Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 242, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 October 1915 — M’CRAY GETS 204 OUT OF 246 VOTES [ARTICLE]

M’CRAY GETS 204 OUT OF 246 VOTES

Watson Gets 101 to Miller 86, Taylor 32, Robinson 25 and Olds 2 In Straw Primary. For Governor— Warren T. McCray 20< James P. Goodrich I<> Quincy A. Myers 14 R. 0. Johnson . 11 Charles A. Carlisle i 246 McCray’s majority 162. For U. S. Senator— James E. Watson 101 Hugh Th. Miller 86 William iL. Taylor 32 Arthur R. Robinson 25 Walter Olds 2 246 Watson’s plurality over Miller 15. Thus ended The Republican’s straw primary for governor and United States senator. The votq was not much of a contest. Warren T. McCray received 204 votes out of 246 and his supporters were very enthusiastic. It was noticeable that among those who voted for him were many now living in Jasper county who had been acquainted with him in Newton county and they were strong for him and will work hard for him if he is nominated. Another noticeable thing was the fact that many democrats asked for the privilege of voting in the “straw” primary, asking for the right to vote for Mr. McCray because they expected to vote for him at election time.

The senatorial contest was a little more diversified and the first time the votes were counted James E. Watson, of Rushville, and Hugh Th. Miller, of Columbus, were tied. After that, however, Mr. Watson forged slowly to the front and closed 15 votes ahead. William L. Taylor has a number of ardent supporters in Rensselaer, especially among the lawyers and businessmen. They showed* up in the first count and after that Mr. Taylor did not run so strong. Arthur R. Robinson had some acquaintances here and where he is known he is well liked. His vote of 25 was a very fair showing considering the fact that ne has not been sd long in the game of politics as the other candidates. It is probable that in December or January The Republican will take another “straw” ballot, on that occasion taking the first and second choice of candidates, the same as will be done at the primary election. It is hoped that every republican in Jasper county will vote the next time as it helps create interest and interest is certain to have the effect of getting the electorate to'learn something about the candidates. 4

The Republican’s “straw” primarycreated considerable attention not only in Jasper county but throughout the state and the result can be taken as a tolerably safe expression of the people at this time. There was not as many votes cast as we had hoped for. Some people do not care for ‘‘straw” elections, some have not made up their minds, some did not care to .go on record and a lot of people said they did not know anything about the respective qualifications of the candidates and did not care to vote without a more complete understanding.

This thing is certain—the minds of many, many voters are open to conviction and if the candidates want to get their support they must devise some plan to get before them. Newspaper publicity seems the most effective means and it is quite probable that the primary plan of nomination is going to make it necessary for candidates to use a great deal of newspaper space. Wright J. Patterson, of the Western Newspaper Union, said to republican editors of the tenth district at a meeting at the Press Club in Chicago several weeks ago, that the experience in primaries held in the south was that a lot of newspaper space was purchased by the candidates and he had with him to make 'his talk impressive a list of southern newspapers that had been used in the senatorial -fight there last year. The

newspapers can not give their space free to the candidates, for it is not the right thing to throw the bars* down to them and newspapers can not afford it. On the other hand, if the papers charge for the publicity, the candidate who is willing to spend his money will have a big advantage over the worthy candidate who does not have the cash. Two pages dn the average county seat paper, plate matter, would cost about (25. If a candidate used that much space during the campaign in one paper in each county he would have (2,300 invested in that way alone, while the plate would cost him an additional (200. The country editor is a busy individual. Be can not take time to pre-

sent to his readers effectively the things the candidates would like to have presented and if he could he would neglect the news features of the paper. It will be up to the candidates to solve the problem of getting before the people. The experience we have had in the “straw” primary leads us to believe that 75 per cent of the voters are not at this time decided how they will vote. It is after this 75 per cent that the candidate must direct his efforts.