Evening star., 1932-10-24
The Political Mill
By C.. Could Lincoln.

CdulRdlkA 10 1lCICs WI WCCho 11Olll W
morrow the voters in 48 States will reg
lister their will regarding presidential
choice. 1t is expected that Norman
Thomas, Socialist, will roll up stable
vote. He will not figure as victor
But Mr.. Thomas vote may materially
affect the results Of the balloting in
some States. As the vote he will re-
ceive is in the main q protest against
present conditions, the more votes he
obtains the worse for Roosevelt, the
Democratic exponent OF protest.
The race between Hoover and Roose-
velt may be described as a desperate
effort on the part of the President to
win back to the Republican standard a
lot of strayed Republicans and an
equally desperate effort on the part OF
Roosevelt to hang on to those strayed
Republican votes. In some quarters It
Is declared that Roosevelt has shot his
wad" and that from now until election
day it will be for the Democrats tc
maintain the status quo. to foster al
ways the much-published desire for a
change, any change.
President Hoover has taken the Of
fensive. His speech Saturday night II
Detroit left no doubt in the minds oi
any one that the battle has SHIFTED
from q defensive movement on the par1
Of the Republicans to the offensive
The Democrats, in spite of their de-
sire to keep the Republicans on the
defensive, will have their hands full
from now on defending themselves. Tht
principal reason for this situation lies
in the fact that more people are in
terested in this election than have beer
interested in any presidential election
for many years. They wish to be in
formed. They want to know what the
Democrats have to say in reply to the
Hoover attacks. Many of the voters
have not been satisfied at all with the
speeches or arguments made by Gov
Roosevelt. He is accused widely oi
lodging issues. His statement made
several days ago on the soldiers bonus
which was at first hailed in the press
as a reputation of immediate payment
of the bonus, is now being widely criti-
cized as a "straddle" Indeed, 1t Is
quite evident that some of the Demo
cratic supporters Of Mr.. Roosevelt are
placing upon 1t an Interpretation which
would mean the payment Of the bonus
in comparatively short time.
The Republican attack upon Roose.
welt is becoming more and more severe
He is charged with failure to take q
definite stand on many important Ques-
tions. He is charged with proposing ir
one breath to have the Government
give Jobs to millions Of unemployed anc
in the next breath with proposing t.
have the Government cut all eXpendi'
lures to the bone. How, ask the Re-
publicans. can any sane voter Suppor
candidate making these proposals.
President Hoover in Detroit had hi
baptism of fire. A couple Of thouSanc
Communists and other opponent!
"booed" the President and Mrs. Hoover
on their arrival in that city. 1t prob
ably would be a grand thing for th'
candidacy Of the President If such
happenings could occur frequently
They certainly are calculated to stil
and to bring Mr.. Hoover more and more
support.
In a final effort to bring about thu
defeat of his personal enemy, Mr.. Hoo
yer, Senator Hiram johnson is to take
the stump for Gov. Roosevelt. He i
oSliCOuico, dSSOi0Al46 w ACPOi ", W AA1ohs
his first speech in California for the
Democratic nominee on Friday. Sen.
ator Cutting of New Mexico, another
of the insurgent Republican group, 1.
also going to campaign for Roosevelt
Senator Cutting recently was bumped
by the Republicans in his own State
and he has resigned his post of Repub.
lican national committeeman from New
Mexico. 1t has been commonly re-
ported in the past that Senator Cutting
was the dominant figure in both Repub
ucan and Democratic parties in New
Mexico. Perhaps he will train with thu
Democrats from now on. Senator
johnson comes up for reelection twt
years hence. It will be interesting tt
see how the Republicans in the Stat'
deal with him then. Four years agt
both Senator Norris Of Nebraska ane
Senator Blaine of Wisconsin deserted
the Republican national ticket ant
spoke for Al Smith. Senator Norri
succeeded in getting himself reelected
to the Senate two years later as Re
publican. Now he is touring the coun
try opposing the Republican nationa
ticket again. Senator Blaine, however
was not so fortunate. He was turnet
down for denomination by the Repuo
licans of Wisconsin, bitter pill no
only for Blaine but for lot OF othe
insurgent Republicans. Senator Ii
Toilette of Wisconsin has joined TN
insurgent group supporting Roosevei
against Hoover. He, too, is up Tor re
election in 1884.
A lot of voters appear to be still "ol
the fence" The practice in Indiana
to take precinct polls 80 days and 81
days before an election. The 90-da
polls showed about one-third OF tn
voters Republican and one-third Demo
cratic. with another third reported 'un
decided" The 3o-day poll, which !
now almost complete. still leaves nearl:
as many voters reported undecided
Most of the voters reported undecide'
are said to be Republicans. Unde
such circumstances, if there should b
a great swing to Hoover in this Stat
the Democrats would lose. These pie
cinct polls are taken by the party work
ers themselves and have nothing TO q
with newspaper or Literary Digest polls
If these precinct polls mean anything
the election is still undecided.
Il y +
The Republicans really face dilemma
in Illinois and there seems no read
solution for their troubles. Their trouol
began when they nominated Len SINAI
for Governor. Small Is thoroughly de
tested by many Republicans, who insis
he Is unfit to be Governor. He wa
nominated by about q per cent OF a.
the votes cast in the Republican pri
mary. 1t was a case Of the opposition
dividing among half dozen candidates
which again shows the extent to Whicl
the voters can 60 in their folly. Unles
the Small element plays ball with tn
element supporting Hoover. and VIC
versa, there seems little chance for tn
Republican national ticket in Illinois
There are reports that Small is at las
lined up with the Hoover campaign. Bu
when it is remembered that Big Bill.
Thompson In Chicago is one OF Small
most earnest supporters and leader:
there is room to doubt that the Smal
people will fail to doublecross the ma
tional ticket If they believe they Cal
aid Small by doing so.
4
The Democrats in Illinois. on tn