The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1930-05-30
VOLSTEAD SECTIONS
GOT MORE BALLOTS
Than VOTE RATIOS
Weekly Based Apportionment
on Voting Quotas for Presi-
dent, Not Population
KANSAS UNDULY FAVORED
Wet Territory in Part Given
Smaller Percentage of Straw
Vote Forms Than Due

The charge that the Literary Di-
gest favored the wet states with an
extra supply of ballots in it's 10000
000-ballot poll on prohibition, and
that the dry states were correspond
ingly cheated, is answered vigorously
and in detail by that magazine in to-
morrow's issue.
1--WE find in the first place." says
the Digest, "the figures of Jul critics
are based wholly on population sta
tistics. The apportionment of Digest
poll ballots among the states is gov
erned by popular vote statistics-in
this case those of the presidential
election of 1928.
1.-The popular voting strength OF
some of the dry states is much
smaller in proportion to population
than that Of the principal wet states"
A study of its latest table, says the
editor, will show that it was really the
dry states which accidentally got a
slight excess of those coveted ballots.
Poems and Negroes Omitted
Take the first state, Alabama"
says the Digest" The percentage of
its popular vote to the total vote of
the nation is O.6, while the sixth col
uran reveals that Alabama received
1.04 per cent of the Digest's ballots.
Some states, like Arizona, Connec-
ticut, Illinois, and Maine, come out
pretty evenly between the ballots they
1,.or4 onfif1nI 70 ond fhncn MO cont
them. Minnesota's credit and debit
are remarkably close. So are Ohio's.
And Oklahoma's actually tally to the
Got.
But Kansas, with only 1893 per
cent of the national popular vote, re-
ceived 2.31 per cent of the Digest bal
lots, whereWith to score the banner
cry percentage of the poll.
Texas is held up by prohibitionist
statisticians as a pathetic victim Of
the Digest's injustice. They point out
that the Lone Star state, with a pop
ulation almost half that of New York.
received less than a fourth Of New
York's quota of ballots.
Texas in 1923 contributed only 1872
per cent of the nations popular vote.
Hence its quota of 3.87 per cent OF
Digest ballots was more than gen.
erouS.
"Of course the explanation of why
there is such a wide discrepancy be-
tween the population OF Texas
487, OO0-and its popular vote-7O8,99 9
is that enormous blocks of its in
habitantS do not vote. These are
chiefly Mexican poems and negro la
borers. They do not receive Digest
ballots, which are aimed at a voting,
reading, purchasing public"
How about the populous anti-pro-
hibition states, such Is New York?
The critics say they were unduly IA
vored. The reply is that New York
in 1928 registered 12.11 per cent OF the
country's vote, whereas The Digest
gave it only 1910 per cent of the total
number of ballots sent out.
Wet States Fell SHORT
The figures thus refuted were con-
tanned in a Washington dispatch re-
lating that Floyd Neff, mathema-
tician of Philadelphia, had been
quoted by the Methodist board OF
temperance, prohibition and public
morals as saying that "47.91 per cent
of the votes of The Digest's poll were
from New York, Pennsylvania, 1lli-
nois, New Jersey and Connecticut,
having 1886 per cent of the nations
population"
According to the same authority.
New York, having 1852 per cent OF
the population, cast 1903 per cent Of
the votes, and New Jersey, with 3.18
per cent of the population, cast 7.78
per cent" Furthermore, 1.-The five dry
states of Texas, North Carolina, Okla
homa, Tennessee. and Georgia, having
1879 per cent of the population, cast
only $50 per cent of the total votes
in the poll"
When this criticism was referred to
The Literary Digest's statistical de-
partment it produced the following
comment:
LAS shown in the polls ~tabulatlon
in The Digest of May "a, the five
Eastern states which he names re-
turned 1,713,359 straw votes, or 3o.O1
per cent of the total returns.
While it is true that these states
represent 28.57 per cent of the popu-
lation, they also represent 347o per
cent of the 1928 popular vote. And
they received only 1858 per cent OF
Digest ballots mailed out.
New York, with 12.ll per cent OF
the popular vote, received 1910 per
cent of the straw ballots and return
ed 1877 per cent Of the total poll,
New Jersey, with 40 per cent OF
the popular vote, received 3.02 per
cent of Digest ballots and returned
5.18 per cent of the final returns.
The five Southern states named
by Mr.. Neff for comparison repre-
sent 6.93 per cent of the 1928 popular
vote, received 9.64 per cent OF the
Digest ballots, and returned 6.95 per
cent of the polls total"