The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-04-12
TIDE TURNS
AGAINST The
REPUBLICANS
In Local Elections in
All Sections of the
Country the Demo
Gratis Are Winning,
Decisive Victories
By Wallace Rassford


(Special News Correspondent
Washington, April 8. = When
scores of Republican towns and
cities elected Democratic mayors
last November, the administration
leaders said, the results were due
TO local causes. 1t appeared strange
at the time that the various and
varying local causes" brought the
same results all the way from Prov
idence. Rhode Island, to the cities
OF Utah. but the Democrats. still
smarting from the drubbing OF
1920. were backward in pointing
out the significance that seemed TO
lie therein. But when various
cities in Maine kicked out their
Republican officials about a month
ago, the trend began to be Of more
dcsinite character. This week
Hartford, Conn, overturned a ma
chine that had held the city for the
Republicans the last twenty years.
while Kansas City,. Missouri, in a
straight. party fight. elected a
Dem ocratic mayor by $4,000 ma
jority The Republican Governor
Of Missouri. Hyde, went into the
fight with all the help the State
and National machines could give
him. backed by big Republican
ajority at the last election. but
c.,,ffera6 q erraaf reverse
These elections are strongly re-
mindful of the sorry condition in
which the Democrats found them
selves during Cleveland's last ad-
ninistration; Harding's situation is
very similar to Cleveland's. if not
fully analogous. 1t will be recall
ed that Cleveland came into office
in March, 1898, just after pros
perity had taken wing. He got the
blame. For year and q half he
struggled against the inevitable.
He had Congress with an un-
wieldy majority and dissensions in
the ranks-jusi as Harding has
today Cleveland had hardly got
ten his chair warm before the city
elections began to come along: in=
side of six months the reports had
begun to grow monotonous-just
one Republican elected after an
other. At first Democratic lead
ers said the results were due TO
local causes" hut that was soon
worn threadbare. 1t made little
differences where the e!ectinS were
held-the results were very similar
The difficulty seemed to be that
the people We're so disheartened
by hard times (hegun under Har-
rison's Republican administration
that they would not support any
man OF the same political faith as
the man who headed the existing
government. Today the Republi-
can leaders find the same difficult
" in getting the people TO vote the
ticket OF the party in control al
Washington If the analogy goes
as far as next November-seven
months from .now-Harding Will
'eceive the same sort OF repudi-
ation as was suffered by Cleveland.
ior in the middle of the lattcr'S
term an antagonistic House was re-
turned by 4 very large majority
Some queer things occurred:
Champ Clark was DEBATED by an
itinerant music teacher while
Richard p. Bland was beaten by 4
horse doctor. The biggest Demo
Gratis in Congress were turned out.
while many of their SUCCESSORS
proved to be Congressional jokes
Many Of them had been allowed to
take the party nominations because
they were in districts so strongly
Democratic in the past that the
Republican nominations were con-
sidered worthless; had the ADLER
Republicans seen chance of get
ing seat in Congress there would
have been q different tale to tell.
And it behooves the Democratic
organizations in the various states
to see to it that only able men are
nominated against the sitting Re-
publcanS, for the signs of the
times indicate that scores of Re
publican seats are to be vacated.
y landslide seems to have no re-
Spect Tor previous majoriticS.