Evening star., 1928-11-06
FARM BELT CASTS
TREMENDOUS VOTE
Fair Weather, Moderate
Temperature Bring Huge
Numbers to Polls.
By the Associated Press.


The meaning of the tremendous regis
tration in the Middle West, qualifying
nearly as many woman voters as men.
was undergoing Interpretation today at
the ballot box, which will yield the Sc
cret of the farm belts 149 electoral
votes and decide nine senatorial and
127 House races.
With fair weather and moderate tenn
peratureS prevailing over most of the
area, early reports indicated that the
record breaking registration was being
translated into q record-breaking vote.
More than 100000 ballots had been
cast in Chicago alone two and one-half
hours after the polls opened, and elec-
tion officials estimated that Chicagoans
were continuing to the polls at the rate
OF 100000 an hour Downstate Illinois
also was turning out heavily, and sim
liar reports of unprecedented voting
came from Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan,
Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Da-
kotas, Kansas and Ohio.
Many Women Voting.
The woman vote in the urban centers
was noticeably large in the early hours
Good roads, incident to the unusually
warm November weather, brought early
In Nebraska election commissioners
decreed that voters in line at the hour
the polls closed would be given an op-
portunity to vote, regardless of the time
| involved. This was deemed necessary
because Of the big registration and the
length of the ballot.
In 1924 all but 13 Wisconsin electoral
votes, which went to La Toilette, were
counted In the Coolidge column in the
| Midwest, and while Republicans claimed
that their traditional front would be
maintained and that Wisconsin would
be won back, Democrats centended that
their candidates and the issues on
which they fought would penetrate the
Republican wall.
The increased registration of from 10
to As per cent in some States was
called an outpouring to register a con-
viction on the farm problem, which was
one of the dominant issues in the
Middle West.
Republican spokesman said the an
nouncement of Herbert Hoover that #
elected he would call special session
of Congress to consider the farm prob
| lem had brought evidence of q favor
able reaction among farm belt farmers.
On the other hand. George N. Peek,
chairman of the Alfred E. Smith In
dependent organizations committee, and
an active worker for the McNary-
Haugen bills, declared that "Mr. Hoov-
er's address holds out no new hope for
the farmer"
Reports from the Smith-independ-
ent agricultural leagues indicate 9
wholesale reputation of Hoover and
his policies by normally Republican
farmers" said Mr.. Peek.
Our information indicates that Wis
consin, Missouri and Nebraska are safe
for Smith by considerable margin;
that Smith also will carry Minnesota
North and South Dakota and Montana
in close fights; that Iowa and Indiana
are definitely in the doubtful column. y
Mr.. Peek also saw definite possibility
that Illinois will land In the Smith
column"
Western Republican headquarters at
Chicago countered with a statement
that Official advices received from
State managers in all of the so called
farm belt States leave no question but
that Hoover will carry them all, includ-
I ing Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Da-
kota and Nebraska"