New Britain herald., 1930-10-29
WHY SHOULD APATHY
 RILE THE CAMPAIGNp

what reporters have discovered hcreabouts is that General Apathy is in command of the election cam paigm They may be wrong-we hope they are-but it must be confessed that there are plenty of reasons why wide general interest instead of apathy should reign,
 A fair amount of apathy has al- ways characterized American elCc- tions, if the statistics are reliable. The highest percentage of eligible voters to cast their ballots was in the last five presidential elections of the nineteenth century-in 1880, 1884, 1888, 1892 and 1896. The aver age during these elections was S2 per cent. The average in the elec tions of 1900, 1904 and 1908 was TOE per cent. And it has been fall ing ever since except for a slight rise in 1928, when Al smith tended to rout General Apathy somewhat. Even then the aim was no higher than 50 per cent, but so per cent voted.
 That there has been an incrcas- ing apathy toward elections cannot be doubted, although it is also true that the enfranchiscment of wom- cn has not resulted in all eligible women voting; to many women the idea remains repugnant.
 Several years ago an inquiry on non-voting was made among 5000 non-voters in Chicago. The answers why they failed to vote was sisniii- cant. Twenty five per cent assigned absence or illness as the reasons; A per cent frankly admitted indiffer ence or neglect; IS per cent vowed q disbelief in voting or the value of voting; and 13 per cent gave legal and administrative obstacles.
 The two major parties in the United States, it must be admitted, try to cover a large amount of po- litical and economic territory. There is scarcely room for persons of all shades of political belief within their folds. Without favoring the spllt-up of the political status quo into in numcrable other parties, as is the case in most of Europe, it might be pointed out that the recent German general election. with around F inn portant parties in the field, brought out a much higher percentage of voters than has ever turned out in the United States. For instance, all most 35,0O0,QO0 Germans voted in i this election. and the country has a l population of not much more than half that of the United States. Conl- pare this vote with ours in 1928, when almost 37,o0o,o0 went to the polls. This great difference in public l interest can probably be ascribcd to 1 tho greater number of parties Tn ! Europe, "one for each caste of i thought There arc a large propor- l ton of Americans who do not find any of the existing parties to their i liking and hence are not interested in their capcrs and do not go to the polls
 Connecticut is having as interest ing a political campaign as it can obtain under the present oligarchy. ! D.au Cross is putting up first-rate battle, IS spraying the Republicans { with stunning arguments, has a ! good working organization to his rear, and ought 10 be able to induce unusual interest in state campaign. In all probability he is succeeding, foo. If General Apathy is again to rulo 1t will not be the fault of the head Of 1he Democratic ticket. So far as Mr. Rogers is concern cd he hasn't as yet contributed an original thought to the campaign, ! evidently being imbucd with the i idea that he can win without going
 to that trouble.