Evening Star
- DEMOCRATIC HOPES GROW BRIGHTER IN 5 WESTERN STATES
- BUS COMPANY SALE IS HELD APPARENT VIOLATION OF LAW
- CONTRABAND LOST; RUM ARRESTS SEEN
Less than a week before the 1926 midterm elections, the Evening Star's political correspondent predicted Democratic Senate gains in the West. He rated the party's chances brightest in Arizona, Oregon, Colorado, Oklahoma and Missouri, and conceded California, Washington, Kansas, Utah, Iowa, Wisconsin, Idaho and probably Nevada to the Republicans. Because every contested Western seat was held by Republicans, he wrote, each Democratic win would be a clear gain. In local news, the Public Utilities Commission abruptly suspended hearings on the Washington Rapid Transit Company's request for a 10-cent bus fare. It acted after the Corporation Counsel found an apparent violation of law in the sale of the company's controlling stock to the North American Company. An Associated Press dispatch reported that conspiracy indictments were expected over whisky that had allegedly disappeared after the rum ship Elma was seized several months earlier.
Translation
DEMOCRATIC HOPES GROW BRIGHTER IN 5 WESTERN STATES
In some of the Western States victory will perch on the Democratic banner. Their chances seem particularly bright in Arizona, Oregon, Colorado, Oklahoma and Missouri. The Republicans, on the other hand, will carry the senatorial election in California, Washington, Kansas, Utah, Iowa, Wisconsin, Idaho and probably in Nevada, although there is a real fight in the last-named State. Every victory by the Democrats in these Western States represents a distinct gain for the party, for all the seats contested for are now held by the Republicans. In …
BUS COMPANY SALE IS HELD APPARENT VIOLATION OF LAW
With an opinion from Corporation Counsel Francis H. Stephens indicating that there was "an apparent violation of the law" in the transfer of the majority of the capital stock of the Washington Rapid Transit Company from its former owner to the North American Company, the Public Utilities Commission today abruptly adjourned for an indefinite period hearings on the company's petition for authority to charge a straight cash fare of 10 cents on its bus lines in the District.
CONTRABAND LOST; RUM ARRESTS SEEN
The Wilmington News Dispatch in a story published here today says that conspiracy indictments against a number of persons will be sought at the November term of United States District Court here as a result of alleged disappearance of whisky impounded when the rum ship Elma was seized off this port several months ago.
Context
Did the Democrats carry the 5 Western states the Star picked?
The November 2 results bore out three of the correspondent's five Democratic prospects. The Star had named Arizona, Oregon, Colorado, Oklahoma and Missouri and stressed that every one of those seats was in Republican hands. In Arizona, Carl Hayden won with 58.3 percent against Ralph Cameron's 41.7. In Oklahoma, Elmer Thomas beat John Harreld 54.8 to 44.7, and in Missouri, Harry Hawes defeated George Williams 51.3 to 47.7. Colorado and Oregon stayed Republican. Charles Waterman took Colorado with 50.3 percent to Democrat William Sweet's 46.4. Oregon became a three-way race in which Frederick Steiwer won with 39.8 percent, against 36.3 for Democrat Bert Haney and 22.5 for Robert Stanfield, who ran as an independent. The paper's cautious call in Nevada, where it saw a real fight, also held: Tasker Oddie was re-elected with 55.8 percent. Across the country, the Republican Senate majority fell by seven seats.
How the Ku Klux Klan shaped the Republican side in Colorado and Oregon
In two of the five states the Star counted as Democratic chances, fights over the Ku Klux Klan had already decided the Republican nomination. Colorado's Republican senator, Rice W. Means, became directing head of the Klan in Colorado while in the Senate. He was defeated in the 1926 Republican primary by Charles W. Waterman on a wave of anti-Klan sentiment. Sweet, the Democrat, therefore faced in November a Republican whose nomination had been read as a rejection of the Klan, and Waterman narrowly held the seat. In Oregon, the Klan used a reverse tactic. Working through the Oregon Good Government League, it helped Frederick Steiwer win the Republican primary by spreading word that it backed his opponent, Senator Robert N. Stanfield. Stanfield's later independent run split the vote in the general election. The Klan was also active on the Democratic side in Oklahoma, where Henry S. Johnston was a Klan member and had the organization's endorsement in the 1926 governor's race. The excerpted forecast does not mention the Klan; these links come from later historical accounts.
Who owned the North American Company, and what became of Washington Rapid Transit?
The buyer named in the Star's story was a major utility holding company. By 1940, North American was a $2.3 billion concern that directly and indirectly ran 80 companies. The paper reports only that Corporation Counsel Francis H. Stephens saw "an apparent violation of the law" in the transfer of a majority of Washington Rapid Transit's stock to North American, and that the Public Utilities Commission halted hearings on the company's 10-cent fare request in response. The excerpt does not say which law Stephens meant. The company's later history shows that North American's role in Washington transit lasted. On December 1, 1933, the Washington Rapid Transit bus company merged with the streetcar companies Washington Railway and Electric and Capital Traction to form Capital Transit. North American owned 50 percent of Capital Transit through its subsidiary Washington Railway and Electric. North American itself was broken up in 1946, largely to comply with the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, a federal law passed to break up interstate electric holding companies.
What was the rum ship Elma?
The Elma was a former government vessel. She began as USLHT Lilac, a steel-hulled steamship built as a lighthouse tender in 1892. On April 8, 1925, the Lighthouse Service sold her for $7,850 to a man identifying himself as Joseph H. Riley. Her first private owners ran a bootlegging syndicate and used the ship to smuggle liquor into the United States during Prohibition. The federal government then confiscated and sold her. A photograph shows cases of contraband liquor off-loaded from Elma on June 27, 1926, which fits the Associated Press's statement that the ship had been seized "several months ago." The AP story itself goes no further than the Wilmington News Dispatch's report that conspiracy indictments would be sought over the alleged disappearance of the impounded whisky. Whether anyone was charged or convicted is not shown here.
Original
DEMOCRATIC HOPES GROW BRIGHTER IN 5 WESTERN STATES
. In some of the Western States victory will perch on the Democratic banner. Their chances seem particularly bright in Arizona, Oregon, Colorado, Oklahoma and Missouri. The Republicans, on the other hand, will carry the senatorial election in California, Washington, Kansas, Utah, Iowa, Wisconsin, Idaho and probably in Nevada, although there is a real fight in the last-named State. Every victory by the Democrats in these Western States represents a distinct gain for the party, for all the seats contested for are now held by the Republicans. In
BUS COMPANY SALE IS HELD APPARENT VIOLATION OF LAW
With an opinion from Corporation Counsel Francis H. Stephens indicating that there was " an apparent violation of the law " in the transfer of the majority of the capital stock of the Washington Rapid Transit Company from its former owner to the North American Company, the Public Utilities Commission today abruptly adjourned for an indefinite period hearings on the company's petition for authority to charge a straight cash fare of 10 cents on its bus lines in the District.
CONTRABAND LOST; RUM ARRESTS SEEN
The Wilmington News Dispatch in a story published here today says that conspiracy indictments against a number of persons will be sought at the November term of United States District Court here as a result of alleged disappearance of whisky impounded when the rum ship Elma was seized off this port several months ago.
Source: Holding institution