Evening star., 1924-10-06
PRESIDENT HOLDS
. EDGE IN NEBRASKA
La Toilette to Get Good Part
. of German Vote, But
Not Enough.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

Nebraska
This will be disputed most vigor-
ously at the moment by the La Fol
lette forces, who feel, not without
some foundation, that they have an
even chance to win: but the factors
which make Coolidge victory prob
able are Calculable, and here they
are:
First, Senator Norris, who, like
Senator La Toilette, voted against
American entry into the war, and
who is just as much a member of the
inSurgent group as is Brookhart OF
Iowa. is not attacking Coolidge. 1t is
true that he is not out campaigning
for the President. but just the same
a truce prevails between him and the
regulars to such an extent that the
Republican mana cement is perfectly
content with the status quo. Senator
Howell. who has following among
the radicals. is openly campaigning ca
for Mr.. Coolidge.
Small Plurality Seen.
Second. the regular Republican
vote in 1920 was 247,f9S and the
Democratic total was 1l9,6OS. Mr..
Coolidge could afford to lose 40 per
cent of the Harding vote, which
would give him a total of 14S,499
votes and still carry the State. be-
cause if this detection is given to La
Tollette-namely, 9S,999 votes-and
if the third party candidate also
draws 40 per cent of the Democratic
vote of 1920. which would be 47,S43
votes. the total would be only 146,S+2.
This would mean a plurality for MIR.
Coolidge of less than 1000 votes.
The result may be as close as that
here, but it is more likely TO be
$1,000 plurality.
Now. with the foregoing figures as
basis no Democratic leader with
whom the writer talked would ad-
NIT for minute that 40 per cent
of the Democratic vote of 1920 would
go to La Toilette. On the contrary,
the presence of Gov. Bryan on the
national ticket is confidently eX-
pected to hold the Democratic vote
if, indeed. no gains are made.
No Republican, with whom the
writer talked would privately con-
cede 40 per cent loss, and many
we'll informed men were canvaSsed
in Lincoln as well as Omaha who
honestly tried to assess the Sltua-
tion.
German Vote Uncertain.
The big uncertain factor in Ne
hraska, of course. is the German
vote. If all the men with whom this
correspondent discussed this prob
lem could have agreed on one essen
mans vote before the war issue arose.
then there would be no difficulty in
coming to a conclusion on what is
going to happen.
The Republicans, who believe the
German vote has always been Demo-
cratic because the Democrats used
to be wet" and most of the Ger
mans voted wet" are not worrying
about the drift of the German vote to
La Toilette.
The Democrats, who insist the Ger
mans have recently been Republican,
think the loss to Coolidge will be 50
great when the Germans vote for La
Toilette that Davis will come to the
front with a small plurality and cap
ture NebraSkaS electoral vote.
It is true that among the Germans
about 100000 of them voted as a block
in 1920 on the Republican ticket. but
many of them turned around in 1922
and helped Gov. Bryan carry the State
by $4,000 in the very same election
that these Germans administered a
defeat to Senator Hitchcock, Demo-
crat, for being faithful to Wilson.
Churchmen for La Toilette.
Talking on the train with August
Koch of Norfolk. Nebr., who was re-
turning from convention of the
Lutheran Synod of Nebraska, the
writer heard expressed what may
well be called a typical German view.
We talked politics before Koch knew
the writer was making a political
survey.
Most of the Lutheran ministers
ana delegates" said Koch, told me
they were for La Toilette, and so am
j. In 1912 and before that | was
Democrat, but in 1916 / voted against
wilson and L voted for Harding in
1920"
Why will you support La Toilette ?"
was the question that suggested it.
Self Immediately.
Wen, he was against the war"
was the reply. Most of us who had
relatives in Germany didn't want the
war Now if the Germans had come
over to this country and attacked us
We would have fought them, for this
is our country, but as it was, we
should have stayed on this side and
let Europe alone"
Did most of the delegates say they
would vote for La Follette?"
Most of those with whom 1 talked
said so. There were some who
claimed we would have hard times if
we voted for La Toilette, but l
don't believe it,"
Scare Helps Coolidge.
Yet in this last senteice may be
j
is the strongest weapon of attack
that has yet been employed among
the Germans-the scare about bad
business conditions" 1t will make
more Germans hesitate about voting
Tor La Toilette than anything else.
Several influential Germans like
Val Peters, editor of a German news
paper and leader of the German
American Alliance before the war,
ODenlV campaifrpipp
Coolidge.
Some indication of the Importance
which the Republican management
attributes to the German vote may be
obtained by watching the careful
distribution throughout the State of
the argument that La Follett's idea
of having Congress override the Su-
preme Court of the United States
would in the end work hardship on
the Germans and other minorities.
This State passed Il drastic measure
in wartime prohibiting the teaching
of any but the English language in
the grade schools. The law was de-
clared unconstitutional by the Su-
preme Court. So, also was the
Oregon law which would have wiped
out parochial schools.
But this is a long and technical
argument and will not be easy to use
with the German who knows it is a
far cry between proposal of a con-
stitutional amendment and two
, thirds vote of both houses of Congress
plus action by threefourths of the
States, which would almost lose their
sovereignty by making Congress su-
1reme.
Prosperity Counts.
what really counts with the German
voter is fhe old ia shiOned arpine pt