Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 108, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 May 1914 — Progressives Make Poor Showing In Their Indianapolis Primary [ARTICLE]

Progressives Make Poor Showing In Their Indianapolis Primary

Indianapolis, May 6.—Owing to the large number of candidates there has been delay in getting the results of the primary election held in Marion county (Indianapolis) yesterday. The big fight was between democrats and returns Show the the Bell forces, commonly known as the city faction, won. The fight between democratic factions whs fierce and an immense vote was cast. Theer were practically no contests among republicans. The feature of the progressive campaign was the effort to make a better showing than the republicans. Notwithstanding the progressives carried the county in 1912 the republicans outnumbered them three to one in yesterday’s contest-. The heaviest democratic vote was cast for the candidates for county treasurer, this being the pridcipal fight of the primaries. Unofficial returns from the first ninety-five precincts gave a total of 9,893 votes for all of the democratic candidates for treasurer. There are 150 precincts in the county, and this was an average of 104 votes to the precinct. If this ratio was maintained in all the remaining precincts it would mean a total democratic, vote

of about 16,000. This is a larger vote than had been expected, but it was due to the fact that the fight for the nomination for treasurer was extremely bitter, thus lining up the tactions in a fierce battle. One of the most significant features of the primaries was that the republican vote was about three times as large as the vote of the progressive party. At the election in 1912 the progressives cast 18,396 votes and the republicans cast 12,280 in Marion county, the progressives running about six thousand ahead. But the progressive party has dwindled since then to a mere shadow of a party, and this fact is shown by the extremely light vote which it cast yesterday. The best obtainable estimates today placed the republican vote at about six thousand and the progressive vote at probably two thousand. In the Fourth precinct of Washington township, wffiich is the home precinct of Albert J. Beveridge, the republicans cast fifty-four votes and the progressives ’trailed along with twenty-two. This is a complete reversal of form, as the progressives carried the precinct by a large plurality at the election in 1912.