Evening star., 1936-12-11

Of votes.
There has been something Of q
tendency since election to decry the
power Of the press and to indicate
that somehow or another the power
Of the radio was superior to all other
influences in the last campaign. But
such q statement ignores the fact that
notable radio speakers like Father
Coughlin confined themselves almost
entirely to radio appeals and did not
make any considerable dent on the
electorate.
Radio Voice Big Factor.
It will be contended that President
Roosevelt, because of his marvellous
radio voice, made better use of the
broadcasting facilities than did Gov.
Landon, who had glaringly ineffec-
tive radio voice. While this is so,
1t does not prove that the radio hence
had more influence but that Mr..
Roosevelt was a better radio speaker.
The radio was intensively used by
the New Deal long before the ma
tional conventions of last Summer.
This was time and facilities that the
administration did not have to pay
for. It began with the "tireside"
chats almost Immediately after the
Inauguration and continued with the
"non-political" addresses even to the
extent Of an extraordinary night ses-
sion for the delivery of the state
Of the union" message to night
audience of vast proportions. Like
wise officials, high and low, in the
New Deal, were given time on the
air for three and a half years and
while facilities were offered to the
Republicans, the latter did not begin
to make use of them until the year
1885 in anything like concerted or
planned campaign.
Public Got Bored.
What was the effect of three and
Q half years of radio appeal by the
administration? Could it be offset
by . short campaign of few months
at time when the argument got to
be so much Of a bore than many peo-
pie turned of their radio instruments
altogether except for one or two cele-
brities?
The big fact revealed by the official
returns is that q tremendous vote
was cast and that some 27,700, 900
persons were influenced in one direc-
tion and 16,600,0e0 in another. It
might be interesting to note that in
asmuch as four years ago Mr.. Roose-
welt had 22,800.00o and his opponent
15,700,000, the total increase in the
voting strength of the country in
the two major parties was $500 900.
Political Workers Busy.
Who influenced the 100000? OF
this number, the Republicans got only
100000 and the New Deal about T.
100000. There was a get-out-the-vote
movement on in both parties and it
may account for the fact that $780,
600 more votes were registered than
in 1882. but the chances are that ef-
fective political organization work by
the leaders and workers in the pre-
cincts Of the Nation did the trick.
Too often in American politics, the
hard work done by the persons in
the local communities is overlooked
and some extraneous cause is assigned
to explain the outcome of an elec-
ton. Irrespective of the influence of
the radio and irrespective of the in
duence Of the press, both of which
must have played part in lining
up 16,60o,000 votes for one candidate
and 27,700,000 for MIR. Roosevelt, wise
political leaders will probably saw
that the biggest single influence in
the election was intensive organiza-
ton for the last three years.
(Copyright, 1861