Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-09-08
'Pesstsca s~
Ps's~eqssania
By the Ex-CommitteemAn

be in the same class.
The champions of Congressman
j. Hampton Moore insist that the
big registration means his nomina.
ton and the congressman candidate
for mayor is not backward about
saying the same thing, supporting
it with estimates, while Senator Ed.
win Fl. Ware, the target in the cam,
paign, says that the big enrolment
is the work of the organization OF
which he is the guiding spirit and
that it means the nomination OF
Judge John NJ. Patterson. The
newspapers generally regard the
figures as distinctly favorable to
| Moore.
The registrat tion in Pittsburgh has
also gone ahead of first day records
and is put at $4,000. As the great
majority of the men registered are
Republicans just as they are in
| Philadelphia and nine-tenths of the
cities of the State this indicates un-
usual party strength in an "of1
year" The Pittsburgh Gazette
Times says the registration indicates
that the voters of Pittsburgh are
aroused and that coupled with the
oughs which cluster about the steel
Leslie-Babcock combination. Ger
tainly nothing even in the terrific
contests of former years was ever
known like the attacks being made
upon Senator Max G. Leslie. One
of the most formidable com bina-
tions ever formed in Allegheny
| county is against his organization.
The Pittsburgh papers say that the
Leslie people soft pedalled on regis
tration and that the big figures
mean that they are doomed to lose.
This week Pittsburgh and
Scranton will have another regis
tration period and on Saturday
comes the last day to register in
the third class cities. The Scranton
registration ran high owing to local
contests and the third class regis
tration on two days is believed to
have smashed records generally
Almost everywhere the Democratic
'Showing was poor, considering all
factors of this unusual year.
The campaigns in the big cities
are not without their funny sides.
Thomas Robins, the former progress
sive who is so active in behalf of
the Ware ticket. is engaged in a
controversy with II. S. Morris, a
prominent Philadelphian, who says
Robins is an apologist who is hyp-
nothing himself. He calls him the
chairman of committee of "A
Thousand Shadows" in derision of
the Patterson committee of One
Thousand. Mayor Thomas b. Smith
I entered the campaign in behalf of
Patterson and was saluted with the
name "Bondsmith" and asked
where he came from. A Labor split
over Moore has also cropped up
and the congressman found so many
people cheering when he said he
would fire" Director of Safety Will
liam H. Wilson, that he has been
saying it ever since.
In Pittsburgh William Finn is
being twitted by Leslie men how he
likes training with the men who
fought him for years, while Col
commissioner, charges that Gov
ernor Sproul foiled Leslie's scheme
to he mayor of Pittsburgh when he
could never be elected by vetoing
the deputy mayor" bill
While Governor Sproul contin-
ues to "sit on the grand stand" and
to keep religiously out of the Phila-
delphia and Allegheny fights as we'll
as the judicial fuses where his ap-
pointees are not involved, the fact
that f. Lawrence Fell, head of the
Philadelphia registration commits
sion, sent inspectors to watch regis
tration in the River wards" of
Philadelphia is being commented
upon.
New Castle politics, which are
complicated by the numerous can
didates for mayor and by Socialist
activity, are further perturbed by
action of council in declaring va
can't the seat of Councilman w. c.
Shenafelt following an inquiry. He
says he will take it to court.
From all accounts the Palmer
partisans are pretty we'll pleased
with what they learned from the
postmasters and the county anl
lesser leaders who were here last
week for the convention of the
men who hold presidential appoint
ments. If they had not received
good news they would have been in
a bad way because the office holders
are about the only machine that the
reorganization clique of Democratic
State bosses has left. Judge Eugene
c. Bonniwell and the Old Guard
gathered together most of the really
effective workers last fall when Joe
Guffey, the Palmer Mccormick can
didate for the gubernatorial nomi-
nation, was defeated at the primary.
On that historic occasion it will be
recalled that 1t was three days be-
fore the bosses would admit they
were beaten.
However the reports of the
scouts sent out by the Democratic
State windmill to find out the lay
of the land in regard to the rank
and file of the Democratic party do
not bring such encouraging reports.
In every county there are reports of
little interest in enrolment and of
slumps in registration of Demo-
Gratis in cities. In certain counties
the Democracy is little more than
a side show and there is no conf
dence or interest in Palmer's can
didacy for presidential honors and
much scepticism about the worth of
some federal officials in the pub
lie service anyway.
-Astute Palmer men are sitting
back to await the issue ct the DEM
ocratic primaries. In PHILADELPHIA
the Donneily-Palmer crowd is be-
ing fought by the Bonniwell men for
the Democratic city nominations
and another factional Democratic
fight is waging in Allegheny where
the Myer-Houlihan contest for
county commissi is as bitter as
the Holstein- Taylor -Morgenthaler-
Wells Burlington split is in Dauphin
county. If 1t were not that the
Democratic strength in these big
counties was so small these contests
would command much attention.