Four to One On Mr Hoover

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 71, Issue 260, 2 November 1928, Page 7

Four to One On Mr Hoover

IMPORTANCE OF THE RELIGIOUS ISSUE (By Telegraph—Per Press Assn.—Copyright.) [ Australian Press Assn. ] NEW YORK, Oct. 31. While it was declared that, having fully discussed the religious isfue, Governor Smith would make little or no further reference to it, intimations are now given that in the next four and last campaign speeches to be delivered in or near New York City, the Governor will make this question, the paramount one. The candi ate’s advisers feel that Catholicism will be the deciding factor in the election, and he is reported to be very disturbed over this fact. He has said that he would rather be defeated than obtain the support of such organisations as the Ku Klux Klan, 'fhc importance, of the Governor’s decision again to stress the socalled bigotry issue lies in the fact that always personalities fly thickest toward tho end of the campaign, and an intense discussion on the religious question promises to make the final week possibly one of the most unsavoury in American politics. There is a large, amount of betting on the results of the election. Prominent Wall Street commissioners estimate that 4,000,000 dollars in wagers have already been placed, and the amount will possibly reach 10,000,000 dollars before the election. # The odds have been 9 to 2 favouring Mr Hoover, but have wavered from time to time as the fortunes of the two candidates have apparently changed. They have been as low as 7 to 2 favouring Air Hoover, and now are 4 to 1. Along with this sublimated form of trying to guess tho outcome of the election are numerous straw votes being conducted througl t the country. These, with no exceptions, all show Mr Hoover to be leading.

One, magazine which in 1924 was able to forecast tho outcome with fair accuracy, had this year conducted an elaborate postcard poll in which more than 3,000,000 votes have been gathered, with Mr Hoover receiving 63 per cent.

A remarkable feature, of this poll is that Air Smith is leading in only four States and these are all Southern. If tho results should bear this out the Democrats’ defeat would be nothing short of disastrous.