Evening star., 1928-10-22
Candidates and Crowds.

on the score of the enormous crowds
that have greeted the candidates in
their speaking tours. Even in those
contests which have been marked by
'front-porch" tactics by one or the
other of the contestants the feeling of
confidence on the score of the great
number of pilgrims journeying to the
partisan shrines has presented itself
Just at present there is, as usual at
the latter end of the fight for votes, a
conflict of enthusiasms and condolences.
Gov. Smith has just finished tour
through the South and Middle West.
and on the return to New York the
members of his staff declare that the
enormous gatherings of people who
greeted the candidate at every stopping
point. particularly at the places of
speech-making. prove conclusively that
the sentiment of those communities and
States is assuredly in his favor And by
the same token the crowds that have
already greeted Mr.. Hoover in New York,
"the enemy's stronghold" and the as
Surance of capacity attendance tonight
at Madison Square Garden when he
makes a speech, forecast heavy reduc-
ton in the Smith majority in Greater
New York and consequently the carry
ing for Hoover of the Empire State,
without which Gov. Smith cannot be
elected, by any conceivable combination
of electoral voting,
Memories of the bitter plant of the
late William Jennings Bryan after his
defeat for the presidency in 1895 are
revived by these claims by partisan
leaders on the score of the crowds that
are gathering to greet the two contest
ants. He was met at every point OF
his progress by immense throngs. In
the West, in the East. he was a magnet
for thousands. He was cheered by his
hearers at the speech-makings. He was
mobbed by his admirers in their eager
ness to grasp his hand. Wherever he
went there was a crowd. Wherever he
spoke there were rousing yells Of ap-
proval. And yet when the votes were
counted he had been rejected by large
margins in the very places where he had
drawn the largest attendance. "They
came to hear me-" he sadly observed
after election, "but they did not vote as
they cheered."
AS matter Of fact Mr.. Bryan's
hearers in 1896 may have all voted for
him, voted as they cheered, and yet he
would have been defeated. For the
number of people who can possibly get
into q speech-making audience-even
in these times of amplifiers not
exhaust the partisan voting strength OF
the community. In town of five
thousand people, perhaps, there will, on
the occasion Of the visit of a presiden-
tial candidate, be turnout Of more
than the actual voting population,
counting the youngsters and the neigh
bors. But in city Of fifty thousand
the actual present audience" is never
full showing of the party strength.
And in city of a million or so it is
the simplest thing in the world for a
meeting manager to evoke capacity
crowd for any hall and an overflow
crowd two or three times as large.
In fact, no management is required.
Human curiosity turns the trick.
Crowds do not vote as they gather,
or even as they cheer. Every experienced
candidate knows that a certain per-
centage Of those whom he faces in his
campaigning are of the opposition, pres
ent to note his words in hostile spirit.
He knows. too, that there is certain
percentage Of those who 60 to political
meetings just as they go to fires, because
they like crowds and excitement, re-
gardless Of the cause.
Whatever the broadcasters of pre-
election confidence may say about the
relationship between the crowds and
the volume of votes two weeks from
tomorrow, the candidates themselves
probably know that their respective
fortunes are not revealed by the clamors
Of the multitudes they have already
faced or those they will meet in the
coming days. Those fortunes are in
the custody of the millions who, whether
or not they go to political meetings,
have made up their minds how to vote,
or who make them up between now
and election day, and who will not and
cannot declare their intentions before
then.