The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-09-11
MINNESOTA SURE
FOR HARDING
Lawrence Begins Sizing Up
OF Political Situation
In the West
is TRAILING COX
IN WESTERN TOUR

Finds Gc1mans and Scandinavians Fa-
vor Republican Candidates Will
AnaEzc Conditions In the East
Through October
pv IAVID LAWRENCE.
Especial Despatch to The Reformer,
Copyright 1920
MINNEAPOLIS, Mimi, Sept. IL
Governor Cox has gone West; Senator
.arding has gone back TO Marion. The
East, like the South, is more or less
st in it's political ways. If, there
'orc. there is a chance for an upset as
occurred in 1916, the West would be |
likely 10 exhibit the first symptoms. |
Also distances are great in the west
ern country and the number of voters
il relatively small so the trend can be
more definitely assessed west of the
Mississippi river during September
than ii can cast of that line For the
eastern states are populous and some
times a drift sets in about the middle
Of October that changes the aspect of
political things quite materially.
Besides, Governor Cox is just now
invading the West and the writer has
determined to trail the Democratic
nominee and judge if possible how
much Roadway he makes in this west
tern country. Not much can be gotten
by merely watching the crowds as they
arc thrilled by oratorical effort and a
pleasing personality. More can be
gained by talking a day or two after
wards with men in women in all walks
Of life, business men, large and small,
laborers, farmers, political workers and
newspapermen of both Republican and
Democratic utilization.
So the writer will spend the re-
mainder of September studying every
western state and win begin about the
first week in October to analyze con
ditions in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michi-
gan, Indiana, Ohio, and the Atlantic
seaboard where changes, if they do
come, occur in the last moments of the
campaign and where Senator Harding
and Governor Cox will be found at
that time working to win the states
with the big electoral votes. New
| York s As votes and Ohio "a can off
! set the half of the entire West.
OF course, nobody who spends a day
| or two in any state can hope to go
away cocksure of that state but in
nine eases out of 10 a disinterested re-
| porter can draw deductions from the
| optimistic or pessimistie tone of the
| rival leaders as well as from the broad
| minded men in a community who are
not guided by partisanship. These
men Will have been making analysis of
| their own states for many weeks be-
| fore the travelling reporter arrives.
/ Sometimes, for local reasons, the resi-
| dent newspapermen do not print all
| that they feel about their own states.
| The political wayfaTer usually agrees
/ not to disclose the source of his in
| formation and thus picks up invalu-
| able information. This is the season
| of the year when many reporters will
travel extensively to find out how other
| sections of the country are. politically
inclined and if one has built up string
| of friends in every important city from
coast to coast and knows the personal
equation of each man and his ability
in the past to Judge his own state, the
1 task of analysis is bound to be reas-
| onably accurate.
/ Take Minnesota, for instance, both
Democratic and Republican newspaper
men will confide to you that as things
look now Senator Harding will carry
the state by good majority. The
third party movement failed to ma
terialize and the only question in dis
pute among observers is whether the
state will go for Harding by 100 00C
or, as some conservatives put it-by
| $4,000
| Anyway, no Democrat of standing is
claiming Minnesota is as close as it was
in 1916 when Wilson almost won the
electoral vote.
The reasons for Harding's strength
here are quite simple. Much of the
electorate is Scandinavian and Ger
man. The Germans are bitter against
Wilson for his war record. They voted
for the che kept us out of war; slo-
gan in 1916 because they wanted to be
kept out of war with their father
land. They cherish resentment and will
show it at the polls.
The Scandinavians are very much
impressed by pacifst doctrine and
many have been persuaded to believe
the hepuDHcdH campaign IDEA that the
league of nations means war instead
of peace Even though Norway and
Sweden have joined the league, the
Scandinavians here are against the
league. Their opposition has been care
fully cultivated by a Republican press.
With only one or two exceptions. all
the influential newspapers of Mime
sofa are Republican and have been
r. IL
i trine. Even those who favor the
| league take their stand behind Senator
Kellogg, who voted for the Lodge res
ervations and the number who want
the league as brought back by Presi-
dent Wilson is negligibly small
This territory is so friendly to Hard
ing that it even draws a distinction
between the managers of the Republi-
ran candidate and fha nominaa him,