Evening star., 1936-09-27
||ND|ANAVETERANS'
'BALL0TSBECK0NED
Parties Making Strong Bid
for Votes Which May
Swing State.
BY WILLIAM L. TOMS,

special correspondent OF Inc Star.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind, September
26.-At the very best the war veterans
vote In Indiana can represent no
more than 10 per cent Of the total
State vote, yet both major parties are
engaged in spirited drive at this
time to capture the support Of the
former soldiers, sailors and Marines
Of the various wars.
The reason, of course, Is that each
veteran not only has his own vote to
cast, but an average, theoretically. Of
two other votes in his family. Thus
1t Is seen that the vote of the veterans
and their families might easily be-
come a deciding factor in the event
Of a close election, such as now seems
probable for Indiana.
OF the l30,35l men who entered the
military service from Indiana in the
World War, 1t is estimated that
around 100000 now reside in the
State. Only about $4,000 Of these
men, incidentally. belong to the Amer
ican Legion. Some of the 107 900 that
are left belong to the Veterans of
Foreign Wars and some to the Dis
abled American Veterans of the World
War. but the overlapping of member
ships in the several organizations
makes figures on the minor service
organizations of but little value. While
both Democrats and Republicans deny
they are injecting politics into the
Legion this year, the fact Is they are
following the usual custom Of wooing
the Legion to the fullest extent. To
the political parties the great un-
known quantity is the $4,000 or SO
former World War men.
Veterans Organizations Used.
1t Is through the Legion and the
other war veterans organizations that
the two parties are attempting to sell
themselves to the larger army Of un-
organized former service men.
-Four years ago the former service
men Of Indiana were substantially
Democratic, with the memory of the
election of the bonus army fresh in
their minds. not to mention the fact
that the Democratic nominee for Gov
ernor was Paul v. McNutt, former
national commander Of the Ameri-
can Legion and the present Governor
At present there is little grumbling
among some World War veterans over
the fact that President Franklin D.
Roosevelt vetoed the bonus. The
Democrats now are reminding the
boys of 1917 and 1918 that Roose-
velt's three predecessors did likewise
The second largest group of living
war veterans consists of the $500
Indiana men who served in the Span
ish War. Their membership is so
small that little attention is paid
them by the political parties. The
third group consists Of scarcely 200
veterans Of the Civil War, most of
whom are too feeble to vote So
actually it is seen that the total num-
Der of men and nurses who served
in the various conflicts can be no
more than 115,0o0. In the 1882 elec-
ton in Indiana the total vote for the
two candidates for United States Sem
ator was 1.531,803. In view Of the
relatively small number of voting war
veterans, as compared with the nor
NAL State vote the fact that the
Republicans and the Democrats are
fighting for the veteran vote is good
proof that the election will be close.
First State Commander.
Backers Of Raymond S. Springer,
the Republican nominee for Governor,
are laying particular stress on the
fact that he was the first State COM
mander of the Legion in Indiana. In
1882 they pointed out that McNutt
had not been overseas and that he
did not join the Legion for several
years after the armistice. The Springer
crowd this year is broadcasting the
fact that Townsend, of service age at
the time of the war. did not take
part in the conflict. The Townsend
hackers we're obliged to come back
with the information that Townsend
was rejected for Army service because
of an injury received when he was
shot in the heel on a squirrel-hunting
expedition years before as youth.
Republicans are making strong
bid for the support of former service
men because of Springer's record as
the first State Legion commander. The
Democrats advance the information
that there are four former service
men on their ticket. as against only
three on the Republican ticket.