Evening star., 1938-10-17

| of victory in Iowa In 1885, in the
senatorial and gubernatorial races. was
not so great. While Mr.. Roosevelt was
defeating ALI Landon for the presi-
Dental electors with . lead of l34, 900,
Senator Herring-who in 1896 was
still Governor-defeated Dickinson for
the Senate by less than $4,000. Kra-
schel in his race for Governor with
Wilson. won by only 2,460. These are
margins that could easily be wiped
out in favor Of Dickinson and Wilson
this year, with q comparatively slight
turnover of the vote.
Is Wallace's Fight.
The New Deal does not wish to lose
Iowa this year. It would be bad
psychology to have the greatest corn
growing State in the Union turn
against the Roosevelt administration.
Also, If Iowa goes Republican,, what
becomes Of Secretary Wallace as
potential presidential nominee of the
Democrats in 1910? To put it in the
vernacular, he goes right back to the
dog house. For this fight Is Wallace s
fight.
The New Dealers are overlooking no
bets in the campaign. Although crops
are good, and the farm income OF
Iowa is still somewhat higher this
year than it was last-a thing OF
which the Wallace planners boast-the
number of persons on w. P. A. and
other forms Of relief is going up. In
round numbers. the w. P. A. has en-
rolled $4,000. The Republicans claim
that not all on the w. P. A. rolls will
vote Democratic. They even have a
Republican organization in the ranks
of the w. P. A., it Is said. But the
betting is that the vast majority of
the reliefers will vote Democratic.
Although Iowa is not a strongly
organized labor State-since it is given
over mostly to, farmers-labor is re-
garded as an asset to the New Deal
ticket. A Democratic leader told me
that while the c. I. o. had been
angered by Gov. Kraschels handling
of the Maytag strike. labor generally
figured it could not afford to vote for
conservative Republican candidates
for Governor and Senator. The head
of the American Federation Of Labor
has indorsed Senator Gillette and the
Democratic ticket generally.
Other Grievances.
Iowa farmers have other grievances
against the New Deal administration.
They resent the w. P. A.. for they
say that the w. P. A. has made it
difficult for them to get farm labor.
Further, the w. P. A. workers have
short work week and short hours
each day. Theat burns the farmer
up, who works from sunup to sunset.
Republicans are really active In this
campaign. and apparently have some
money to go forward with it. They
needed to develop the organization
for it had fallen into decay after
repeated defeats at the polls the last
half dozen years. They have launched
persistent publicity campaign which
annoys the Democrats. They have
been aided particularly by the fact
that an effort is under way in some
of the states of the South to build
up corn farming on acres which are
taken out of cotton production under
the Wallace cotton program. Edito-
rails from Alabama and Texas publi-
cations, picturing corn as coming
crop in the South, with no more pur-
chases of Iowa corn and no more
Texas cattle going North for feeding,
have been broadcast through the Iowa
newspapers.
Wallace's paper does what it can to
dispute the Southern corn crop stories,
denouncing them as entirely false 1t
asserts that in the States of the cotton
South the corn acreage in 1888 was
3O,436,0 900, whereas in 1928, it was
30,041 900, showing 4 comparatively
small increase in corn planting in that
area.
Brand New Step.
Here in Iowa the Farmer Labor
party-allied with the Minnesota po-
litical party-and the Progressives-a
part of Wisconsin La Toilette new Ma
tional party-both have tickets in the
field, The entry of an entire State
ticket from Governor down by the
La Toilette Progressives is brand new
step. Neither of these minor parties
is expected to cast a large or even
substantial vote. However, if the race
between the G. o. P. and the Demo-
Gratis is really close. these minor
parties may settle the matter Pre-
sumably they will draw more from
the New Deal party than from the
G. o. P. The G. o. P. has been
strong in the small towns throughout
Iowa, while the Democrats have car
ried the farmers with them. And in
recent elections the Democrats have
the better of it in the cities. Des Moines
and the rest. Republican leaders pro-
duce polls-which they have had made
indicating there has been a real
swing away from the New Deal and in
favor of the G. o. P. If the per-
centages of change ran steadily, the
Republicans would win by 10000.
1t does not seem to be in the cards,
however, that any such thing will
happen Indeed the Democrats do not
appear to have lost very much ground.
But they do not have to lost great
deal in the ground to have their can
didates for Senator and Governor de-
feated.
The Democrats themselves believe
the Republicans will pick up one or
two House seats. At present the House
delegation is composed of five Demo-
Gratis and four Republicans. The
chances are the Republicans will have
seven and the Democrats two seats,
when the election is all over. In the
lst district, Gaffney, Democrat, NOM
mated in place of Representative