Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1912-11-05
BY Frederic ]. haskin. :

With the going down of the sun to-
day the mightiest jury that ever sat In
any cause will have marched to the
polls and recorded its verdict. 1t is
not improbable that during the day
100000 freemen will have gone to
the polls and back to their work again.
Sixteen million men! Shoulder to
shoulder a string of them five thou
sand miles long! Sixteen million men!
An army Of $4,000 regiments. Sup
posing that each voter takes only
half an hour from the time he leaves
his work until he returns, it would
require more than a thousand years
for one man to do it all. When such
power as this speaks what wonder
abides it's verdict.
The great question may not be so
much, who will VIM" but rather,
.'Will anyone win?' With three-c cor
nered fight in which each party is
practically certain to get some cleo
toral votes, it becomes a question
whether anyone of them can get the
necessary majority of the 531 votes in
the electoral colleges of the several
states. This means that to win, one
of the candidates must have 266 votes
when the electors meet and select a
president. The betting indicates that
the political authorities think Wilson
will do this, but that neither of the
others can do it. Chairman Hilles
claims that Mr.. Taft will carry the
election and shows $50 votes in his re-
cent forecast. But. unfortunately, he
includes Missouri and Maryland in his
total, and if he loses them he pares
down his total by c6 votes which
would bring it down 20 254 votes, or 16
short of his need if his candidate is to
win
Tho Roosevelt Claims.
The Roosevelt claims have not been
based on the specific figures that the
Taft claims are, but it seems certain
that If Mr.. Roosevelt can win it will
be achieved only by leaving nothing
for Mr.. Taft. The ex-president must
win practically everything not taken
by Wilson. If Taft should carry only
the seven states Of Washington, Utah,
Wyoming, Vermont, Colorado. Rhode
Island and Idaho, and Wilson should
carry only the solid south and New
Jersey, Roosevelt would win. But, If
he should lose New York and any
other one state to either of them, he
would fall below the requisite 266
votes. Or. if he should carry New
York, the loss of Pennsylvania in COM
bination with either California, In
diana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine,
Massachusetts,, Michigan, Nebraska,
Ohio, West Virginia. or Wisconsin,
would still leave him outside Of the
charmed circle These figures might
be continued indefinitely to show what
an uphill fight Roosevelt will have to
win today.
If Woodrow Wilson should carry the
states having Democratic governors, he
would win by margin greater than
that predicted by Chairman Hilles for
his candidate. Or, if he carries the
% states which would cast their votes
for him il the election We're thrown
into the house. he will win, with %
votes to spare. In other words, II he
carries only those states which went
Democratic for congress two years
ago, he will win with a safe margin.
This does not include the votes of the
states which are divided on house
presidential ballot-Maine, Nebraska,
and New Mexico. The 90 states
which have Republican delega-
tions in the House, have total cleo