Evening star., 1926-05-29
Continued from F'irst Page.)

| IFOHn clESt fdES.V
self a member of the American Le-
gion, Is making a play for the legion
vote. Mr.. Finch is not widely known
and Is not expected to cut much of
a figure in the race.
| The Porter.M .Murtaugh-F Files contest.
however. has revived in a measure
some of the antagoniUm of the Demo-
| cratic national convention in 1924.
The Marsh faction favored Gov. AL
Smith and the others McAdoo in that
memorable convention. Murtaugh Is
a Catholic and regarded as liberal
Klan Issue Revived.
,, The row in the Democratic national
convention over the so-called klan
plank has been dug up and reprinted
! in a Waterloo newspaper. Murtaugh' s
home town. Copies of the story have
been reprinted and are being circu-
lated in leaflet form. 1t gives the vote
| of the Iowa delegation on the Klan
Files are shown to have voted for
the Khan" Furthermore, Mr.. Muir
taugh. in an address in Davenport,
!! before the knights of Columbus. Is
said to have attacked both Mr.. Porter
J and Mr.. Files. A considerable number
| of Iowa Democrats are Catholics. Not
| q few of the Democrats are wet.
Nevertheless, MIR. Porter is account
ed here as the probable winner oil
the nomination. Indeed, some OF the
predictions are that he will have
vote as large as the combined Vote
for Murthaugh and Files.
There Is a great demand among
the Democrats of Iowa for harmony
in
stir up trouble. National Committee
man Herring is preaching 1t vigor
ously. He points to the chance which
the Democrats have really to accom-
plish something in the senatorial race
IL they all hang together and benent
by disgruntled Republican support.
A kind of tentative agreement exists
among the three principal candidates
for the Senate nomination that the
one who gets the largest vote shall
be the nominee, whether he shall
have received the necessary 3a per
cent Of the total vote cast or less
than that per cent. The plan Is to
avoid a scramble in Democratic
convention. to which the nomination
would go IL no candidate had received
at least IS per cent Of the vote cast
All of this is In the interest of
harmony.
Vote Often Is Light.
DESPITE the fact there are four can
didates In the field. the belief is that
there Is little probability of one of
them failing to receive 35 per cent
or more Of the total vote cast.
In Democratic primaries in Iowa
the vote il usually light. for the
simple reason that Democratic
nominees rarely win elections here.
Under such circumstances. the con-
tests for nominations are not brisk.
When Senator Daniel r. Steck was
about $4,000. There were two other
candidates in the race against Sena-
tor Steck, but he won by a con-
siderable margin. The expectation
this year, however. is that the vote
in the Democratic primary will run
as high as 100.000-provided some of
them do not go into the Republican
primaries to register their protests
either against Cummins or Brook
hart. The feeling of some Of the
Democratic leaders is that the con.
test for the Democratic senatorial
nomination Is a good thing. 1t should
serve. they say. to help keep the
Democratic voters in line They
away to Brookhart or Cummins. fear
Ing that they might stick to the Re.
publican nominee in the general e1ec-
tion in November.
II Claude r.. Porter Is nominated by
the Democrats. he is likely to give
any one Of the Republican cadidates
stin run. He is a progressive. Dur
ing the Wilson administration he was
United states attorney and prosecuted
Big Bill Hayward and the other /.
w. VS.. He became Assistant Attor-
ney General in the same administra-
ton and resigned that Office to become
chief counsel for the Federal Trade
Commission. He is a veteran Of the
Spanish American War and a veteran
Of many political campaigns. He has
been drafted time and again in the
past to make the race for governor
senator, etc, on the Democratic ticket
Ran Against Cummins.
Now he Is actively seeking Demo-
cratic nomination for the first time
Twenty years ago he was candidate
for governor against Senator Cum
minis and gave him a tight race. Mr.
Porter's dryness killed him off in that
fight, for enough wet Democrats are
said to have voted for Senator Cum
MINIS, VINO was the outstanding pro-
gressive in those days, to swing the
balance against Porter Mr.. Porter
had some of the conservative support
then, which this Fall may be lined up
with Senator Cummins and against
Porter If the two should be opponents.
So run the changes in political align
ments.
The Democratic candidates for the
Senate, like the Republicans, are prom.
Using aid to the farmers Of Iowa in the
event of their election to the Senate.
There is this difference, however. The
Democratic candidates are inclined to
attack the Republican protective tariff
in order to bring the farmer to
parity with the industrial East in the
purchasing power of his dollar. That
is in line with traditional Democratic
Nv