Evening star., 1925-08-31
BAY STATE SENATE
RACE is PUZZLE
Butler May Drop Seat to En-
ter Cabinet-WaISh
Strength Great.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

SWAMPSCOTT, Mass. August 81
Maybe Senator William NJ. Butler
will decide not to be a candidate to
succeed himself and maybe he will
become Secretary of War when the
resignation of John w. Weeks finally
is acted upon by President Coolidge
and maybe David Walsh. Democrat,
will be elected to the Senate again.
Mr.. Coolidge would not like to see
the aforesaid things happen and he
is by no means convinced that they
will happen, but just the same there s
unea asiness in Massachusetts politics
and the administration is doing all
II can TO steer the situation that the
least political damage will be IN
CURED.
Mr.. Butler is hardly the most pop
ular type of a candidate the Repub-
licans could name. He is an able
man and if Massachusetts would per
init him to serve he would stack up
well with his predecessors. But
there's factionalism in the Repub'
lican party in the. Bay State ana
Mr.. Butler would have had hard
time winning a nomination in a pri-
mary without presidential support.
Holds Lodges Seat.
AS il is, he holds the place of the
late Senator Lodge by appointment
of Gov. Fuller, and must defend his
right to a seat in the Senate in a
Republican primary next year, as
well as in the election next Autumn.
He can win the nomination, because
President Coolidge is strong enough
to bring that about with the Repub-
licans of Massac achusetts. But is he
the strongest man the Republicans
could name to oppose former Sena-
tor David Walsh? Some of the Re-
publican aSpirants for Buffers place
think not. They argue that differ
ent type of man must be put up to
beat Walsh.
For the benefit of those who haven t
followed Massachusetts politics be it
said that David Walsh is a sort of Al
Smith. He gets a tremendous vote
from Republican and Democratic
sources and runs way ahead of all
other candidates. For example, in
1918, when the ill-fated Wilson appeal
for a Democratic Congress caused
such widespread losses to the Demo
Gratis, Mr.. Walsh was effective enough
to beat John w. Weeks, now Secfe-
tary of War, who was then running
for the Senate, to succeed himself. In
1924, when Calvin Coolidge swept the
country, and particularly his own
State OF Massachusetts,, by unprece-
dented majorities, Senator Walsh
came within $4,000 of winning out.
The tale is told that $4,000 ballots.
which were known to have come from
Democratic woman voters, were left
unmarked because the senatorial
names were far down the ballot.
Strength Conceded.
Anyway, even the Republicans con-
cede that Walsh is a strong opponent
and that the result would be close, no
matter whom the Republicans named.
The Democrats are confident of vic
tory. because they say that if Senator
Walsh could come SO close to winning
when Coolidge himself was carrying &
the State by 422 900 majority, then it
will be even easier when Coolidge is
not running and the election is fought
out on a normal basis.
Mr.. Coolidge, of course, viii employ
every power he can command to help
Mr. Butler If he is the nominee. but
excessive use of the presidential in
fuence would inevitably be turned by
the Democrats to some political ad-
vantage. First of all, If the cam
paign is based wholly on a, policy of
uphold Coolidge" it would tend to
diminish Mr.. Buffers own strength.
Any candidate who runs on another S
aid or say-so finds his opponents