The sun., 1919-03-09
NATIONS LEAGUE
NOT AN ISSUE In
PENN. ELECTION
Most Voters in 22d Congress
District Never Heard
of Covenant.
PRESIDENT WAS MISLED
j. H. Wilson, DEM, Defeated
u. NJ. Jamison, Rep, on Coal
Strike Grudgc.
By sto1 correspordsnt Of THE SUN.

By q StdG Correspondent Of THE SUN.
GREENsBURo, Pa. March s.-Efforts
oil the part OF members OF the Demo-
cratic organization OF westmoreland
county to spell into the result OF the re-
cent special Congress election here re-
buke to the opponents Of the League OF
Nations caused no little amusement
among Republicans and Independent
voters to-day. This amusement, was
stimulated when word was received that
President Wilson had sent from the
George Washington a wireless message
or consratulation to Representative-elect
John II. Wilson on his election upon the
issue of the League of Nations"
John II. Wilson. Democrat. hailing
from Butler county, which with'West-
moreland composes the Twenty-second
Congress District, was elected last Tues
day over John NJ Jamison Of westmore-
land, head of the Jamison Coal and
Coke Company. by 42S votes.
Coupled with the amusement that is
felt over the efforts of the Democrats
To make the result appear of greater
significance than Is the case there Is
certain regret felt that the President
should be deceived regarding the nature
cf the support the Democratic candidate
received.
The League OF Nations was not an
issue in the campaign.and Mr.. Jamison
defeat cannot be attributed to anything
but local and personal reasons. Neither
CAN Mr.. Wilson's election be regarded as
an Endorsement Of the League of Ma
tons plan.
There is not a Republican in West
mcreland county who will admit that the
League OF Nations was an issue. The
only Democrats that can be found who
win say SO are those who were con-
nected with the management Of the CAM
paign and they confess that other i'm
portant factors entered into the result.
But the best proof of all that the
league covenant had no part in the de-
liberations OF the small proportion of
the voters who went to the polls is seen
in the fact that the local press failed
to make reference to 1t the day following
the election and 1t was two or three
days later before the Democratic man
ayers began to give voice ito such a
belief.
It has been suggested In certain cir
cles here that the attempt to attach the
Democratic success to the league idea
was inspired from Washington.
The voters were as much concerned
with the League of Nations as they were
with what might be happening in SIAM"
declared William S. Rial. Republican
County Chairman. to-day.
A marked apathy among Republican
voters, born Of overconfldence in the re-
suit, efficiently organized labor vote d.
rected against the Republican candidate
coupled with the support of the so-called
liquor interests and the socialist ele-
ment In tie district was what caused Mr..
Jamison's defeat.
Goal Strike Important Issue.
Il is doubtful II 5 per cent. of the
voters gave the matter of the League of
Nations the slightest consideration. A
case in point is seen in one election dis
trict peopled largely by miners. The
leader of the district was active in the
coal strike Of 1910 and the result in the
district was "a votes for Wilson and 1
for Jamison. AS one man. aDemocrat.
expressed It to THE SUN correspondent
to-day: Those fellows don't know
there's a Peace Conference sitting"
That the League OF Nations was not
an issue in the campaign is further evil
denced by the fact that no mass meet
ings or public forums were held during
the two weeks of the campaign to dis
cuss the proposed covenant. or even the
only reference that appears to 1t is an
obscure sentence at the end OF one para
graph in a circular distributed by the
John ii. Wilson canr2aign committee to
the effect that Mr.. Wilson was an advo-
cate of permanent peace. ''as embodied
IN the plan for a League OF Nations I'M
der the covenant proposed" A similar
statement was repeated in the local pa
pers the day before election.
Mr. Jamikon told THE Cr-Nr cnrra
spondent to-day that only once during
the campaign was the League of Ma
tons mentioned TO him.
Heard Once About League.
THAT was" he said, 1.-THE day before
election. when friend called me on the
telephone and asked me how ! stood on
the subject I told him that I was for a
League OF Nations in principle, and he
|, replied that that was all he wanted to
know. I am satisfied that between -four
and five hundred loyal Democrats voted
for me for personal reasons"
The apathy on the part OF the Republi-
can voters is shown in the fact that
something less than 25 per cent. of the
enrolled Republican vote was polled
while the Democrats poled approx.
{ mately ~ r cent --2sS the factor that
more than anything else had to do witt
the success of the Democratic candidate
was the activity displayed in his behaii
by organized labor. This work was di.
rected for the most part from Pittsburg
capital being made out OF the attitude OF
the Jamison Coal and Coke Company In
the strike OF 1910
Cards which Mr., Jamison insists mis-
represented his attitude were distributed
in saloons among the workngmen. the
liquor men cooperating in an admitted
spirit of revenge because the Republican
party sent a solid delegation OF fve bon,
dry members from Westmoreland county
70 the State Legislature last November
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