Evening star., 1932-11-01
BAY STATE VOTERS
|. LEAN DEMOCRATIC
Close Race Certain, With
G. 0. P. Disaffection a
Determining Factor.
Continued From First Page.)

resentment against present conditions
the people in Massachusetts, are likely
| to do the same. Explain the Septem.
Der election in Maine as you will, nj
| Democrat would have been electec
! Governor there nor would there have
been two Democrats out of three electee
to the House had there not been re.
sentiment and Republican detection.
| therefor. So the Democrats are count.
Ing on Republican defections in the
presidential elections in Massachusett.
and other New England States to aic
Gov. Roosevelt.
The Republicans retort that tn,
Democrats must look to their own sid,
lor defectlons. They picture the Smith
followers in Massachusetts, as deepl,
resentful still, Notwithstanding the ap
peal that Al Smith made to them il
Boston to get behind the Democratic
national ticket. They see a lot of thest
Smith Democrats failing to vote in tht
presidential race or casting votes eithel
for Thomas, the Socialist candidate. OF
, for Hoover. Democrats who should b;
/ well informed, however, insist thai
| Smlths reconciliation with Roosevelt
has brought the great mass Of these
| recalcitrantS back into the fold. Ger.
tainly Al Smith himself was accorded
| a great reception in Boston. He /.
still the idol of the voters here. It is
OF course, one thing for Smith to stil
enthusiasm for himself and quite an.
other to persuade the voters to cas-,
their ballots for another man. But il
| must be remembered that these Smith
followers were for the most part Demo.
Gratis to begin with, and could be the
more easily persuaded to return to the
Democratic ticket Many Of than only
we're waiting for an excuse
1928 Factions Missing.
Probably if the truth were told. the
Republican hopes in this State were
largely stimulated by the results OF
the Literary Digest poll The latest
figures given in that poll for Massa-
! chusetts were 57,707 for Hoover and
33,023 for Roosevelt, a big Republican
lead. The poll also gave to Hoover a
lead in Democratic Boston. The grea,
difficulty with the poll, it is argued
lies in the fact that it reaches in the
main telephone subscribers and owner.
OF automobiles. In the cities there
are great numbers Of voters who have
no automobiles and no telephones
This Digest poll failed four years age
to show that sentiment il Massachu-
sets was for Smith and gave the State
to Hoover.
In support of their contention that
President Hoover will carry the State
the Republicans say that several fac
tors which caused the State to go fol
Smith in 1928 are missing this year
They mention among these missing
factors the religious issue, which gave
Smith a great advantage among the
Catholics: Smiths own strong person
allty: the wet issue, and collapse OF
the textile industry. With Roosevelt
a Protestant, running against Hoover
the religious issue is out. With Presi-
dent Hoover's declaration in favor oi
revision Of the eighteenth amendment
! so that wet States may become wet il
they vote so. the liquor issue is largel,
out and wet Republicans are back or
the reservation. While many Of the
textile mills are shut or running pari
time, there have been a number re-
opened this Fall. The shoe industry
has picked up, too
1t is quite true that the Democrats
felt that Massachusetts, might be los,
to them unless Al Smith came out fol
the RooSevelt-Garner ticket. The re-
sentiment here against Roosevelt and
particularly against the Garner-McAdcC
combination that made possible the
nomination of Roosevelt, was marked
It is estimated that over 81 per cen.
of the total population of Massac chu-
setts is Catholic and that 80 per cent
OF the Boston population is of that
faith. If many OF these followers o.
Al Smith were not to vote for Roose-
velt, it is easy to see how the State
would line up on election day. But
finally Al Smith came here He came
here in great form. And he made a
special appeal that the Democrats all
vote for Roosevelt and Garner In
doubtedly it had a real effect, although
some checks indicate that Is per cent
Of the Catholic followers of Smith are
still recalcitrant. This. it may be said
is denied in other quarters.
Democrats Work Hard.
Certainly the Democrats have turned
every possible stone to win this State
All of the Democratic leaders have
worked for weeks to get the dis
gruntled Smith people back in the fold
Mayor Curley of Boston, an original
Roosevelt man. who has been at outs
with other Democratic leaders, has
been entirely submissive: anything to
help the Roosevelt ticket. Last night
Gov. Roosevelt himself came here to
deliver a speech. Newton D. Baker
and other leading Democrats are to
come here before the election
In the matter of party leadership and
party organization, the Democrats ap-
pear to have much the better of the
political battle in this State The Re
publican party has been rather shot to
pieces in recent years. There has been
no strong, dominant party leader in the
State since the death of Senator Lodge
and even before his death the Repub-
licans were pecking away at his leader
ship. Calvin Coolidge, former Presi-
dent, is on pedestal, in a niche tenn
porarily at least. He has been urged
to make a final speech for Hoover in
| Massachusetts. but SO far he has not
consented, it is said. He considers he
paign in his New York speech couple
Of weeks ago.
The Republican candidate for Cover
nor. Lieut. Gov. William S. Youngman
is not considered an asset by lot OF
the Republicans. He is distinctly un-
popular with many of them. On the
other hand, he IS great handshaker
and has built up following of his own
that may make him formidable. Even
some of the Republicans who do not
like him are going to vote for Young
| man because to re-elect Gov. Ely, Dem
ocrat, would give Ely the power to make
lot of important State appointments
in the next year, and Ely has been
much criticised for the appointments
he has already made.
In their campaign in Massachusetts,
the Republicans have assailed Roosevelt
and particularly Garner There is quite
bit of anti-Roosevelt sentiment among
the business men in Boston. And as
for Garner, they throw up their hands
at the suggestion that some accident
to Roosevelt might place the Texan in
the White House.
Quit Talking Garner.
Early in the campaign the four Demo-
cratic members of the House sought to
sell Garner to the voters and talked a
lot about him. But they abandoned that
line, either because they were told to
do so or because they found reasons of