The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-10-17
LEADERS keep
EYES ON RACE
FOR congress
G. o. P. Chiefs Said to Be
Worried Over Probability
of Losing Places.
HISTORY MAY REPEAT
Hoosiers Prone to Make
Change in Protest Against
Tariff Measures.
BY BEN STERN

Ctliber and number of Republican
orators which have been sent into
Indiana within the last few weeks
to discuss national issues and plead
for support for Hoover" is taking
the attention of Hoosiers from the
state and county campaigns and To-
cuSing it upon the congressional
races.
Daily advices from Washington
declare that national leaders of the
Republican and Democratic parties
are viewing the Indiana congress
sional campaign with deep interest
and anxiously awaiting the results.
Republicans are said to be exceed
ingly worried as to the number of
districts which will be carried by
the Democrats, and some reports,
purporting to come from those high
in party councils, indicate that it is
expected Indiana will return nine
Democrats to the house of repre-
sentatives instead of the three now
serving.
So optimistic viewpoint is not,
however, being taken by the party's
chieftains in this state, who, from
all reports, expect to win but four
additional seats, and these in the
First, Third, Fifth and Eighth dis
tricts. -
There is some talk among work
ers that the Twelfth and Thirteenth
districts may also be Democratic.
Precedent for Prophecy
A certain basis for predicting that
O. majority of Democratic represen-
tatives will be elected is afforded
in a study of results of elections i'm
mediately following periods of eco
nonlic depression, such as now eX-
lists.
Political upheavals in the past
always have followed business de-
spondency. as the results of Indiana
elections indicate.
Hard times struck the country in
1853. In the election of the pre-
ceding year ten Democrats and one
Wing representative were elected,
But in 1854, the Democrats, the
dominant party of the area, re-
turned but two of the eleven repre-
sentatives apportioned the state, and
a fusion party composed of Wings,
Prohibitionists and Free Americans
obtained the election of nine of their
candidates.
Exactly twenty-five years later
came the panic of 1878 Ten Re-
publicans and three Democrats, ap-
portionment had then given Indiana
thirteen representatives, had been
elected in 1872, but in 1874 the vot-
ers turned upon the party in power
and sent eight Democrats and five
Republicans to congress.
The landslide which swept Cleve-
land into the presidency in 1892
gave him eleven Democratic and
two Republican representatives from
Indiana.
But 1898 was soup kitchen
year. The people turned and the
Republican party. as one chronicler
puts it, won the state by the then
unprecedented majority of $4,000
votes and thirteen Republican rep
resentatives were elected.
Another depression year was 1907.
In the 1906 election nine Repub-
Leans and four Democrats were
elected, but two years later the
Democrats gained seven seats, CIV
ing them eleven, and the Repub-
F1icans dropped to two.
Passage of the Payne ldrich
tariff bill in 1909 by the Taft adj
ministration reacted against the
G. o. P. and in the 1910 election
the Democrats won twelve of the
thirteen congressional districts.
Tariff Plays Heavy Role
What does all this prove?
The answer is that according tc
Indiana history it's citizenry are
ready to turn on the party in power
at the polls, and an unpopular tariff
results disastrously for the party
which passed it.
There is no iota of evidence tx
prove that Hoosiers are for the
Smoot- Hawley- Grundy tariff.
Addresses of Vice President Cur
tbs, National Chairman FesS, Sena-
tors Watson and Robinson and the
score or more other Republican or
ators have fallen fiat when in praise
of the tariff.
Yet the Republican party is max
ing it's fight in this state upon ma
tional issues, and these issues are
the tariff, farm relief and support
Hoover"
The Democrats, contenting them
selves with native speakers and re-
fuSing the aSSistance of national
orators, are pouring forth vitriolic
denunciations of the state admins
tration and, in passing only, mere
ly mention the business depression
and failure of federal farm relief.
The campaign keynote. made by
Paul McNutt Wednesday night over
a statewide radio hook-up, covered
the entire field of his party's Of
fensive and clearly indicated that
only the above mentioned points
will be made issues.
Realizing the precariousness OF
the Republican position in many Of
the districts. the national committee
is sending to Indiana a native son
Everett Sanders, formerly of Terre
Haute, and Write House secretary
to President Coolidge.
Sanders, it is reported, viii devote
his energies to speeches in the
Fifth, Eighth and Ninth districts
What the outcome of the election
will be, is, of course, on the laps Of
the gods, but the record of the past
points to the future and from al
appearances Indiana will have sew
eral Republican lame duck repre-.
sentative1
Short Fall Fatal
WASHINGTON, Ind, Oct. ia
fall of eight feet from scaffold al
| f1rforxy ca11Sed death 0f William