Evening star., 1936-10-24

very considerable anti-R oosevel {
sentiment due to opposition to New
Deal radical policies. the support OF
Roosevelt by the Communists and
other radicals to rising costs Of living,
the huge public debt and prospective
higher taxes, national and State, to
resentment over the Democratic coer-
cion of P. w. A. workers and the fail
ure Of the Senate Campaign Investi-
cation Committee to permit a public
hearing on that subject.
On the Roosevelt side of the politi-
cal equation is the undoubted support
of organized labor, the fact that a
large percentage of the Negro vote is
expected to vote Democratic, the fact
that there are 250,000 men on P. w. A.
rolls, a distinct upswing in business
and employment and the fact that
more than 81 100000 of Federal
money has been dumped into the State
by the Roosevelt administration since
1888. However. many Of the Negroes
and the workers have been on relief
and they should not count twice in
making an estimate of the probable
Roosevelt vote.
Landon has with him the great
bulk of the farmers. Republican at
heart and conservative. The women
are turning out for him in great num-
bers. The great majority of business
and professional men are in his camp
and against Roosevelt.
What Philadelphia does in this elec-
tion will undoubtedly have a strong
bearing on the State result. -Four
years ago Hoover carried Philadelphia
with lead of 1000. This means
Hoover had a lead in the rest of the
State of $4,000. In that year Roosevelt
carried Allegheny County, which in
cludes Pittsburgh, by $1,000. The Re-
publican lead in Philadelphia is esti-
mated from $4,000 to $4,000 this year.
despite the fact that Kelly, the local
Democratic leader. insists that Phila-
delphia will give Roosevelt a margin
of $4,000 votes over Landon.
Talk of STEALING Votes"
There has been talk of stealing
votes" in Philadelphia this year. But
find that Republicans and Demo-
Gratis alike agree that stealing on q
large scale will be impossible. If the
Democrats are counting on any pro-
cedure-and I do not accuse them
there seems little to it. In the first
place most of the municipal and
county officials are for Landon. There
are only four county Offices held by
Democrats, Harry NJ Daugherty is a
Smith Democrat and Is supporting
Landon. In the old days, when the
late Bill Ware was Republican boss
of the city, the situation was very
different. Ware not only controlled
the Republican machine, but he also
controlled the Democratic. It was
an easy thing, with collusion, to do
what he wanted with the ballot count
ing. Now with bona fide Republican
and Democratic officials and watchers
at the polls, collusion is a thing Of
the past. In 35 of the city wards out
of the SO, voting machines are to be
used, which makes stufing of the
ballot boxes a more difficult job.
Not all Of Pennsylvania labor Is
in the bag for Roosevelt-not by a
good deal. Organized labor is in q
very distinct minority around Phila-
delphia, for example. Furthermore.
the workers in many of the plants
are not taking kindly to the fact that
when January / rolls around they are
to find l per cent deduction in
their wages to pay the tax for old-age
pensions, a tax that will eventually
increase to 8 per cent. It is true
that the New Dealers are counting
largely on a heavy vote among the
miners in the Northeast anthracite
coal counties, where labor Is organized,
and in the bituminous coal counties
in the West. But their votes are
small compared to the great farm
vote of the State. Also there seems
reason to believe that the colored
vote-especially the vote of the en-
ployed colored peoples not going
as strongly for Roosevelt as has been
claimed by the New Dealers.
There is an offset to Roosevelt
strength also in the anti-Roosevelt
Democratic votes of which there is
likely to be a considerable number in
Pennsylvania. Also the Lemke vote
will be drawn from the Roosevelt
rather than the Landon ranks.
Mayor Wilson an Enigma.
S. Davis Wilson, the mayor of Phil
adelphia, elected as a Republican last
year, is an enigma. He Is keeping
himself out Of the election campaign
giving as an excuse the city charter
which says that city officials shall
not mix in politics. There has been
a rumor that he will in the end make
a declaration for Roosevelt. But those
who know him say he will make no
declaration one way or the other.
At one time 1t was suggested that
the mayor was anxious to become a
candidate for Governor two years
hence and that he was waiting to see
which way the cat jumped in the
coming election before declaring him.
self. He has been q Democrat as
well as q Republican in the past.
But the mayor has publicly declared
he was seeking no further public office.
So his neutrality is taken at its face
value. He won election as mayor
from Kelly, his Democratic opponent,
by some $4,000 votes, when the DEM
ocrats were making desperate efforts
to capture the city election for the