Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-26
Smith Must Cain Votes in
Radical Farm Northwest to Win

block of States is now most unlikely
The same forces of dry beliefs and of
UNCONVENTIONAL antagonisms. which
threaten him even In some parts of the
solid South" are almost certain to
overwheim him In some parts of the
border region" where the Democratic
margin of normal supremacy In the
electorate Is narrower.
Delaware seems surely Republican,
and Republican confidence Is mounting
In West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee
and Oklahoma. Stubborn fights are
anticipated In Maryland and Missouri.
Smith has to face the chance that a
still enduring devotion to the prohibit
ton experiment and an ancient, deep
seated local theory to the effect that
prive him of all the border States"
with the exception of the wettish ones
of Maryland In the East and Missouri
In the West This Is only chance. but
1t Is most certainly a chance. and 1t Is
one which he has to take into calcutta
ton In formulating his strategy.
Y
II, then. In the border region" he
should carry only Maryland and Mis-
souri,, his electoral votes from that re-
gion would number only IS. He, then.
with the industrial East" and the solid
South" and his savings from the Dor
der region" would have total. so far,
of 229 electoral votes out OF the neces-
sary 266.
He would accordingly still need 81
electoral votes in order to emerge the
victor.
Where can he get them?
He cannot get them In Hoovers own
habitat. the Pacific slope. 1t becomes
increasingly doubtful that he can get
them in any quantity In the Rocky
Mountain mining region. where there is
local pride In Hoover as a mining engi-
neer and where the cattle and sheep
men are entirely dependent on the tar
i'll and strongly bound TO the historic
tariff party.
Because of his utterances at Albany
he has lost strength In the Middle
West from Ohio to Nebraska, In pro-
portion as he has departed from strict
allegiance to the equalization fee" of
the McNary- Haugen bill and In proper
ton as Hoover has revisited the scenes
Of his youth and recovered his orig
inal status as farm boy"
In these circumstances, nevertheless,
there is one agricultural region in
which the outlook for Smith may In
deed be bright That is the region
which includes the La Follettite State
of Wisconsin. the temperamentally
farmer Labor State Of Minnesota, and
the wheat States of North Dakota and
South Dakota.
The recent disastrous fall I'm the price
of wheat has renewed anti-Republican
talk IN every threshing gang In every
Northwestern county still given to one
crop wheat farming. Senators Ship
stead and Schall, in Minnesota and
Senators LA Toilette and Blaine. in
Wisconsin. give Hoover anxious con-
Germ. North Dakota only few weeks
ago almost went of into the wet
column In a referendum,
All In all, this region heckons In
willingly to Smith, and It's electoral
votes number 3d. II Smith can get
those &c. then, with what has been
already assumed for him In this analy-
sis, he has a total Of 268 electoral votes
and Is across.
In sum. 1t Is horse race" and
Smith, to pass the line first. must do
some swift running In between Mil
waukee and Fargo. or else perhaps
carry Nebraska. In any case 1t seems
certain at this week end that his final
fac is written somewhere In that
region.