Evening star., 1924-11-03

fThLs Is The third of a series Of four
6iypatchcs trrittcn after q 9.000-nite
journey through ,'irfunlly erery one
Of the Northern aud Western Statss)
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
It's almost over, so a retrospect can
be made not only with impartial
Judgment but without thought of in
fiuencing votes. a circumstance which
prevents leaders themselves from ad-
mitting mistakes during the progress
of the campaign itself.
But there have been mistakes made.
Every one of the three boards of
strategy guiding the destinies of
Coolidge, La Toilette and Davis did
things which each might have avoid
ed. Yet If one is to Judge by the
effect on the electorate: the Repub-
lican managers blundered least Of all
in fact, the campaign conducted for
the President was about the most
skillfully handled in the present
generation. Nothing compares with
it unless perhaps the management Of
the 1916 campaign by, the Democrats.
when they reelected Wilson by hav-
ing him make occasional speeches
from Shadow Lawn, N. j., and by
working the prosperity issue to its
last ounce of vote-getting strength.
Whether money did 1t or enthu--
siasm or the momentum of Federal
offlceholderS, the fact remains that
the Republicans were fully under way
in every State of the Union months
before their opponents started. This
was due partly to the certainty as
early as last April that Calvin Cool
idge would be the Republican presi-
Dental nominee. Organizations formed
in the primary campaigns In the sew
eral States were easily carried on.
The structure was there and needed
little to build upon.
Effect of Dawes Selection.
The nomination of Dawes for Vice
President and the inje ection of the ku
klux Klan issue in several local
situations were the only factors that
necessitated a revision of plans. The
selection of Dawes was not as popu-
lar in the West as it was in the East.
The La Toilette movement would have
hardly gotten to first base in the
West had Judge Kenyon. for instance,
been named as running mate to
President Coolidge.
AS it was, the Western Progressives
centered their attack on Dawes. City
bankers are not popular In agricul-
tural areas, and the placing of the
head of one Of the biggest banking
institutions in Chicago on the ticket
with Coolidge enabled the La Toilette
people to make an effective campaign
in the Western States. President Cool
idge's strength, however, was greater
than any single issue or personality
in the campaign. Also in the cities
of the West among business men and
bankers, the fame Of Dawes in the
European settlement made him ex-
actly the type of candidate the con-
servative Republicans wanted.
On the Ku Klux klan issue, the
policy of silence maintained by the
President has cost him many votes.
but in most of the States this was
outweighed by votes gained because
of his Indifference to the issue. The
opposing camps never succeeded in
convincing the electorate that the
President was in sympathy with the
Khan. Indeed, the publication OF the
letter of the Presidents secretary, c.
Bascom SleIpp, stating that Mr.. Cool
idge was neither u member of the
Klan nor in sympathy with its objects
was d clever piece of strategy, and
did much to recover lost ground when
nothing was said about it after John
w. Davis first speech at Seagirt, N. ].
President's silence a Factor.
While the President made few
speeches, and silence can often be
virtue, there Is no doubt that so
far as the campaign itself is concern
ed this hurt him somewhat. The
American people like an active Pres
ident and, since public opinion is often
a deciding factor in legislative battles,
a trip to the Middle West would have
been of ultimate value to the PreSi-
dent. He probably will travel more
after election than he has before.
The mistakes of the La Toilette
management were many. Having ac-
cepted at Cleveland the support of
several radical groups, the Wiscon-
sin Senator did not argue for radi-
calism in concrete and aggressive
sense. Either feeling the conserva-
tive mood of the country or yielding
to his own impulses, Senator La Fol-
lette took the defensive on the Su-
preme Court issue and public owner
ship. |
His radical friends would have been
better pleased and more enthused had
he insisted that the issue was not
change in the Supreme Court or the
Constitution. but whether a four-to-
three decision should be allowed to
override the wishes of Congress.
Should one man pass upon the consti-
tutionality of laws made by two
houses of Congress? Had he pur-
sued this tack, the radicals-and there
have been murmurs heard throughout
the length and breadth of the land
would have Jared better. AS for pub
lie ownership of railroads, a promise
to study the question was Interpreted
by ardent advocates of that proposal
as weakening. They would have
preferred that he argue the merits of
the question in the hope Of winning
converts.
BIunders Are Charged.
Indeed, La Toilette made the kind
Of a campaign which retained the
support he would inevitably have, but
did not tear away from the conserva-
tives or true progressives or inde-
>pendents the large number of voters
who hold the balance of power in Amer
lean elections.
AS for the Democratic campaign, 1t
has been 4 series Of mistakes from
the very. day the. Madison Square
Garden convention began. Defeat
was inevitable because John w. Davis
could not reconcile the two opposing
wings of democracy. 1t looked last
July as if he might. But the Demo-
Gratis themselves did not come to his
rescue. The McAdoo movement was a
concrete capitalization of Western
sentiment plus Southern support.
Th South votes Democratic anyway,
but the West could make little head
way with a New York lawyer as
candidate no matter how progressive
were his words. He had never before
been Identified with Western ideas of
proRressivism or semi-radical doc
trine. The very praise which issued
from the metropolitan press Of the
East served to injure the Davis candi-
dacy in the West, McAdoo might not