Evening star., 1932-11-04

It's all over but the counting. Pres
ident Hoover and Gov. Roosevelt still
have their farewell campaign pleas to
make, Republican and Democratic
spellbinders of high or low degree Will
hold forth until the zero hour at
midnieht next Monday and in sundry
other directions the melee will rage till
the actual dawn OF election day. But
for all practical purposes the oattle Is
ended. There is surprisingly large
number of people who think it ended
long ago. BY that they mean that
there has not in our time been a cam
paign which found voters with their
minds made UP so far in advance as
this one The underlying suggestion is.
it almost goes without saying, that the
election of Gov. Roosevelt to the presl-
dency on Tuesday is a foregone con-
clusion. and has been for many weeks
past. Depression is the thing that brought
about this widespread state OF MIND.
II between the dates Of their respective
nominations and November 8 economic
recovery had taken place on an i'm
pressive scale. even Democrats were
prepared to admit that President Hoo
yer in all probability would have de-
feated Gov. Roosevelt. AS prosperity
did not return to any appreciable ex-
tent the one big bogey the Democrats
feared did not turn up.
If. as nearly every unprejudiced
political observer believes, the Hoover
Ship is about to be sunk, the name is
already legion of those Republicans VINO
will insist that the President would have
assured his reelection if ne had taken
the warpath on his own behalf at least
full month before the Des Moines
speech on october 4. There is un-
deniable evidence that Mr.. Hoover's
personal campaign on the stump during
the past five weeks checked and to a
certain extent reversed the trend
toward Gov. Roosevelt-not enough.
perhaps, to change the sentiment OF
State sufficiently to capture its electoral
vote-but at least stopped the stampede
of normal Republicans voters to the
Democratic ticket. Everybody knows
that after the Presidents acceptance
speech on August II the 6. o. P.
practically laid down and curled up as
fighting organization. The National
Committee comported itself as If -four
more years Of Hoover" were already in
the bag. 1t not only required the
tember IL, but categorical demand
from the President himself for a CAM
paign worthy of the name, to get Re-
publican party managers down to earth
and back to work. Even then another
three weeks elapsed before Des Moines
and the start of Mr.. Hoover's personally
conducted contest.
X X X X
G. o. P. captains, if put on the spot,
would submit the alibi that the Presi-
dent himself is not blameless for the
spiritless canvass waged in the early
days. Herbert Hoover is one of the
most conscientious men who ever occu-
pied the White House. He was sincerely
convinced that he could safely go to
the country next week on his record
He believed that the sober common
sense Of the people, sooner or later
would bring them to understand that
he not only was not to blame for the
depression, but did all that mortal man
could do to combat it. At one time the
President was so fully persuaded on this
score that he thought 1t wouldn't be
necessary for him to make more than
two or three campaign speeches, ana
that even these could safely be en-
trusted to the radio from the Lincoln
study in the White House, without the
Republican nominee as much as show
ing himself. Eventually-many Of his
supporters think fatally too late-Mr.
Hoover realized the peril Of an absentee
campaign, which he Is now winding up
In whirlwind fashion.
* y
In light of the probabilities, It's
amusing to recall the gay abandon with
which Republicans contemplated the
nomination of Franklin D. Roosevelt by
the Democrats. A Western national
G. o. P. committeeman was asked by
this observer at the Chicago Stadium,
Just after the Hoover-Curt ticket had
been completed, well, can you win
with the men you've nominated" He
lrepued. I'VE can y the Democrats Win