Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-07
NORRIS EXPLOITING
TRICK IN HIS RACE
Nebraskan Making Most OF
Grocer Rivals Effort
to Get on Ticket.
Continued From First Pagel

Seymour and Grocer Norris because of
their testimony before the Senate COM
mittee last July, denying that there was
any connection between them in the
filing of Grocer Norris papers for the
senatorial primary, is still waiting, APP
parently, for the record OF the testimony.
There are plenty of Republicans in
Nebraska opposed to the reelection OF
Senator Norris. It Is generally supposed
here that some of them had hanc In
the effort to place Grocer Norris in the
Republican senatorial primary against
Norris. But just who these Republicans
are is still a matter OF mystery. There
possibly the Grocer Norris affair reaches
back to certain persons connected with
the Republican Senatorial Committee
and even the National Committee. But
it is still merely matter of surrnise.
Seymour Remains Silent.
Seymour until recently was an as
sistant to the vice chairman of the Re-
publican Senatorial Campaign Commit
tee, Senator Steiwer of Oregon, at the
committee headquarters in Denver,
Colo. He resigned his position there,
as he announced, voluntarily, and for
the good of the party. Now he is back
in Lincoln. according to reports, but Is
saying nothing.
While the efforts to embarrass a cam
didate for Office through filing another
candidate OF the same name may be
new wrinkle in politics out in the other
States, it is not new in Nebraska. Ow-
ing to the way the primary law is
drafted, there is no way to distinguish
on the primary ballot between the two
men who bear the same names. For
example, If the law had permitted, 1t
| would have been a simple thing to have
dnci0ndtpH (3aOr0n nj
as Senator" George w. Norris in a race
against his namesake from Broken Bow,
/ the grocer. But this could not be done.
There have been a dozen other at
tempts to capitalize a name in primary
elections in Nebraska, probably more.
| The law, as 1t is drawn, seems to work
a manifest hardship on men who have
| won approval of the voters and built
! themselves up reputation. How easy,
under the circumstances, for Smith
| to enter against another Smith, divide
the vote in the primary, and thereby
| give the nomination to a third candi-
date by the name of Brown.
Aims of His Backers.
The attempt by the hackers of Grocer
| Norris was to force Senator Norris to
withdraw from the Republican primary
| and run as an independent. Had Sen
ator Norris done so, however, there was
nothing to prevent Grocer Norris from
Withdrawing Immediately afterward and
also filing as an independent for the
| general election. Such tactics would
have made difficult situation for the
| Senator in the general election.
The court ruled that the Grocer
| Norris filing was received too late by the
| secretary of state. That took the
grocer effectually of the ballot. Norris
remained in the primary and won the
RHnflhIiH1n nomination
hackers of Grocer Norris sent in Grocer
Norris papers two days earlier, for ex-
ample, there would have been no court
action by which the grocer's name could
have been removed from the ballot. 1t
seems a stupid oversight or delay, if the
grocer'S hackers really wished to push
| the matter to an issue. One runor GO
ing the rounds has it that the Grocer
Norris was purpoSely late in getting his
| papers to the secretary of state. But
no particular reason is assigned for
that.
A case In point, showing how the
similarity in names has been used to
embarraSs candidates for Office in Ne
braska other than Senator Norris, Is
that Of Robert Smith, clerk of the
| court in Omaha for many years, q
power in the Republican party and q
| supporter Of Senator Howell and of
| Senator Norris. The nominating papers
VI roperI L. 0nuCn, <4-year-olo
| Jockey, son of raiser of race horses,
were filed this year for the Republican
nomination for county clerk.
Runs rs Independent.
There was no way In which Mr..
| Smith could get the Jockeys fling set
| aside. In the end, Mr.. Smith, who has
served with credit as clerk Of the court
| for a long time, withdrew his own dls
| iY1n ha -i,,1o y-ryu q
I now running as an independent against
the Democratic nominee and the Re-
| publican. The Republican nominatios1
| was not won by the jockey, but By
another man, lawyer. But the trick
was quite sufficient to get Clerk Smith
out Of the Republican primary, and
of the Republican ticket In November,
This, by the way, is only one Of
series of similarity Of names In primary
elections this year.
So the people Of Nebraska have not
| been so excited, perhaps, over the
| Grocer Norris incident in the senatorial
| race as they might have been. Many
of the Republicans insist that Senator
Norris had no business going into a Re-
publican primary at all in view of his
support Of Al Smith in 1923 and his
constant attacks on the Hoover admin
istration since then. There is likely to
be an effort, however, when the Legis-
lature meets this year to amend the
! primary law so as to put an end to
such practices as forced Robert Smith
to run as an independent in the clerk
ship race this year.
The campaign has not yet really
gotten under way, though both Hitch
cock and Norris have made a number
of speeches. Senator Norris, however,
will begin next week a whirIWind CAM
/ paign, speaking daily until election day,
! and, it Is reported, attack the record
of Senator Hitchcock. Norris support-
erS say that he will assail Hitchcock
because of his opposition while he was
in the Senate to the woman suffrage
amendment, to the eighteenth amend
mcnt and to his vote for the Esch-
| Cummins transportation act and to his
vote against the imposition of higher
rates of taxation on big incomes.
Attack May Be Returned.
If Senator Norris begins a personal
attack on the Democratic nominee,
there are chances that the attack will
| be returned In kind. The opponents of
Senator Norris insist they have some
ammunition which they may unload
with a dtSconcerting effect on Norris
Th1rty-f1ve years ago Senator Norris,
when candidate for district Judge, was
involved in law suit in which it was
charged that his election had been
preme Court sent the case back, but
with the implication there had been
fraud. The case was not brought again
to the Supreme Court, however. There
have been threats on the part of some
of the Norris opposition to bring that
matter up and air it again, and also
charges he was close to railroad inter-
eSSS in the State during his earIiar