The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1924-09-17

ON VOTES
Party Workers Paint the
LiIy-Nobody Knows
Situation.
Times Washington Bureau,
1922 Near York Are

HWI OF the political news sent out
- Of Washington TO newspapers
all over the country has little exact
fact basis. That isn't because or
respondents don't want TO write
facts, but because they can't get
them. All they can get is opinion.
Many of the stories are based on
publicity stuff handed out at the
various political headquarters, hav-
ing been written by trained news
paper men employed by campaign
committees to work the publicity end
of the campaign.
Naturally, only biased opinion IA
vorable to the party that gives it
out is written by the publicity ex-
perts. That's their job. The pur-
pose IS, Of course. to influence pub
lie opinion.
Democratic politicians coming to
Washington visit their party head
quarters and report that Davis Is
going strong out their way. Repub-
lican politicians make Ike reports
about Coolidge. And. being human
beings. La Toilette supporters paint
the lily. too.
Some Believe Them
Undoubtedly some Of the reports
are believed by their authors. They
believe what they want to believe.
Anyhow, the political dope they hand
out is what they want TO believe.
Experienced politicians can detect
tendencies, Of course, but they can't
T--1-r, zzRrs4o1rv 4La ovSanf - TanIon
cies. If there is an apparent drift
toward their party they e|xaggerate
it; if the tendency is away from their
party they minimize It.
What really bothers the old-party
politicians is the drift toward the
La Toilette movement. They know
that La Toilette will get a lot II
votes, but there Is no way OF telling
how many. Democrats hope he will
get more votes away from Repub-
licans than from Democrats, so
they vocalize their hope and say so.
Bot neither Of them knows.
Look to Labor
They don't know how solidly or
ganized labor Will follow the leader
ship Of Compers and his associates.
But they hope that the rank and
file will do as they have done in
the past. reutralize their strength by
splitting their vote among the par
ties.
They don't know 10 what extent
farmers in States other than those
in the Northwest will leave the old
parties. Neither does anybody else.
They don't know how the invisible
empire Will affect the result. One
side can draw comfort from the de-
feat Of the Khan in Texas, and the
other from its triumph in Maine.
Political dopesters can merely
speculate on the effect Of the in.
dorsement Of La Toilette by the
Steuben Society. If there is any
strong movement of voters Of Ger
man ancestry toward La Toilette. It
will hurt one party most in some
States and the other party most in
other States. And nobody knows
exactly how big it is.
They Lack Dope
One trouble about all the specula-
ton is that the only strong third
party precedent the dopesters have
TO go on Is the Bull Moose move
ment Of 1912. But the situation
was different then from now. The
nomination Of Wilson by the Demo-
Gratis that year held progressive
Democrats to their party, while
Roosevelt drew mainly from the Re-
publican party. This year, however,
both old party nominees are con
sidered rea%ctionary. and there is an
opportunity for progressives from
both parties to get together Of the
La FOllette-Wheeler ticket.
Politicians who really understand
the game will admit-though not for
publication-that what bothers them
most is the silent vote and he stay
at-home vote of 1920. II fifty per
cent of those who didn't vote in
1920 do vote this year it knocks the
dope into a cooked hat. For ex-
ample, Harding carried Pennsyl-
vania by zoe, 900 in 1920, but the
combined vote of Harding and Cox
was much less than 1000, 900. Yet
2 800, 900 eligible voters in Pennsyl-
vania didn't vote that year.
Throughout the entire country only
about half of the eligible voters
went to the polls in 1920.
Nobody knows whether they will
vote or stay at home this year. If
they didn't vote then because they
were disgusted with both old par.
ties then they may vote this year.
But nobody knows the real reason
why they didn't vote. Nobody
knows the real reason why they
didn't vote. Nobody knows what
they will do this year.