Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-09-13
COX MUST BATTLE
TO WIN MONTANA

Chances Better Than Hard
| ing's, But Race Is Very
Close Now.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
HELENA. Mont. September 10
Gov. Cox has a good chance Of win.
ning Montana's four electoral votes
OUT II ne does 1t will be by a close
margin and certainly by nothing a.
comfortable as the $4,000 plurality by
which President Wilson carried this
| state in 1915.
Heart-to-h heart talks with democrat.
| and republicans OF prominence, a,
Billings. in eastern Montana. and
Butte. Great Falls and Helena, in
western Montana, lead to the conclu.
sion that. while the republicans are
hopeful and the democrats are by no
, means as cocksure as they usually
are. the electoral vote will 60 to Cox
| The uncertain factors in the situa.
ton have absolutely nothing to dc
with the relative merits Of Gov. Coz
and Senator Harding either as per.
sons or opponents OF party doctrines
This state is much more worried
about the sudden rise Of the non
partisan league than 1t is concerned
over the outcome Of the preside nj tal
contest in the nation itself Almos,
An exact parallel to North Dakota
has bobbed up here and caused every
business man. whether he 10 q dem
can only be understood when the
havoc wrought by the non-partisan
league with respect to political lines
in North Dakota is studied.
Friendly to I. w. w.
For. while the non-partissn league
captured the legal machinery of the
republican party in North Dakota.
the same bipartisan league. plus
the labor elements in Montana, seized
the democratic machinery in the state
primaries this year and nominated
their own man for governor. b. X.
Wheeler. formerly United States at
torney. whose record Of friendship
war time caused the Wilson admin
istration to fail to reappoint him
kwhAn his term expireds last year.
II SO h4pnens that Gov. Cox re-
ceived WMefr on the train while
Although this pleased the non-parti-
san league democrats, 1t made the
old-lihe democrats and conservative
elements in the state swallow hard
The situation IL SO acute that.
while the democratic state ticket OF
non-partisan leaeuers has ofncially
Endorsed Gov. Cox very much as the
non-partisan group in North Dakota
has formally approved Of Harding
and Coolidge, this has very little
bearing on what the rank and file
For instance. while the democratic
politicians who had the party ms-
chinery wrested from their grasp at
the primaries may hesitate for rea-
sons OF expediency to say publicly
they will support the republican can
United States Senator Joseph Dixon,
the truth 10 the regular democratic
vote will be split and only a part Of
1t will go to the Non Partisan League
democrats.
Party Lines Are Disappeafinx.
Party lines are disappearing in the
Animosity the democrats and republi-
cans cherish against the intrusion in
Montana's affairs Of Townleyism and
other North Dakota experiments in
radicalism. It is bad enough to have
three crop failures In succession and ia
waste millions Of dollars on seed and
see the whole state retarded in its
growth and development by factors
over which there Is no human con-
erately throws q monkey wrench In
the struggling wheels Of an infant
state like Montana the furrowed
brows Of the business men, big and
little. the property owner and the
pioneer: are thoroughly comprehen-
The democratic press. which pre-.
dominates in this state. is either luke
warm or hostile to the state ticket of
democrats foisted on the party in the
primaries. For a while it looked 40
select the republican state machinery
as their prey In the primaries, just as
in North Dakota.
There ARE some democrats VINO
think the affihation with the Nom
Partisan League absolutely assures
who wonder IL much Of the Non
Partisan League vote will not 60 to
Christiansen, the labor candidate for
President, or Debs.
May Vote fer Radicals.
In Butte. after talking with some
Of the radicals, the writer got the i'm
preston that q large vote would be
cast for both Debs and Christensen
ballot. 1t takes five thousand sigma
lures to do this. something quite easy
to get in the mining camps. But It
would take conntvance on the part OF
the Non. Partisan League and labor
chiefs to start such a movement and
the consequences might be fatal to
the chance OF Wheeler and the Nom
Partisan League state ticket. For the
latter cannot win the state by their
vote alone-they must acquire at least
half of the regular democratic vote
Anything that savors Of desertion
Of the Cox national ticket would be
met by objections among those line
democrats who are holding their
minds open on the subject Of Wheel
er's candidacy. Moreover. much Of the
Christiansen or Debs strength IL the
normal socialist vote. Probably at
heart Wheeler isn't a. dangerous q
radical as the organization surround
ing him. HIS radicalism is said to b
the result Of resentment over the
criticism leveled at him while he was
limited States attorney.
In the democratic state convention
at Helena q faw days ago Wheeler
went out Of his way to say that he
was and 10 q Jeffersonian democrat
and that he hoped the people Of the
state would recognize a distinction
between a man like Senator Dixon,
who. he alleged. had sought the Nom
Partisan League Endorsement by sup-
posed communication with Townley
| in North Dakota, and q man like him.
self (Wheeler), who, he insisted, had
received the voluntry support OF the
Nom Partisan League.
Dixon Saw Labor Leaders.
The so-called filtration between
Dixon and the Non-Partisan League
L a.