Campaigners

Agitated either by fear of "overconfidence" or by a great and visible insurgence of Smith strength, the G. 0. P. sent speakers hither, thither and yon.

Nominee Curtis stumped on and on through the Midwest, reciting about the Tariff and Prosperity, Prosperity and the Tariff, the Tariff and Prosperity. He "received a challenge from Farmer A. J. Livingston of Spencer, Iowa, to debate issues at Des Moines, where he was scheduled to speak on Nov. 1. Farmer Livingston was the man who heckled Nominee Curtis during his speech at Spencer, Iowa, in September; the man to whom Nominee Curtis finally and dangerously retorted: "I guess you're too damn dumb to understand." Farmer Livingston requested a public apology.

Charles Evans Hughes began a sustained Republican effort in Missouri. There are 18 electoral votes in Missouri. The usual complexion of the State is: Republican in and about wet, German-populated St. Louis; Democratic in the dry, farming western reaches. This year, the wet German-Americans, led by oldtime-brewer August Adolph Busch, have inclined sharply to Smith. Farm unrest impeded a compensating swing to Hoover in the west. To St. Joseph, on the extreme western edge of Missouri, went Campaigner Hughes to praise the Hoover record, to admit that "the Republican Party was betrayed in its own house" (the Oil Scandals) but to protest that "there is no issue on honesty" between Hoover and Smith; to call the Democrats "a party of abandoned issues" (including the League of Nations, which Mr. Hughes himself abandoned), to jibe at the Democrats' declarations on the Tariff, to imply that the Smith farm program was "political quackery," to call the Prohibition issue a "sham battle." to hail Prosperity.

Campaigner Hughes next went to Chicago. There he defended Republican progressiveness, prosperity, economy. He called some of the Smith speeches "clap-trap," "amazing."

Proceeding to Buffalo, he defended the Hoover cry of "Socialism!" (see p. 7).

Senator Borah had been the biggest Republican gun up to the entry of Campaigner Hughes and he was second on the list in the effort to save Missouri. He arrived from Texas, where he had talked about Tammany and Prohibition, and made an automobile tour of the lead and zinc mining section near Joplin in the southwestern corner of the State. Prohibition and Prosperity were the subjects of his Joplin speech, but he also took occasion to answer critics who accuse him of abandoning his principles to support Nominee Hoover. Said he:

"I am frank to confess that my interest in this campaign is personal far more than partisan. If I did not believe in the ability of Mr. Hoover to deal with the farm problem, if I did not believe he would in good faith uphold and enforce the Constitution, I can pledge you that I would not be undergoing the unspeakable hardships of a long campaign."

Observers have said that the "unspeak able hardships" undergone by Senator Borah will place Mr. Hoover deeply in his debt. If the Republicans should win, he would be the Senate's commanding figure and his commands would have to be listened to at the White House. When Sena tor Borah left Missouri it was to go to Washington to suggest that a special ses sion of Congress be promised for next spring to act on the farm problem, if necessary.

This was a subject which Nominee Hoover had already discussed with Governor McMullen of Nebraska. The latter had announced that a special session was promised, but had been promptly contradicted by Hoover headquarters. After receiving Senator Borah, Nominee Hoover was still reluctant bui the Borah pressure was great. Senator Norris had "bolted." The northwest looked dangerous. Nomi nee Hoover finally issued a guarded prom ise for the special session.

Alanson Bigelow Houghton, U. S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, whilom (1922-25) Ambassador to Ger many, nominee for the Senate in New York, was third of the G. O. P. spokesmen to plead with Missouri. He went at Nominee Hoover's special request. This request breathed life into one of the most delicate political relations of the season. Soon after Mr. Houghton's mission was announced, arrived a letter from Frank Orren Lowden of Illinois, Nominee Hoover's long-sulking rival for last June's nomination. It was the first utterance of any moment that Mr. Lowden had made since withdrawing from the Kansas City convention. The Lowden letter was to Nominee Houghton. not Nominee Hoover, but it was most effusive and friendly. Ostensibly it congratulated Mr. Houghton on his several-weeks-old nomination. Tacitly it announced that Mr. Lowden, no "socialist," would not support Smith.

Mr. Houghton proceeded to German-populated St. Louis and there painted a most moving picture of the Hoover services in feeding post-War Germany. The picture included "little girls . . . white, emaciated, unsmiling . . . with great awful eyes," and "a woman dressed in black" in Berlin at "that dreadful Christmas season of 1922 . . . the tears streaming down her face, carrying in her hand a little piece of hemlock." At the outset it appeared that Mr. Houghton had been sent to St. Louis to counteract a political canard that Mr. Hoover had been unkind to Germans. But at the end he said, "This is not politics."

Ambassador Houghton was scheduled to make another speech in German-populated Milwaukee.

Myron Timothy Herrick, U. S. Ambassador to France, added his voice to the chorus defending Nominee Hoover's "socialism" cry.

Secretary of War Davis made a speech in Omaha calling Nominee Smith ignorant on waterways.

Secretary of Commerce Whiting made a speech in Baltimore defending Coolidge Economy and Prosperity.

Secretary of the Navy Wilbur made a speech in Nashua, N. H., sticking pins in the Smith position on the Tariff.

Assistant-Attorney General Mrs. Mabel Elizabeth Walker Willebrandt started another speaking tour, in West Virginia, Tennessee, South Dakota, Minnesota, California. At St. Paul, she was to be matron of honor at the wedding of Miss Laura Ellen Volstead (daughter) and Carl Joys Lomen, Alaska's reindeer tycoon.

Senator Furnifold McLendel Simmons of North Carolina, oldtime Democratic State leader, now a bitter anti-Smithite. renewed his fight with a three-hour speech at Raleigh.

Bishop James Cannon Jr. of the Methodist-Episcopal Church. South, Hoover-Democrat, continued his fight with Senator Carter Glass of Virginia. During a speech at Bristol. Va.. he strayed from his main theme. Prohibition, to declare that Negroes employed by Tammany have white stenographers.

"Are those New York stenographers girls?" asked some one from the audience.

"About 40 years old, I should say." replied Bishop Cannon.