REPUBLICAN VICTORY.

Waikato Times, Volume 104, Issue 17554, 8 November 1928, Page 8

REPUBLICAN VICTORY.

HOOVER'S SENSATIONAL WIN. DEMOCRATS COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED. The election of the President of the United States of America took place yesterday arid resulted in a win for Mr H. C. Hoover, the Republican candidate, Mr Curtis being returned for the Vice-Presidency. The feature of the polling was the overwhelming defeat of the Democrats, who failed in New York State, which was regarded as their stronghold. The Republicans have secured substantial majorities in the Senate and also in the House of Representatives.

(Bv Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.) \ Australian ?ress service J NEW YORK, Nov. 7. The Presidential, Congressional and State Governorship elections took placo throughout the United States yesterday The result of the popular votes made certain the election as President of .Mr Herbert Hoover, the Republican nominee, on ttie votes of the electoral college. . , The returns are not yet complete, but at 0 p.m. yesterday, on the basis of those then to hand, the Chicago Tribune claimed that Mr Hoover had obtained 340 of the 531 electoral college votes and Mr Al Smith, Democrat, 114, leaving 77 doubtful. An hour later it was announced that Mr Hoover's electoral votes would possibly total 400, and that his popular majority might exceed 10,000,000. The Final Returns. The final returns indicate that Mr Hoover may have 444 electoral college votes and Mr Smith 87. Mr Hoover is ahead in 40 States, including California, Colorado, Connecticut Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, lowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine Marvland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ncbrasca, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Vvest Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Mr Smith is ahead in the remaining eight States, namely:—Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Rhode Island. . The doubtful States are:—Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Texas, Vermont, Wyoming and Massachusetts. As regards the Congressional election the Republican victory is the greatest in history. The party will control 53 seats in the Senate, possibly more. A majority of 10 in that House was assured early last evening. The new House of Representatives will probably be composed of 251 Republicans, 182 Democrats and two Farmer-Labour members. The defeat of the Democrats cannot be over-estimated. When it appeared that Mr Hoover would carry Texas with a majority of 40,000 popular votes, and possibly Virginia with a similar majority, it was recalled that never before were those States Republican. Voting in New York State.

Democrats IVlay Disappear. The Democrats have undergone such a radical upheaval that it is difficult to say whether the party may not disappear altogether from the American political scene, or undergo a complete change. It must be remembered that even in those solidly Democrat Southern States, where Mr Smith obtained majorities, the vote cast for Mr Hoover was the largest ever given to a Republican candidate. Whole towns and countries went Republican. Cities like Atlanta, Georgia, which are the centres of denominational colleges, voted overwhelmingly against Mr Smith. In Georgia, always a solid Democrat State hitherto, the majorities for Mr Hoover in about 30 counties indicated how badly the Democrat Party was divided. Chicago's majority for Mr Smith was not sufficient to overcome the large majority which Mr Hoover piled up in Ihe rural districts of Illinois.

New York State, on the basis of early returns, seemed likely to establish'a record in its Democrat, vote. However, the position laLer was reversed until Mr Hoover gained an estimated popular majority of 100,000 votes and the 45 electoral votes. Thus the Stale ostensibly declined to endorse its "favourite son" for Ihe Presidency, although it has elected him four limes Governor. New York City, which is normally Republican, in the Presidential election gave Mr Smith a 4 00,000 majority. But that was not sufficient to overcome Mr Hoover's greater inajoritv in the rural districts up State. At 10 p.m. Mr Hoover's success was generally admitted, even by Mr Smith. Sweeping through the East and the West, and threatening the seriously solid Democrat Southern States, Mr Hoover and the Vice-Presidential nominee of the Republican Party, Mr Charles Curtis, were borne along on a tide of rising majorities. At midnight the Republican ticket was leading -in every State heard from except Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South and North Carolina.

Impressive Gains. Mr Hoover scored impressive gains in Virginia and Florida. The far west had not reported at midnight, but most of that area is counted as Republican. Early returns from the farm belt area disclosed no definite trend toward the Democrats. At midnight the returns from the Congressional polls were incomplete, but they showed that a number of Democrat candidates for the Senate were behind and that the Republicans were holding their own generally in the contests for the Senate and the House of Representatives. Mr A. B. Houghton, former Ambassador to Britain, who is standing as a Republican for the Senate of New York, has apparently been defeated. The question is now being asked, whether the remnant of the Democrat Party may not combine with the Radical Farmer-Labour sections of the middlewest to form a new party which would appeal nearly exclusively to the agrarian worker's interests. Such a metamorphosis would unquestionably introduce an element into American politics the force of which at the present time cannot be estimated accurately.