Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-11-03
''NON-PARTISAN'
GETS REAL TEST
State Elections Next Tuesday
Will Demonstrate Value
of the System

Nenpartisan acts governing the
| election of judges and associate
Judges In counties and mayors and
eouhellmen In the second and third
class cities OF the state will be given
the most extensive test next Tuesday
that they have had since they were
enacted by the Legislature of 1919.
! Very little amendment has been done
| 10 them and while there have been
| law suits to determine various ques-
| uons the acts stand practically as
I when placed upon the books. The
| experience of the last few years in
| the selection of appellate court
judges coupled with what may be
| turned up In the numerous contests
| this year will influence In great
measure movements against the non
/ partisan system In the General As
uembly of 1919,
In nineteen judicial districts there
are forty-two candidates for twenty
| SIX common pleas judgeships. Twelve
Judges, ten now on the bench, are
not opposed on the ballot, having Sc
! cured q clear fifty-one per cent of
! the votes. In two districts, Philadel-
phia and Fayette, three orphans
court judges are to he chosen and in
| the latter district the sitting Judge
Is alone on the ballot.
More side or LAY" judges are
to be chosen this year than for II long
| time, certainly more than since the
nonpartisan law became operative
and the candidates passed through u
primary made strenuous by the
license issue. There are thirty eight
candidates for twenty-five judge
ships In seventeen counties Three
fourths of the counties having SUCH
judges will elect this year. The nom
partisan act has made the judicial
primary in small counties u strenu-
Gus affair. Some counties had eight
and ten candidates.
Fifteen Mayors
Fifteen cities will elect mayors and
councilmen, and nineteen others viii
elect councilmen only. These thirty
four cities are all under nonparu-
son acts. Tney include Pittsburgh
and Scranton, which have fierce con-
tests. Lancaster, which operates
under charter almost century old,
elects only few councilmen and
school directors.
In number of counties candi-
dates for county offices are candi-
dates of more than one party. This
is strikingly illustrated by the dis
trict attorney candidate in Lebanon.
who is on five tickets and has no op-
ponent. In Columbia County candi-
dates appear to be on all tickets.
Socialists seem to have nominated
candidates everywhere they could
and are making fights for council
manic seats on what really amount
TO partisan grounds in more than
one city.
The Soldier Vote
1t is generally believed that the
soldier vote will have considerable
influence upon municipal elections in
many places and may also determine
close contests for county offices. IN
der the act relative to the voting OF
soldiers and decisions thereon the
men will vote at the camps for
countrywide and city-wide candidates
and the plan is to have polls by |
counties at the dozen or more camps |
where there are PennsylVanians. |
Books giving all nominees to be
voted for have been provided, but !
the ballots are large enough to per- |
NIT IL soldier to vote for anyone
whose name he may care to write !
upon the ballot. Commissioners in |
charge of this voting are starting for
the camps.
There is no state officer to elect |
this year and the single congress |
sional seat to be filled results from
"a vacancy in the Twenty eighth dis
trict, composed of Mercer, Warren,
Forest, Nenango and Elk Counties.
There are four candidates.
The even dozen of judicial candi- !
dates, most of them sitting Judges, !
unopposed on the ballot, are: !
Judges Bregy and Audenreid, Phila- |
delphia; Prather, Crawford; Butler, |
Chester; Whittelsey Erie; McllVaine, /
Washington; Swartz Montgomery; |
McCarrell Dauphin; Van Swearin- |
gen, Fayette, and Stewart, North |
ampton, with r. b. Mccormick. Clin- !
ton Elk Cameron, and John G.. Har- |
man, Columbia -Montour, who won |
honors at the polls.
Seven of the cities electing mayors
have unopposed candidates for their !
chief magistracies. They are Archi- !
bald Johnston Bethlehem; C. l.. |
Connellsville; IL. w. Heidenreich, !
Hazleton; j. j. Kennedy. Pittston;
A. NJ. Hoagland, Williamsport, and 4
T.. p. Mortimer, Pottsville. Other |
cities electing mayors are Pittsburgh, /
Scranton, Harrisburg, McKeesport, !
Duquesne, Butler, Meadville and
Franklin. All cities electing mayors
are third class except Pittsburgh and |
Scranton. Bethlehem, Butler and I
Duquesne are new cities. All cities
of all classes seem to have lively
fights for councilHlanic seats, espe-
cially the three big cities. In AL
toona the city managership issue is
before the voters and Reading, |
Coatesville, Erie and Wilkes Barre
have interesting battles.
Bradford. Indiana and Center
Counties will only elect a jury COM
missioner; Wayne, Il jury commits
sioncr and county surveyor, and Full
ton an associate judge and jury com
missioner. Among the county offices
to be filled are prison keeper in Lam
caster county; director of n home of
the distitute in Westmoreland and
clerk to County Commissioners in
York. which are under special acts.
About a fourth of the counties VIII
elect sheriffs.
Municipal elections in second and
third class cities are under the non
partisan law as are the judicial con-
tests in all counties.