tabulation. in which they
claimed $50 electoral votes for Taft,
conceded I32 to Wilson and set down
1i9 as doubtful. the following States in
volving 135 electoral votes were among
those claimed for the President: Con-
necticut. Delaware. Maine. Massachu-
setts. Maryland. New Hampshire. New
York. Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and
Vermont. New Jersey. with fourteen elec-
toral votes, and the only remaining
State in the two divisions. was placed
in the doubtful column. Not one was
conceded either to Wilson or Roosevelt.
From the present outlook, even grant
ing the Willingness of employers to
coerce votes for the Taft ticket, and
with a fair measure of success, this
optimism hardly can be justified, par
ticularly as Vermont and Rhode Island,
with nine electoral votes between them.
are the only States which Democratic
surveyors generally. concede to the Taft
ticket.
Certainly the four big Industrial States
in these groups. Massachusetts, New
York. New Jersey. and Pennsylvania,
have given no indications of a landslide
in any direction, and Pennsylvania
and Massachusetts certainly have not
eliminated the possibility of Bull
Moose plurality to the satisfaction either
Of Taft or Wilson leaders
Concerning Maine.
In SO far as Maine is concerned, the
Republican leaders have something tan
yible upon which to base their hope OF
success, in that the September elections
n that State resulted in the loss of the
Legislature and one Congressional dis
-rict to the Democratic party, Bull Moose |
md Republican factions uniting for the |
purpose of taking the State machinery |
rom the Democrats after tasting the !
menu Of the outs for two years. But 1
Maine has only six votes, and the alli- |
lnce which beat the Democrats in Sep |
ember will not extend to the electoral |
light next month.
In New Hampshire. the Democrats are |
confident. Two Democratic Congress
'ional candidates have been Endorsed by
he Bull Moose party. In 1910 1900
Republican plurality, given Taft two
ears before, was cut down to a bare
900 for Bass, the Republican guberna-
orial candidate. New Hampshire has
our electoral votes.
In Connecticut a Taft plurality of
more than 1900 was changed to a Demo-
ratio plurality of nearly 4.0OO two years
go. with the total vote cast only 26,O00
ess in 1910 than in 1908. Wilson mana
ers In Connecticut declare their candi-
ate will carry the State by between 15,-
% and 10000 plurality. while a number
{ Republicans who recently have sought
in the Connecticut situa-
ion declare they will be surprised If
wilson does not carry the State by at
last 5000 plurality. Connecticut has
even electoral votes Ia
In Delaware. Senator Dupont has an
tough fight on to hold his !
Machine in line, in the face Of Bull Moose
ssaults and the Democrats are corre-
pondingly hopeful. Delaware has only
aree electoral votes. II
In Governor's Home.
In New Jersey the element of uncer-
ainty as to the attitude ex-senator
mith Is assuming toward the Wilson
is. in the minds of Demo- G
rats, Offset by recent Bull Moose gains {
4 the Skeeter State. Wilson men claim, s
that the intimate knowledge
usiness interests have been able to ac- t
uire Of Gov. Wilson during his two '
ears as executive of the State have
'eaned them largely from the belief a
nat only by the election of a Republi- e
an will they be assured Of tranquility.
n the other hand. there is much open n
ostility manifested for Wilson from in O
ependent sources and these same inde- v
endents are equally hostile to the Bull p
loose leader. However. it would be a /
,urce Of general surprise IL Wilson C
Iiled to carry his own State next s
onth, despite the barely lukewarm G
Ipport his candidacy is accorded from c
veral elements in the Democracy of
at State. New Jersey has fourteen
ectoral votes.
In Maryland signs point to a heavy v
I'LL Moose vote, and the belief is that d
resident Taft will have to share gener- n
lsly the colored vote with his predeces- d
r. This probability is admitted even Z
? the Republican organs Of the State n