The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-04-04
THURSDAY April 8 1888.
THE 1896 ELECTION

II you are a political prophet professional or
Il amateur. doubtless you have the thing al
figured ct. But ", don't seem 70 be able 10
co much with the returns from the various
City and state elections this week.
looking a. the Wisconsin results il appears
that the new third party is making headWay
The Progressives added two more state sena-
tors 70 their string. clear victory for Cover
nor Phil la Toilette. Is 1886 going to be
Progressive year?
But IN neighboring Michigan the Repub-
ucans are coming back in great shape In the
state they increased their November gains and
IN Detroit they took the city away from the
Democrats. Senator VandenberE. at the mo-
ment the favored G. o. P. candidate for the
Presidential nomination, is sure this means a
lot IN terms OF 1886.
Chicago, however. can not be ignored in any
reading Of the Midwest political signs. There
the Democrats made history. Mayor Kelly
carried every ward and polled more than
three-quarters Of the total votes. In number
OF votes cast he had the largest plurality and
majority ever given mayoralty candidate in
any American city. SO the Democrats are
predicting the death Of the Republican party
in the second city Of the United States. and
a national landslide for the Administration
IN the Midwest in the next election.
A IL Of this conflicting evidence is very en-
barrassiug for prophet. The nation can
not be heading Progressive. Republican and
Democratic at the same time. Perhaps this
weeks elections have no national meaning
We are inclined to think so.
II We were giving hints 10 political prophets
We should guess that this is a good time to be
unorthodox IN selecting signs. The usual
straws can be ignored because the political
winds today are much less important than the
-,OuUniic undertow.
Unemployment. social security. cost Of liv-
ing and the business chart - those are the
things that viii decide the 1886 election. The
electorate viii vote on its stomach.
II business conditions grow worse during
the next Is months. certainly Huey Long and
others have a good chance to carry several
states in the South and Northwest. Probably
that would split the Administration vote suf-
fciently to let in q Republican President. That
is what the G. o. p. IS counting on. The
Republicans have no program, no leader. They
could not WIN on a pro-Republican vote, but
they might win on an anti-Roosevelt vote.
THAT is assuming, however, Mr.. Roosevelt
Il is going to sit around holding his hands
for Is months. And that is not a safe bet
far from it.
Doubtless the President has lost some Of
his personal popularity since November. His
honeymoon period is over in Congress. Big
financial interests hate him more than ever.
And the forgotten man is not sure he is being
remembered
But the overwhelming mass Of voters-so
Ia as We can see-Still think that Franklin
d Roosevelt IS head and shoulders above any
other national leader IN sight. If that is true
he Will continue to have the popular support
necessary TO carry on his recovery program.
His economic program has brought us a
considerable distance since March 1888. 1t
should lift us much higher in the coming
year II IL does the President need not worry
about the next election.