Evening star., 1928-10-23

On the sixth day of November more
than 100000 Americans will cast
their ballots for the electors who name
the next President of the United States.
This will be a mighty army, shoulder to
shoulder, a string of men and women
10000 miles long. From their voting
will come a plurality for some candl-
date, perhaps of one vote, perhaps OF
5000, 900 votes. Whatever 1t is, Ma
ton of some hundred and twenty mil
lion souls will accept the verdict. Par
tisanship will be silenced, patriotism will
acclaim new leader of united people.
What will have been decided?
To those who say there is very little
difference between the two great par
ties of today there is one positive an
swer-someC thing has caused a great
many people to change their party
alignments. When there Is large
shift, more or less general bolting OF
party lines, there must be a cause, an
issue, or several causes and several IS
sues Analysis and. study of present
facts and historic backgrounds reveal
the causes and the issues of today more
clearly than do party platforms. those
cautious generalities so largely drafted
with the knowledge that sugar catches
more flies than vinegar.
It Is not sufficient to say that the
difference lies not in the parties but
in the candidates. Granting this to be
true, the parties picked the candidates,
and to some extent they follow the
candidates. If the difference lies in
candidates, it lies not in their personal
appearance, the tone of their voices or
the cut of their clothes. 1t lies In
principles which they advocate and ex-
press, which become. in fact, the pr1n-
ciples of the parties.
Shifting of Leaders Significant.
one obvious sign of this campaign
has been the shifting of leaders from
party to party, and where a few Lead
ers. made cautious by long political
experience. are willing to shift their
allegiance. it Is certain that many fol-
lowers have changed Another 1ndlca-
tiorl. rare in modern history, has been
the active participation OF religious
leaders in the campaign. Not in the
memory of men now living has here
been a time when bishops and min
isters of the gospel have become the
ardent advocates, even from their pull
pits. of one candidate or one party.
When Jefferson wrote the virginia
bill of religious liberty, he laid basis
for the conservative clergy OF his day
TO dIlEH tIl6DlSCINCS OPClhy
Federaiist party and against the god
less Democratic Republicans. The
clerical efforts failed to hold their con-
gregations in line on election day
Again. when slavery was an issue, the
two greatest Protestant denominations
split into Northern and Southern
groups. and we have Northern and
Southern Methodists and Baptists to
this day. Probably with the exception
of these two instances there has never
been more religion mixed in our poll
tics than there is today.
Boilers Assign Reasons.
The causes of shifting party align
ments have usually been stated by the
boilers of 1928 Democrats have left
their party, stating that they will not
support a candidate who suggests any
possible change in the prohibition
amendment or the Volstead enforce
ment act Some have added that they
will not support New York candidate
who is aligned with the Tammany So
ciety. Republicans have left their
party, stating that they believe bet