Evening star., 1932-09-09
Election of 1924 Seen
AS Forerunner of 1892
To tho Editor of The Star

To the Editor OF The Star.
The 1924 election, in which neither
religion, nor prohibition, nor the bonus,
nor the depression, nor unemployment
was an issue, is a foreTunner, in all
probability. Of the outcome of the 1892
contest, unless the lavish expenditure
Of money or something extraordinary
happens to turn the tide.
! In 1924 Coolidge defeated Davis and
La Toilette for the presidency. He car
ried % States by majoritieS and 13 by
pluranties. Davis carried IL States by
maiorities and l by plurality. La
Toilette carried l State by majority.
Coolidge received 3S2, Davis 1876 and La
Toilette 13 electoral votes. Coolidge lost
Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wisconsin,
With 35 electoral votes. which were car
ried by Harding in 1920.
Had Coolidge lost the 13 States with
86 electoral votes, which he only car
ried by pluralities and in which he ran
431 ,5O8 behind Harding in 1920, and
| lost the States with 80 electoral votes
! In which he ran 532, ,7Sl behind Harding
in 1920, he would have received only
| 266 electoral votes. or the exact number
REQUIRED to elect him to the presidency.
Had Davis carried the above l8 States
| he would have received 252 electoral
! votes, or IA less than the required 266.
Thus 252 plus La Follette's l3 would
| have been 265, or l less than enough to
have defeated Coolidge and thrown the
| election into Congress.
| The great surprise of the 1924 elec-
: tion was La FollCtte'S strength. He re-
| ceived 696,299 more votes than the A.
| 126.c20 polled by Roosevelt in 1912 and
polled more votes than Roosevelt in %
States and more than Davis in II
| States. He polled more votes in New
York than he did in his State. Wis
| consin.
| Davis denunciation of the Ku Klux
! Klan by name and favoring the League
/ of Nations caused him to lose thousands
of votes, just as La Follette's condemna-
| ton of the Klan and advocacy OF a
| constitutional amendment, which had
! it been adopted would have vested Con-
greSS with power to override decisions
of the Supreme Court. the world S
! greatest judicial tribunal resulted in
La Follette'S losing thousands OF votes.
| In verification of the statement that
Davis lost thousands of votes for de-
nouncing the Klan by name, Hiram
Wesley Evans. emperor and imperial
wizard of the Klan, stated in The Eve
ming Star of Friday. December %. 1927,
| page 7. column l, that thousands of
| votes were auenaJSQ from support OI
| John w. Davis the Democratic nominee
! in 1924, by Mr.. Davis attack on the
! Khan"
! Had Davis and La Toilette not made
! the above fatal mistakes, it is highly
probable that the election would have
gone to Congress. which body. no doubt.
! would have selected Davis for President
and Wheeler for Vice President.
| Davis psychology was mlSapplied
i when he departed from the Democratic
! platform and denounced the Klan by
name, to catch the anti-klan vote,
! which he may have been promised, but
which he did not get, and favored the
United States entering the League of
Nations. His plea in departure" was
inconsistent. irreconcilable and repug-
nant, in that the anti-Klans whole
heartedly approved of his Klan denun-
ciation. but they equally as much dis
! approved of his favoring the United
! States entering the League of Nations.
He gave a good pail of milk but kicked
/ it ever" H A. CLARKE.