Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-05
STAR BULLETINS
IN GREAT DEMAND
Thousands Use Special Serv-
ice to Get Latest Election
News.

Washington may be voteless. but its
interest in the suffrage activities OF
the Nation at large was demonstrated
most effectively last night.
Elaborate arrangements Of The Star
for satisfying the curiosity OF the city
proved more than justified as the scope
and insistency Of the Capitals demand
for election news became apparent early
in the evening.
BY telephone wire, by radio, by movie
screen and by loud speaker The Star
conveyed to the Capitals citixenry the
minute commute developments OF the
Nationwide trek to the polls.
Throughout the night the news de-
partment Of The Star was confronted
with seemingly endless avalanche Of
inquiries concerning every conceivable
phase of the balloting in all parts Of the
country, while Drawing chilly drizzle
outside, stable crowd OF partisan
rooters watched bulletins and movies
flashed on q huge screen and listened to
announcements from the public address
system.
Thousands of other citizens who pre-
ferred the warmth of their flresides sat
before the radio and heard the story
Of the returns coming In over the air.
Special STATS on Duty.
An officia1 count Of telephone In
quiries which passed through The
Stars big switchboard between and
/ o'clock last night showed grand
total Of 2.15S election calls, or an aver
age of 6 per minute. This average was
vastly greater between the hours of
8 and IL O'Clock, during which period
the force Of three telephone operators
was almost swamped as they tried to
divert the calls to q special battery Of
telephones in the news room. The
operators were Mrs. Charlotte Barnes,
Mrs. Olive Clark and Mrs. Catherine
Padgett.
The big news room Of The Star was
In q dizzy whirl of activity during the
night. Special telegraph wires Of the
Associated Press and other news
significant accounts onto the telegraph
desks, where q large staff Of editors
sorted, tabulated and distributed the
returns.
Copies Of the election bulletins were
given to o corps Of staff members as
signed to type steropticon slides from
the reports, and other copies were
given to another group Of reporters
manning the special telephone extern
sions. As soon Is the steropticon bull
letins were typed they were rushed to
mezzanine floor Of the building.
National Service Given. F
1 For greater efficiency the returns
were apportioned by States among the
telephone staff, the members Of which
also were kept advised Of general de-
velopments and trends. All calls were
received over q special set-up Of six
branch lines, and at the peak OF In
Quiries, over additional lines OF the
city desk.
A tendency Of many inquirers to dis
cuss the issues Of various OF the races,
the personalities Of the candidates or
other matters relating to the election
served at times to slow up the tele-
phoflic processes.
Freak inquiries and questions having
their humorous side helped to tighten
the burden Of the telephone force.
Women originated most Of the "trick"
questions and some Of them were real
puzzlers. Some OF them wanted to
know not only the political party, color
and creed Of some Of the contestants
but also whether they were wet or dry,
old or young, married or single. Every
effort was made to supply the details
where possible undei the circumstances.
The general reaction Of the local
folks to developing events as related
over the telephone or announced on
the screen or through the loudspeakers
was noticeably favorable to the Demo-
Gratis, although the Republican devoteeS
also made their partisanship known in
no uncertain tones.
Partisans Show Feeling.
CALCULATIONS Of Great" That's fine"
or "Whoopee" greeted announcements
of pleasing import, while grunts or
groans or curt, mumbled thanks usually
told Of the subscribers dissatisfaction
or disappointment.
Out in front Of the screens the crowd
at times was quite demonstrative in its
partisanship. It seemed that the SYM
pathies Of majority-at least the out
spoken Inajority-were with the Demo-
cratic candidates Gov. Roosevelt Of
New York and Senator Walsh Of Mon
tana were accorded big hands. Senator
Norris Of Nebraska also had q large
number Of admirers In the crowd.
When the Associated Press bulletins
were not on the screen the walters were
entertained with talking movies, Berry,
man cartoons, news reels and comedies.
when Oliver Owen Kuhn, managing
editor Of The Star, went ON the air
over WMAL at I'll O'Clock, the loud
speakers were connected with the radio
microphone in The Stars broadcast
studio. The broacast continued until
late in the night, James e. Chinn as
| sisting.
Trafic on the north side of Penn
| sylvania avenue was roped on to afford
| protection to those watching the screens,
| At one time the crowd of spectators
filled the street from the curb on the
north side to the street car tracks, with
others standing in the shelter of the
Post once Department portico across
the street. Capt. Frank Burke Of No,
precinct had a special detail Of
police on the scene.
That the interest Of Neutrality-suspicious.
carried over until today was apparent
from the hundreds of telephone in
quiries received during the morning in
the news room. The telephone service
was maintained throughout the day.