Evening star., 1928-11-05
Now for the Verdict!

Shortly before midnight the last Of
the campaign voices will be heard The
two presidential candidates will close
their activities with radio statements
and appeals from their own home towns,
and when they have signed off" the
campaign will be formally and officially
at an end. A few hours for sleeping
will elapse and then early tomorrow
morning the ballot boxes will be opened
and the great national referendum will
voters will go to the polls. perhaps forty
millions. Forecasts and predictions and
estimates have been made regarding the
results. They are all contingent. No
body really knows how the bulk of the
new registrants will vote, and it is with
them that the verdict rests.
This has been the most active and in
some respects the most bitterly con-
tested campaign in modern political his
tory. Thirty-two years ago the country
was stirred in the same. manner, but the
issue then was almost wholly economic,
and, furthermore, the women of the
country were not yet enfranchiSed save
in a very few areas and in small num-
bers. Today the women are all enfran-
chised-save those of the District of
Columbia-and the issues are largely of
a moral character. The result is that
the campaign has taken on an aspect
of intensity of feeling that is unprece-
dented. The women have taken part in
the canvass, in the speaking and in the
practical political work of the parties
to degree never before known 1t has
been said that their voice will determine
the result.
OF the two candidates it has been
the general feeling that they are the
best representatives of their parties who
could have been presented in the sense
of campaign efficiency. Specifically the
general Judgment is that Gov. Smith is
by far the strongest man the Democracy
could have nominated, and it is also felt
that perhaps with one exception Mr..
Hoover is the strongest opponent the
Republicans could have offered.
The two candidates have differed
strikingly in their characteristics. Gov.
Smith has appealed for votes in a re-
markable series of addresses covering a
wide area of travel and a wide range of
subjects. Mr.. Hoover has made fewer
speeches and fewer personal appear
ances In his tours of the country. Gov.
Smiths addresses have been colloQuial
and at times have become impassioned,
while those of Mr.. Hoover have been
carefully prepared and comparatively
restrained. Each candidate has been
given tremendous receptions, evidenc-
ing a high degree of personal popu-
larity.
Considering the nature of the issues,
the inevitable interjection of the re-
ligious question and the revival of the
prohibition problem, it is not surprising
that feeling should have run high, or
that areas of previous partisan solidarity
should have been shaken severely.
Party lines have been broken in the
East, in the South and in the West.
Strange new allegiances have been
formed. Those previously in political
enmity have been brought together in
unison of praise for favored candidates
and criticism of disfavored ones. Fam
lies have been divided. New factors of
alignment have developed until it has
been predicted that this campaign will
be the cause of radical revision of
party lines and groups perhaps the re-
organization of the loser.
Twenty-four hours hence the returns
will begin to appear. Shortly after din
ner tomorrow the first indications of
drift" will be discernible. The hope is
that well before midnight tomorrow the
verdict will have been returned.