Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-31
Lewis Stand
Shifts Votes
In Illinois
Change of os Many
As $4,000 to
WiiIkie Seen
BY JAY FRANKLIN.


The New Deal leadership in the
Midwest is still trying to estimate
the effect Of John : LeWiss stab
in-the-back speech, deserving Presi-
dent Roosevelt and running after
Wendell L. Willkie
There is no doubt expressed here
in Chicago that the c. I. o. chair
man will swing some votes in Illinois,
perhaps good many The maxi
mum damage he is expected to cause
to the Roosevelt campaign in this
State is reckoned at 1901 votes
that is, shift of $4,000 votes from
F. D. r. to Mr.. WiIlkie. In a con-
cededly close election these are too
many for comfort, and every effort
is being made to Offset the possible
shift.
Polls conducted In the Chicago
steel area and stockyards region re-
vealed stable drop in President
RooseVelts popularity in those c. I.
o. sections after the Lewis blast.
This drop was partly Offset by a
rise in Roosevelt sentiment in other
sections, but the Indicated net re-
suit was loss.
Generally speaking. the Lewis
swing to Mr. Willkie mas not scared
many business votes into the Roose-
welt camp, whateve- the effect in
the farming regions The same men
who were against President Roose-
welt because of Mr. Lewis now are
for Mr.. Lewis because he is against
the President. The United Mine
Workers in Southern Illinois are
predominantly of italian origin and
they had swung away from Presi-
dent Roosevelt after Italy's entry
into the war, so the effect of the
Lewis move is practically confined
to the Chicago industrial area.
The understanding here of the
Lewis Willkie alliance is that Mr..
Lewis has been promised the Secre-
taryship of labor ard that Little
Steel" and Henry Ford will sign up
with the c. 1. o. Fer that reason,
Democratic leaders in this city are
relieved that President Roosevelt
did not attack this 'unholy alliance"
as another "Russo-German non
aggression Agreement" Before the
Presidents Madison Square Garden
speech, they expected Mr.. Roosevelt
to give the record or his relations
with John L. Lewis However, after
lunch with MesSrs. Murray, Hillman
and other pro-Roosevelt c. I. o.
leaders, the President substituted
speech on his national defense rec
ord. This self-restraint on the part
of the Democratic nominee, who was
most unjuStly attacked by Mr.. Lewis,
is deeply appreciated by C. I. o.
labor in this region. First, it pre-
vents major cleavage in the c. I. o.
itself and thus preserves its non
political character sS part of the
labor movement Second, it leaves
it possible for Little Steel" and the
Ford Motor Company to come across
with their reputed offel of collective
bargaining with c l o labor. Thus
the President has put himself in the
position of being unwilling to jeop-
ardiZe the interests of labor in Or
der to score political point in his
campaign against the ''unholy ALI
ance" of John Lewis and Tom Grid
Ter.
Nevertheless, the Lewis attack has
placed in jeopardy the Democratic
campaign through this industrial
Midwest. Granted that Mr.. Lewis
cannot deliver the labor vote, which
is fundamentally for President
Roosevelt, he has some thick-and-
thin followers who will accept his
judgment and go down the line for
Mr.. Willkie simply because the boss
of Big Labor" has planned it that
way.
There is something about the men
tai processes of q man coming out for
Mr.. Willkie which strongly suggests
the pretzel-form of argument: dry
as the sands of Death Valley and
turned in upon itself in a figure
eight, and always tc be taken with
several grains of salt.
Thus my estimable Scripps-
Howard colleague. Raymond Clap
per, announces his support for Mr..
Willkie on the ground that if he is
reelected, President Roosevelt's ma
jority would be small, thus leading
to the pangs Of Congressional collie
after the election. Mr.. Clapper, who
thinks clearly in non-election years,
does not explain how he gets around
the fact that if Mr. WiUkie is elected,
his majority will b. extremely small
perhaps minority of the popular
vote-while under no circumstances
can the Democrats lose control of
the Senate. Mr.. Clapper also skins