The Alaska daily empire., 1917-01-09
THE POPULAR VOTE

Many notable things are indicated in the official returns from the recent Presidential election With the Socialist and Prohibition vote estimated in few States the total for President last fall 1S,- 642293 against l5O36.542 in 1912 and 14SSS442 in 1908. The increase in four years &,6IL751-the largest ever recorded in four year period and a phenomenal increase notwithstanding the addition Of women votes in several States.
 One Of the remarkable things was the tremen- dous vote for President Wilson-9125, ,296-and this notwithstanding the small vo;e in of the South States, where there effort made to get the voters out account Of the lack Of rivalry contest Is the South had voted nearly in prOpor ton to her voting strength the North voted. Mir Wilson would have received nearly 100000 As it was he received 2.622.3Tl votes more than the previous high Democratic record-the Bryan vote of 1896 He received L446SSS more votes than the pre- vous high Republican record-the Taft vote in 1908 He got 1.520S33 more votes than were given to Taft and Roosevelt combined in 1912. and 2S32277 more votes than he received himself in that year.
 Mr. Wilson's plurality MT. Hughes 57S- 40. notwithstanding the light in the South f the South had voted as strongly as the North. his plurality in the Nation would hsye exceeded 2,OO0OOO and he would have had clear majority Of 100000 or more.
 Other surprising details disclosed by the pu5lca- OG the official figures from the various States the smallness of the Hughes plurality in all but
  of the Wilson pIuralities in all but handful of the States that gave their electoral votes to him. For instance. the Wilson plurality in Ohio 9OOOO almost equallng the combined Hughes plUrates in all the New England States. Delaware. West Virginia Indiana. Minnesota, Oregon and South Dakota. Presi dent Wilson's plurality in the little States Of Colo rado was almost as great the Hughes plurates in Michigan and Wisconsin combined. The small States of Nebraska Montana and Utah combined gave Wilson a larger plurality than New Jersey and Iowa gave Hughes. Kansas. which was claimed for Hughes gave Wilson a larger plurality than Missouri Tennessee or Kentucky all reliable Democratic States Idaho, Ar. zona Washington Nevada Wyoming, Oklahoma and other Western States all gave Wilson large plurate5.
 Illinois suppanted Pennsylvania as the banner Republican State, giving Hughes 2O2OOO plurality. She also the largest that any State the Union ever cast before passing New York by more than 100000 votes However. her Hughes plurality lacked | nearly 190OO of being great the plurality that Texas gave Wilson. and the latter State did cast half or her qualified votes. New York gave Hughes a plurality of llS.530 votes, just little than Georgia gave Wilson with about onethird of the num- Der of votes she usually casts in a Democratic pr mary boiled.
 One thing above all others is apparent in the result Of the election and that is that the closeness or the contest in the electoral college has caused peo- pie generally underestimate the magnitude of the Wilson victory. With the exception of the fiasco of ' 1872, Presidential candidate prior 1896 ever ceved anything approaching the plurality Of the popu lar vote that Mir. Wilson received and few of them have come so nearly receiving as large a percentage 2r all the votes cast.
 It is estimated that the Socialists vote was re- c luced something than 15OOOO, while the Prohl- 2itionists slightly increased their vote as compared n with the result in 1912 D