Evening star., 1938-09-02
CLOSE RACE SEEN
IN LEWIS SECTION
But Garrett and AIIegany
Are Expected to Give
Him Majority.
=. BY WILL r. kENNEDf,
Star Stan Correspondent.

Der IL 10 CnelT pIeSeIlC 1Vtpieseieo
tive in Congress, 69-year-old David
J. Lewis, carrying the 100 per cent
New Deal standard for the President
in his concentrated purge" cam
paign against Senator Millard E. Tyd-
ings, who is seeking denomination.
This is a conservative statement, for
1t seems to be an almost unanimous
opinion hereabouts that "Davey'
Lewis will not have the walk-away
In his home area that was at first
conceded to him, nor as big vote
as he himself expects. And this is
the one section of the State where
he ought to pile up the largest vote.
This prediction in the Judgment
Of six of the most prominent
politicians in this area, of five OF
the leading newspaper men, Cham
ber of Commerce executives and
other business leaders. To get a
cross-section of the views Of the rum
of-the-mine voters a personal cam
vass was made of 20 men on the street,
Is women shoppers, eight clergy
men, II professional men in their
Offices, Is factory employees, both men
and women; two officials of labor
unions. six gasoline station operators,
four city officials and IA householders
IN various parts of three cities.
Political wise men hereabouts shake
their heads and say 1T may be
pretty close" There are few who
admit that 1.-The wish is father to the
thought" but who are willing to say
they expect Tydlngs to carry even
these two counties"
Lewis Self Made Man.
Set against that estimate the points
IN Lewis favor, which would seem
to start him off with good handicap:
This, the largest city in this part
of the state. has been his home
for half century. This is mining
section and "Davey' Lewis worked
in a coal mine from the time he was
9 until he was %. He is self
made" man and learned TO read in
Sunday school while working in a
mine. He practiced law for 10 years
here before he got into politics He
carries the c. l. o. Endorsement, and
the miners are c, I. O. unionized, as
are also the employees of the Celanese
Corp. mills here, second largest en-
ployer of labor in the State. He has
served two stretches in CongresS-19l1
to 1917, and since March 4, 1881.
BY appointment of President Will
son he was a tariff commissioner
from 1917 to 1925. President Roose-
welt gave him the accolade as the
pioneer sponsor and real parent of
social welfare legislation, and there
are a surprising number of sturdy
voters who believe they will hasten
the day of their own retirement so
that they may bask out their autumnal
years at Government expense, if they
support Mr.. Lewis. Above all, he
has the active support and encourage
ment of President Roosevelt as no
other congressional primary candi-
date has had presidential backing in
the entire history. of American
politics.
Campaign Not Clicking"
And yet. those who know their
neighbors hereabouts, and who have
been talking it over, say they most
unexpectedly find that the Lewis can
didacy isn't clicking as they
thought it would, although many OF
them hoped it wouldn't They now
agree that some of his supposed as
sets are more in the nature of LA
bilities. Also he has made several
s.L.a,l,eb -; ,,,r,oioy, fl,ot the
home people haven't liked, and by
which he has needlessly alienated
large numbers Of votes.
One of these breaks came when at
a rally denouncing Senator Tydngs
he said If he had been in the Senate
he would have voted to confirm the
appointment of Senator Hugo Black
to the United States Supreme Court.
Throughout this area generally all
classes of people have felt tensely on
the Supreme Court questions, hott
enlargement of the court and Justice
Blacks confirmation. They are not
at all pleased that the subject has
been brought up again, and they
are aroused to fear that if the
President is able to dictate to Sen
ate which will be Subservient to his
wishes the Supreme Court questions
again will be forced upon Congress.
Besides, this hurt Lewis another i'm
portant way. Although those who
discuss it express aversion to the
question of religion being brought into
politics, yet they point out as factual
condition that the Democratic strength
in Allegany County-particularly in
Midland, Mount Savage. Westernport,
Eckhart (the pioneer mining town.
and Frostburg is largely Catholic, that
these are Irish centers, and that the
Catholic voters have felt keenly about
the Black appointment.
Old Bugaboos Vanish.
Another important point that is
being emphasized in an analysis of the
prospects is this: Representative Lewis
has labor backing but the fear the
voters felt of labor club decade
ago they are not feeling now, nor of
the Anti-Saloon League, or other old
time political bugaboos for candi-
dates. Again attention is called that
the labor dominated vote is largely
and historically Republican in these
counties, and the Republican labor
votes cannot be cast in the coming
Democratic primary. Those who have
made close study of the Allegany
and Garret County Democratic vote
point out that it is more of the blue
stocking" classification, which is more
likely to 60 to Senator Tydings And
they emphasize that the quiet, con-
servative element is just as strong Gf
not stronger) than the labor vote.
Regarding the c. I. o. support, (and
John T. Jones, the local leader is
highly regarded)-attention is di-
rected to the fact that at the celanese
plant the peak employment last year
was 10000 The force is about half
men and half girls. Then when de-
preston hit the force was dropped
to about 5000. It is now up again
to about 8,0o0-so this C. I. o. influ-