Evening star., 1924-03-23
Coolidge and McAoo Primary Victories In Last Week Significant
THE WEEK IN POLITICS
Summary of National Developments Based Reports
From The Stars Special Correspondents
and Staff Writer'S.
\ WO developments Of majo
and Staff Writer'S.

TWo developments Of major
political consequence dur
ing the week were the
North Dakota presidential
preference primaries and the
democratic county conventions in
Georgia. While the former prob
ably had the more immediate in
,terest, 1t may fall out that the
latter will have the more far
reaching influence on the pre-
convention contests. The North
Dakota primaries, while severe
blow to the Aspirations of Senator
Hiram johnson, did not serve to
eliminate him as q candidate for
the republican nomination. The
Georgia conventions gave new life
to the candidacy of William G.
McAdoo. and the possibilities Of
their effect upon his fortunes and
on those of Senator Oscar Under
wood are almost incalculabIe.
That McAdoo should have SO over
whelmingly defeated Underwood
in a distinctly southern state is
an event of the first magnitude.
An aIalysis of the primary vote
by The Stars North Dakota po-
litical correspondent shows that
President Coolidge is much
stronger with the farmers than he
had been credited with being. In
the past conservative" candidates
in North Dakota have shown well
in the cities, only to have their
early leads wiped out when the
rural returns came in. This was
not the case last Tuesday. Presi-
dent Coolidge took the lead over
both johnson and La Toilette in
the early city returns and main
tanned it until the count was COM
pleted. a striking feature of the
primary was the showing made
by La Toilette, whose name had
been taken off the ticket and who
had &c be voted for with Stickers.
The large vote he polled under the
circumstances is attributed to the
effective work of the Non-Parti-
san League, which was better or
ganized than either the Coolidge
or Johnson arrangements.
Opinion is expressed, based upon
a study of the returns, that
Coolidge would have won over
Johnson even had La Toilette not
been in the race, but that in a
straight contest between Coolidge
and La Toilette the latter probably
would have come out ahead. De-
spite this fact, it is asserted that
North Dakota is less radical than
formerly, La Follette's strength
hafv far nf r.ll
popularity than OF measures he
advocates.
x !. = X
From North Dakota one natau-
rally turns to California to see
what the reaction is there. The
Stars correspondent wires that
even should South Dakota next
Tuesday follow the lead of North
Dakota and give Coolidge a VIC
tory over Johnson the California
senator is not likely to withdraw
as a candidate for the presidential
nomination. There is talk among
some of his friends of making de-
feat in South Dakota the occasion
of urging him to withdraw, but
this is said not TO represent ma
jority sentiment in the johnson
camp Rather there is DISPOSE
tion to make an even more aggres-
Sive campaign, and effort is likely
to be made to persuade the Sena-
tor to change his mind and make a
stufnping tour of the state in ad-
vance of the May primaries.
In South Dakota all is set for
next Tuesdays voting. Senator
Johnson spent the week cam
paigning in the state, and the
Coolidge MANAGEMENT had drafted
speakers of national prominence,
including Leslie M. Shaw, former
Secretary of the Treasury. 1t will
be straight Coolidge versus
Johnson contest next Tuesday, as
the balloting will not be compli-
Gated by a third candidate. The
Coolidge managers claim they will
carry the state by a majority of
10000 or more. The Johnson man.
ayers, while giving no figures, ex-