Evening star., 1932-11-03
BOTH SIDES REGARD
ELECTION SETTLED
New York Speech Hoover
Climax, Apparent View
of Republicans.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK. November 3.-Just why
, it should be SO is something the cam.
paign managers and strategists car
alone explain but the fact is both sides
have a feeling that the campaign Writ.
| ually closed fully a week ahead Of time
and that the jury is about read to re-
port
Possibly from the Republican view.
point the speech at Madison Square
Garden was considered a climax any.
way. AS for the Western trip 1t is
largely local and regional effort tina,
Is being made now by the President
Somewhat the same situation exists on
the Democratic side The national ap-
peal has been made and it now re-
mains to solidify and strengthen situa-
tions in particular States. Thus Mr.
Roosevelt has been concentrating on
New England and the East where Mr.
Hoover has been gaining ground while
the latter is moving toward the West
in the hope that Southern Illinois and
Minnesota can be converted to the
Republican column.
Reaction Lacks Test.
The reaction here to the Presidents S
speech was not as favorable as had
been hoped by the Republicans. This
was largely due to the fact that in
this center of Wetness it was expected
that Mr.. Hoover would unboSom himself
on the prohibition question His audi
ence was enthusiastic enough but all
through the metropolitan area they
wanted to hear more about prohibition.
If it was only repetition of what had
been said in the acceptance speech.
Republican managers considered
carefully the whole question of reopen
ing the prohibition issue and the final
judgment was against it on the ground
that dry Republicans in Middle West
ern States had in the last two weeks
become so enraged over Al Smith S
speech as to forget their antipathy to
Mr.. Hoover'S earlier WetneSS and align
themselves on the Republican side
1t was a case Of jeopardizing dry
strength, which had few weeks ago
made up its mind that since Mr. Hoover
and Mr.. Roosevelt were both wet, the
controlling issue would be the economic
situation. Actually the depression has
been much more influential in turning
dry votes to Mr.. Roosevelt than any other
question. and it has even made drys
forget the prohibition issue Both can
dldates have talked about prohibition
very little. relatively speaking as il
has been recognized that economic ar
gument would be the decisive factor in
the election.
Hoover's Focal Criticism.
Mr.. Hoover has tried to focus his at
tentlon on the Democratic management
of the House Of Representatives on cur
rency and fiscal questions and has pre-
ferred to emphasize these in the East
rather than talk on prohibition.
Looking back over the campaign, il
Is apparent that both arrangements had
depended on speech making by the
nominees over Nation wide hook-ups tc
argue the case. and that. while there
have been many other speakers. the
burden has been carried by the princi-
pals. This is in contrast with four
years ago. when Senator Borah and
Charles Evans Hughes took almost as
prominent parts on the Republican side
and there were many speeches by Demo-
cratic figures of prominence in addition
to Al Smith
The speeches have been longer and
much more personal. and it is not clear
vet how effective the organization work
has been in the various States. Lack
OF funds has been a handicap. and much
Of the work ordinarily done in cam
paigns has been neglected. 1t will be
interesting to see what the electorate
decides with the kind of campaign that
has been Waged, especially in those
States where minimum amount of
money has been spent by both sides.
tCopyright. 1882