Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-10-23
KENTUCKY SWAYED
BY LEAGUE EFERVOR,
HELD DEMOCRATIC
Raising Of Race Question
Will Beat G. O.P., Says
Writer.
BY BAvID LAWRENCE.

LOUISVILLE, KY. October 23.-if
Chairman Will Hays is basing his
predictions of republican success in
the nation on the factors that are
expected, for example, to make Ken
lucky a republican state, then there
is something wrong about the infor-
nation at republican national head
quarters.
For Kentucky is democratic. Weeks
ago it was claimed by the republicans.
Today they admit it is close. And the
democrats are talking about a landslide
with absolutely the same kind of con-
fidence that one gets in republican
circles in New York state.
Religious Fervor Seen.
Smething like a religious fervor
is sweeping Kentucky on the league
of nations issue. The drift here is
very much like that in Indiana-an
nations-though in Kentucky the
growth of sentiment has been more
gradual, and is coming now like
tide.
The republicans really did have a
chance to carry Kentucky. There is
ried the state for goveror by 40,-
600 majority. But the republican ad-
ministration has been in a year, and
has developed some weaknesses that will
cost the national ticket many votes.
and the republicans have made big
mistake by the raising of the race
issue. Woman suffrage came. and the
republicans directly or indirectly en-
couraged the negroes by every kind
Of approach-the negro newspapers,
the church. the schools. And in the
Louisville district. more than 10000
negro women registered as republic
ans to not more than twenty affiliated
as democrats. Fully $4,000 negro
males have registered as republicans.
The city of Louisville, therefore, will
go republican
Effect of Registration.
The effect of the registration of so
many negres has been to antagonize
and arouse the whites. The women
of the state have done more even
than the men to get things going.
The democratic campaign organiza-
ton here has more life and ginger
than any the writer has encountered
in the whole country. Unquestionably
the race question has been a material
factor, but the truth is the demo-
Gratis have made 100 per cent use of
the league of nations as an issue.
They have refused to allow anything
newspapers. the Louisville Times and
the Louisville Evening Post. in the
evening field, and the Courier-Journal
in the morning. are hitting on four
cylinders" every day. as one politician
phrased it, and they are waging a
better fight for the league than any
where else in the United States.
More space is being given to demo-
cratic speeches and campaign effort
than else ewhere. 1t is not unusual to
find practically the whole first page
filled with stories calculated to make
TI,rn hn
state the democrats also have the ad-
vantage with the press.
G. o. p. Counts on Women.
The republican leaders are basing
their hopes entirely upon a heavy
woman vote in the mountain districts,
which are republican. And they are
counting upon a majority in the
Louisville district. They think the
state will go republican by 10000,
but are prepared to be disappointed,
first, If the weather is bad in the
mountains and the women do not go
to the polls, and, second, if the ma
jority in Louisville should turn out
to be less than calculated.
The writer happened to meet, among
others. Swagar Shirley, who for years
has represented the Louisville dis
trlct in Congress, and was beaten last
time he ran by a republican. He
said that if the enthusiasm and in
eCtSSI uiSPidyeu ny lHe democrats
when he made the race was only half
OF what it is this year he would
have been elected by decisive ma
jority.
The democrats have polled many pre-
cincts in the state and have a splendid
organization-and the canvass looks
rosy. for them. They have the advan-
tage on registration outside of Louis
vile, as more voters have expressed
their affiliation with the democratic than
republican party.
Hard Feeling Caused.
The republicans reapportioned the
voting districts and caused some hard
feeling by SO doing. Some of the pre-
cincts where negroes vote were given a
small area, while the whites were
grouped in a large area. so that they
will have to vote every twenty Sec
onds." as one man put it, to get out
the full democratic vote.
Kentucky may be put down as safely
democratic.
Copyright, 1s20A