Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1936-10-01

out that they are right.
Iowa is perfect illustration OF
how abnormal the present campaign
is. Normally the farmers of any OF
these states, down to Missouri, are
Republicans. This has been true
ever since the Republican party
was born.
Today in Iowa there is strong
sentiment for Landon in the towns,
but the farmers are leaning to
Franklin D. Roosevelt. Best opinion
is that the state is so close at this
moment that nobody knows how it
would vote even if the election were
held today, with no further slides,
shifts or developments to compI-
cate the calculation.
If the election were held today
Senator L. j. Dickinson would be
reelected, probably by just few
thousand majority. Nobody can tell
whether Roosevelt or Landon would
win the electoral votes, but the
Democrats would probably elect the
other senator.
Doubtful Chances
If there is a substantial swing
toward the Democrats between now
and election, it would carry Senator
Dickinson down to defeat. If the
swing is the other way, the Repub-.
lican nominee for the seat of the
late Senator Louis Murphy, who was
killed in an automobile accident,
would win. This is Berry F. Halden,
an editor down in Lucas county,
famed through the southern part of
the state for his pungent editorials,
and World war veteran. His OPP
ponent for the short term is Repre-
sentative Guy M. Gillette.
The one thing that seems certain,
no matter what the swing from now
on, is that George A. Wilson, Re-
publican, will be elected governor.
This is due less to Wilson'S pop
ularity, though this is real factor,
than to the unpopularity of the pres
ent state administration. Taxes are
high, including a state sales tax,
and the folks don't seem to think
they have gotten much for them.
This is one element of Senator
Dickinson's strength, for it is the
present governor, Clyde L. Herring,
who is running against Dickinson,
while the present lieutenant gov
ernor is running for governor
against Wilson.
What the Republicans are count
ing on to turn the tide is Former
Governor Frank O. Lowden of ILL
nois. Iowa has always been strong
for Frank Lowden. It was even
more enthusiastic for him back in
1920, when Warren G.. Harding was
nominated, than was either Illinois,
or Minnesota, where he was born.
Lowden is expected to make some
strong speeches for Landon. If he
does, unless something should hap
pen to upset the present picture,
the writer's belief is that Landon
will carry this state. If Lowden
keeps quiet, his not speaking will
have the opposite effect, and, in the
opinion of this writer, will give Iowa
to Roosevelt.
Cheap Housing
Within the next few weeks Presi-
dent Roosevelt will take the coun-
try into his confidence about his
plans for cheap housing. He has
been interested in the idea for many
years, and, since he entered the
White House, has had innun cradle
conferences with leaders of related
something out.
The big rock in the patti all the
time has been the very high cost
of constructing any sort of house
which the President was willing to
endorse. Obviously there were all
sorts of political pitfalls in the idea.
For example, if the type of house
thus approved should be cheap
enough to make it practical for the
kind of people for whom it was adj
vocated-the people who now live
in sluns, tenements and shanties
- the President might be at
tackled by some of those now among
his warmest supporters. They would
say that the President, himself ac-
customed from boyhood to luxury,
was condemning the forgotten
man" to a niggardly existence.
But every time the President has
tried to get something better
devised, something he would be
willing to endorse publicly, and to
which government sanction could
be given, the costs have shot up far
above any reasonable rent figure.
Costs Too High
In the case of the house designed
by the General Electric prople, at
the urging of the President and of
Owen D. Young, what ran the costs
up to such a prohibitive figure were
the fittings. Naturally enough the
electric company's experts were in
terested in having every possible
electrical device included.
1t would seem simple enough to
cut all these out, but there again the
Presidents enthusiasm for increas-
ing the use of electricity came into
the picture. He is second to none in
his advocacy of electric labor-sav-
ing devices. 1t is one of the reasons,
though not the on1v ono that hac