Milford chronicle., 1951-11-30
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 80, 1861

T
Only 21.3 per cent of farmers and farm
women said they would vote for President
Truman if he were running for reelection
today, according to a spot check made by
Country Gentleman magazine. The national
farm magazine reports that TIA per cent
said they would not vote for President Tru-
man and 7.3 per cent were undecided.
The magazines check was made by field
correspondents in % states. The question
asked was, would you vote for President
Truman if he were up for reelection today?"
In the 1948 presidential election the farm
vote was generally regarded as playing
decisive role in President Truman's victory.
General Eisenhower was most fire.
quently mentioned as the man farmers
would like to see on the Republican ticket,
followed closely by Taft, both being suggest
ed several times as often as Macarthur
Dewey, Warren and Stassen," the maga-
zine says.
None of those questioned, it added, eX-
pressed doubt that Truman would run in
1852, and there was widespread feeling
that "he'll be hard to beat
We believe thoroughly that Mr.. Truman
can be soundly licked if the Republican Par
ty will wage an aggressive campaign in
which the faults of the present adminiStra-
tions in Washington and Delaware are hon
estly presented.
NEXT YEARS CAMPAIGN
Those who believe-and hOpe-that cor
ruption and graft in government will be a
major issue in forthcoming elections on both
the local and national level have found much
announcement in what happened in New
York and Philadelphia on November Z.
In New York, the issue was absolutely
clear-cut. The reform" candidate for the
presidency of the city cOuncil-secOnd high
-. o1s DaaSO Olv1h
HALEY, who made his name as counsel for
the Kefauver crime committee. Mr.. HALEY
is a Democrat, but the regular organization
wanted no part of him. So he ran as can
didate on the liberal, fusion and independent
tickets. His main campaign issue was mu-
nicipal corruption Mr.. HALEY won hand
lily, by a plurality-Over three other candi-
dates-of better than 100000.
In Philadelphia, the Republicans have
been in political control of the city for al
most 20 years. Recent developments indi-
Gated, to put the case mildly, that certain
municipal affairs Smelled to high heaven
The Democratic candidate, for mayor, JOS
eph Clark, ran on platform very similar
to Mr. Halleys. He promised to clean thing;
up. He too won decisively.
There was one curious circumstance IL
the Philadelphia election. The Republican
candidate for mayor, and a newcomer t.
pOllClcS, was Of. OanleI "A. FOtlnSB the Well
known clergyman and author. EveryOnt
agrees that DR.. Polling is man of the high
est probity and moral character. However
the feeling seemed to be that the only cur
for alleged municipal corruption was com
plete change of administration and politica
afiliatiOn of the top officials. A number o
leading Republicans publicly supported Dem
Ocratic candidate Clark for this reason. ,
It is always mistake to attach too muc
significance to Off-year electiOns-experi
ence has proven that they often mean moth
ing as harhinger of things to come. How
ever, such very pronounced switches in pub
lie sentiment as these hardly look like just
passing breeze. In great many circles, an
in both the parties, there is feeling of ceI
tainty that the clean government issue wi
be dominant in 1852.
Republicans picked up few seats in tn
House, including one in Ohio and one i
New Jersey However, there weren't enOug
Congressional seats at stake to indicat
much of anything in the way of trends.
In the meantime, the question of who
going to run for President next year burn
brightly. In Washington, General Eiser
hover once more refused to do any politics