Evening star., 1926-10-03
WATSON FIGHTING
BATTLE OF HIS LIFE
Indiana Senator Has Strong
Democratic Foe-Some
of G. O. P. Hostile.

battle of his life. He. and he alone,
is the issue" in Indiana this year.
Seasoned veteran that he Is, his third
successive campaign for the United
States Senate is far and away the
f1ercest he has ever had to conduct.
Hoosier Republican politics will be alb
solute. The fight to wreck him is
correspondingly intense.
Watson is girded for his crucial fray
with as compact an organization as
any American politician ever COM
nlanded. 1t reaches into every post
ONCE in Indiana. What is more i'm
portant. it ramifes into every solitary
voting precinct Of the State. What
that the Watson phalanX includes
every Ku Klux Klan unit between
Lake Michigan and the Ohio River.
It is against this formidable array Of
intrenched power that the Democrats
Of Indiana, bulwarked by anti-Watson
Republicans, are now throwing them
selves.
VIII Elect Two Senators.
Indiana elects two United States
Senators this year. Watson Is the
Republican candidate TO succeed him.
self for a long or full six year term
Arthur r. Robinson is the Republican n
candidate to succeed himself for the
short or two-year term required to
fill the unexpired term of the late
Senator Samuel N. Ralston. Demo
crat, whom Robinson succeeded by
appointment in 1925.
Watson Is opposed by Albert Stump,
Democrat, and Robinsons antagonist
is Evans Wool!en. Democrat. Stump
is hitherto relatively unknown but
brilliant young lawyer Of uncommon
l.
tellectual. a banker and member of a
family long distinguished in Indiana
politics and finance. Against the Re.
publican senatorial incuMbents 1t is
admitted on all hands that the Demo
Gratis have nominated tWo OF the
strongest men who ever ran for the
Senate from the State of Hendricks.
Voorhees, and Marshall.
Since time tn1raen1orial q doubtful
State. Indlanatn 1926 unquestionablv is
entitled to that description. Coolidge
carried It by 10000 plurality in 1924.
But two years previous Ra!ston
overwhelmed Hoosierdon's Demos.
themes, Albert jeremiah Beveridge. by
$4,000 in a senatorial vote of more
than A million.
Primary Figures Analysed.
The figures talked about most IN
Indiana just now are the results Of
the Republican primary from which
Watson emerged victorious. An OBJ.
scure young lawyer named Claris
Adams, running without funds and
without an ganization. rolled up 127,-
600 votes against Watsons round
100000
'Jim's'' triumph Of to l was sub
stantial Yet, today Adams vote
looms as the most ominous cloud on
70 q
estimates are that at least 40 per
cent Of the Watson protest vote" will
be cast for Stump, the Senator's Dem
ocratic rival, next month. An acces-
sion Of $4,000 Republican ballots in
an Indiana senatorial contest, as the
Ralston- -Beveridge duel of 1922 showed
is more than enough TO turn a close
contest in the Democratic direction.
On the extent TO which Jim" Wat
sons enemies knife him depend the
Democrats chief hope Of defeating
him. The name Of these foes is legion.
Their leaders are men Of eminent
identity. They include such inaplaca.
bles as Harry S. New, Postmaster Gen.
eral in the Coolidge cabinet. Beve-
ridge, former United States Senator.
James P. Goodrich. former governor;
VIII H. Hays, former Postmaster Gen
eral and Republican national chair
man, and Lew Shank, picturesque
former auctioneer.nayor of Indian
apolis.
Long-Standing Grudges.
For varying numbers OF years each
and all OF these good and true
Hoosier Republicans have lain awake
parts Of their respective nights hating
Jim" Watson. This is the first of
Watson's senatorial campaigns thar
fnds his enemies l2assed in the de-
sire for his overthrow. If not openly
rnobilized to accomplish il. AT least
two Of thenl-New and Beveridge-
charge Watson with responsibility Cor
their own overthrows, and within the
same year Il was in the Spring of
1922 that Watson is charged with
thwarting News ambition to secure
denomination 70 the Senate, and in
the Fall of the same year that Vim
is accused Of striking Beveridge SO
successfully that Sam" Ralston be-
came IVatson's colleague in the
Senate.
There is no evidence that the New.
Beveridge Goodrich ys-Shank braves
have actually sharpened tonnahawks
for the purpose of scalping Watson in
November Some Of them cherish
party regularity too religiously 10
wish publicly to have their RepubIi-
canisra irapugned by fighting a C. O.
?. nominee. But it Is an open secret
that Jointly and several!y they would
rejoice at Watson's dethronenaent.
Democrats Expect Help.
Democratic leaders claim that the
anti'Watson group Is going the full
limit, short OF public antagoniSal. to
beat him. The assertion is made that
these Republicans are even centrtbut-
ing to the Democratic war chest as
practical evidence Of their seul-
raents.
There is another dlsaffected Repub-
lican element that is expected to rise
up against Watson this year, namely.
their support through the Farm Bu-
reau Federation il his primary con.
test. But the Democrats have been
driving home that Jim s. friendship
for the buco!ic brother was a power
full long time in nlanifesting itself He
has been in Congress, House and Sen
ate for more than so years, but, il
seems, cannot point to any farm leg.
islation for which he was in any way
responsible during all that long
Period.
The other day in a keynote speech
Watson blUrted out that the plight of
the farmer has been growing steadily
worse for 25 years. His resourcefui
Democratic opponent. Stump. is now
asking all over the State what Jim"
Watson was doing during that quarter
of a century OF increasing rural dis
tress to remedy farmers troubles.
Thrusts Hard At Watson.
Stump is depicting Watson 8 zeal on
behalf Of McNary- Eaugen legislation