Evening star., 1933-10-26
The Political Mill
By C. Could Lincoln.

Il
tom" Heflin, former Senator from
Alabama and potential member OF the
House from his old home district, has
been In Washington discussing ways
and means of getting the price Of
cotton, cotton which means SO much to
the farmer of Alabama, up to Is cents.
That Is the price it should be, accord
ing to Mr.. Heflin. The picture Of health,
and clad in the same respondent
that used to dazzle the
eyes of his colleagues in Congress, he
explained that bale Of cotton which
brought the farmer only $40, or per-
haps $50, made enough socks to bring
the seller, of the socks, $500, or the
French manufacturer of lace $1,000.
There's something wrong about it all, !"
he said. land the cotton farmer OF the
South must have better deal"
Mr.. Heflin was not up here to talk
about his political plans and prospects.
But it seems that many Of his old
friends have been urging him to get
into the race for the House seat now
held by Representative Allgood. He has
been taken back into the Democratic
fold since his work for the nominee Of
the party in 1892, when he campaigned
for Roosevelt. His opponents will not
be able to keep him out of the Demo-
cratic primaries as a candidate for the
Democratic nomination, as they did in
1880, on the ground that In the last
election he had supported Republican
candidate for President. And II he can
win the Democratic nomination for the
House 1t is tantamount to election in
Alabama.
Back in 1923 TON" Heflin was a
violent opponent of Al Smith for the
Democratic presidential nomination.
floor of the Senate itself. But these
days he insists he is at peace with the
world. An old friend Of mine in Ala
bama, a Catholic, said to me the other
day" commented Mr.. Heflin. that he
was for me, that he thought had been
good friend TO the poor man during my
service in the House and in the Senate.
He said I looked pretty peaceful, and
I replied to him: I bear malice toward
none, feel good will to all. I am at
peace with the world-including the
Pope. and as Bill Nye said, II amt got
nothin' against nobody"
~
Mr.. Heflin Is still friend OF prohi-
bition. He campaigned against repeal
OF the eighteenth amendment, and
eight Of the six counties in his congress
sional district voted against repeal after
he had campaigned all over the district.
Now that prohibition repeal Is inevi-
table, his purpose is to fight the re-
10 q
particularly in mind is the prevention
Of panics and depressions every 10
years in this country. His idea is to
clip the wings-and the power-of men
of huge wealth. the Morgans. the Mel
Ions. Rockefellers and the like. Il re-
member a dinner" he said, ''in New
York where one Of the guests said that
any one of 48 men at the table could
bring about panic in the market if he
chose any day. That kind of situation
ought not to be allowed" He has a
plan Of his own which he may bring
out later to deal with the matter, he
said.
Simon Michelet, president of the
National Get -Out-the-Vote Club" has
reviewed the election of 1882 from the
actual records of votes cast the Nation
are some Of the figures and deductions
he presents:
OF something like Al 900 900 Ameri-
can voters who went to the polls No
vember last. there were 80, 1853 $50 who
cast valid ballots counted for President
Or about 100000 more than four
years before.
Franklin D. Roosevelt polled 22,821,-
White House incumbent. A plurality Of
Z 7,060,0l7 for the Democrat. compared
with Republican plurality of 6,423 ,484
in 1928.
Norman Thomas, Socialist, polled
884,07l, COMPARED with 266,558 in 1928.
Other parties" IL in all. polled $685.
8l9, compared with 100000 four years
ago.
Roosevelt and Garner received 57.4
per cent OF the popular vote, the high
est Democratic percentage since An
drew Jackson.
They received 472 electoral votes,
against SO for Hoover and Curtis-or
the highest electoral percentage since
the Civil War
Thirty-four States. or nearly three
fourths of the Union, swung from Re-
publican to Democratic allegiance
Eight States continued their Dem0.
cratic allegiance with increased major
tiles. This makes AZ Democratic States
in all.
Six States only-Connecticut, Della
ware, Maine, New Hampshire. Penn
sylvania and Vermont-remained under
the Republican banner with reduced
pluralities.
Thereby the electoral college
which seated Hoover and Curtis on
March 4. 1928, by majority of 357
seated Roosevelt and Garner on March
4. 1888, by an electoral majority of 4l3,
new record
Both in number of voters and in
percentage qualified, the outpouring to
the polling places passed all records
since women were admitted to suffrage.
Only five States of the total 48-
namely. Alabama, Maryland Mississip-
pi' Pennsylvania and Virginia-failed to
increase their popular votes of 1892
The net gain in vote for all States
was 2,956,806 over the previous record
of 1923.
The analysis of the election figures
presented by Mr.. Michelet is a re-
nllloer 10 the ttepuDucanS or the huge
task they have before them next year
and in 1886.
While the vote polled in the 1882
election reached record proportions,
there still remains some way to go be-
fore anything like the full voting
strength of the citizens comes out. AS
Mr.. Michelet points out. registration
and poll lists in the towns on the morn
ing Of November 8. 1932-election day
contained. according to his best esti-
mates, 47,457102 names of legally
qualified voters. including about 1,O00,-
0c0 who went to the polls, but through
errors of one kind or because of lack of
desire to vote for the candidates, failed
to be counted for President. About
Al 100000 voters. therefore, actually
went to the polls. But this leaves $780,
600 registered voters who failed to
turn up.
The census of 1880 showed more than
100000 American native and natural
lied citizens of voting age. 1t is evi-