Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-11-06
Poeit;ca ;~
Pe~~oqGSo~io
BY the Ex-Committeeman

In spite of the fact that there are
no state officers to be elected in
Pennsylvania to-day and no voting
on constitutional amendments, the
aggregate of the votes polled may
run ahead of the totals in the last
Presidential and Gubernatorial cleo
tions in opinion of people at the
based upon the interest in judicial
elections, including both common
pleas and associate judges; the nu-
merous county office contests and
lively Mayoralty and Councilmanic
battles in most of the cities. There
are fifty-one judges. one Congress
man and fifteen Mayors to be elected
to-day.
Last year there were 1.297,292
votes polled at the Presidential cleo
In 1914 there were 1,111,262 votes
polled in the Gubernatorial election.
The soldier vote will have consid-
erable influence upon close contests
in cities. About seventy commission
ers have been sent by the state to
camps to take votes of the soldiers
and they will make returns to their
proper counties as we'll as to the
state authorities. over 10000 ballots
were printed for the soldier vote.
Closing hohrs of the campaign
in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Scranton
and other cities where the state ad-
ministration is taking a hand in To-
cal contests in order to obtain
strategic position in advance of the
selection of state ticket next year
were marked by intense activity, and
in many instances by efforts on the
part of men connected with the state
government According to some
statements men in state service were
told they could contribute to the
campaign funds of candidates IA
vored by the state administration in
stead of the Republican State Com
mittee. Most of the Philadelphians
are understood to have contributed
to the war chest of the city commit
tee in Philadelphia.
The Capitol was closed tighter
to-day than known on any election
day in years. Except for few ele-
vator men, who were ordered on duty
by their chiefs, no one was on duty
except in the State Police and Health
where emergency serv-
ice is apt to be called for. Governor
and every other man
with the government was
at his home to vote.
An exchange of broadsides be-
tween Mayor Smith on one hand and
Senator Penrose and James Gay Cor
don on the other, enlivened the close
n Philadelphia. The Mayor charged
that because the Senator and the
Judge were not given a free hand
they determined to hunt him down.
The Senator said bluntly that the
Mayor lied and the Judge commented
that if he was hunting a man he
would not stop at the Mayor.
Police Lieutenant Bennett, who
in the Fifth ward on
bloody primary day, is accused of
political activity, although out of the
ward for a day. District Attorney
Rotan has renewed his warning and
the most unusual steps have been
taken in the city.
Senator Penrose says the Town
Meeting party will win; Senator
Ware says the Republican fifty-fifty
ticket will win.
The Philadelphia newspapers
call upon the people to-day to rout
the Vare-Smith combination. The
Ledger calls attention to the fact that
there are 273,000 qualified voters
and says both sides claim victory.
The Press and Record give much
space to predictions by Town Meet
ing men. The North American says
the Town Meeting 'is confident of
0,000 victory" The Inquirer sums
up the situation this way: "a clean
sweep to-day for the Town Meeting
party candidates for city and county
offices is confidently predicted by the
manager of the independent party.
Their estimate of $4,000 majority,
made on Sunday night, it is declared,
is short by thousands of the figure
that will be disclosed in the final re-
turns. During the last forty eight
hours, the reports from every ward
indicate an increased interest in the
election and an assured preponder-
ance of votes for the Town Meeting
party candidates. Not only will the
full general ticket of the Town Meet
ing party win, according to the re-
turns sent to the independent head
quarters, but the vote for Councilmen
will certainly show q tremendous
gain for the anti-Smith-Vare forces"
The Ledger prints a dispatch
from Pittsburgh in which it plays up
the fact that the Babcock people
<Ialtn IIaL CITY lot MIN Dy o,UUU anu
that Magee is asking courts to keep
police out of politics. The dispatch
says: "On the eve of election in the
greatest mayoralty fight here in re-
cent years, Joseph NJ. Guffey, acting
Democratic state chairman, issued a
of Edward V. Babcock,
Penrose- Armstrong; Leslie candidate
for the office, characteriZing him as
o 'pro-German and the candidate of
pro- Germans Babock adherents to-
night, despite all the claims of the
Brumbaugh-V faction, which is
William A. Magee, for
mer Mayor and Public Service Com
for the mayoralty, claimed
victory for Babcock by a plurality of
2, 200 to 10000. The campaign for the
closed last evening with
last minute appeals to the voters.
Magee men went into court yesterday
and petitioned for an in
junction against the heads of the po-
lice bureau and 1875 policemen to re-
strain them from unlawful acts. such
as featured the September primary
THE WINGS OF WAR
Hail to the squadrons of the sky,
The giant battleplanes