7 AM.
FINAL
L wFA6
i
7 A.M.
FINAL
Latest Deadline in the State
VOL. LIX, No. 37 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 3, 1948
PRICE FIVE CENTS
I
I
4b
Williams
Leads
Sigler
in
State
Dewey Lagging
Ferguson
Ahead)
We Still Don't Know Who It Is
In
Close
Race
In Senate Contest
Other Republican
Safe as Derns Rely
State Candidates
on Detroit Vote
DETROIT-WI)--'The race for Governor in Michigan turned into
a slugging match in outstate counties today, but Democrats in Wayne
(Detroit) County are holding back their Sunday punch.
With 707 precincts of the state's 4,292 counted Williams led 169,-
633 to 163,665.
* * * *
U.S. SENATOR Homer Ferguson, Republican seeking reelection,
did better than his other Republican brethren, except Dewey. He was
holding a growing lead over the Democrat, former Cong. Frank
E. Hook of Ironwood.
With 549 precincts reprting, Ferguson had 146,091 and Hook
109,960.
Gov. Thomas E. Dewey, who lost Michigan to President Roosevelt
tfour years ago by 22,476 votes,-to-
"Republicans
,Ahead 241
In Ann. Arbor
Incumbents Lead
In City, County
Voters of Ann Arbor and Wash-
tenaw County appeared to be giv-
ing incumbent Republican can-
didates almost a 2-1 vote of con-
fidence early this morning on the
basis of incomplete returns from
the city and county.
With each successive precinct
report, the GOP county slate
continued to pull further away
and assure that their 80 year reign
in the county would not be broken.
PROGRESSIVE PARTY candi-
dates received only handfuls of
scattered votes as citizens con-
centrated their attention on either
of the two main parties. Minor
parties received virtually nothing
from 7 of 48 precincts reporting.
Leading the field was Repub-
lican John L. Osborn for Sher-
iff with 7176 to 3662 lead over
Democrat Joe E. Beeler.
Leading in the face for county
clerk, incumbent Republican Lu-
ella Smith had 7122 to 3850 for
Democrat Thomas C. Walsh, Uni-
versity student.
CORONER Edwin C. Ganzhorn,
Republican, virtually assured him-
self of victory with 6957 to 4006
for Democrat William H. Dickson,
Sr.
Republican candidate for Coun-
ty Treasurer William F. Verner
led 6925 to 3740 for William H.
Kemnitz, Democrat.
Incumbent Republican Allan
A Seymour appeared to be as-
sured of contining at the post
,of Registrar of Deeds with 6819
to 4309 for Democrat Katherine
E. Swope.
In the race for State Senator,
Republican George N. Higgins is
leading Democrat Odin H. John-
son 6757 to 3957.
* * *
PROSECUTOR Douglas K.
Reading, Republican held a much
narrower lead over his opponent
Democrat George J. Burke, Jr.,
6409 to 4522.
n the fight for the job of Rep-
resentative in the State Legisla-
inr_ T.QmiR C7 r~hrist~men. inrom-
day had a lead of 83,000 votes over
President Truman with less than a
third of the state's precincts
counted unofficially.
DEWEY was amassing his lead
in upstate Michigan in a strong
bid for the state's 19 electoral
votes. He was leading in all but a
handful of industrial counties,
but one of these was populous
Wayne County where the Demo-
cratic labor alliance was expected
to produce big results for Truman.
Only 120 of the 1,672 Wayne
County precincts had reported but
those had been enough to push
Truman to within a few thousand
votes of Dewey at that point. Then
the outstate areas pushed Dewey
along again.
Sigler, the Republican bellweth-
er, was coming from behind in
outstate counts so slowly that his
followers feared he could not off-
set an expected heavy Democratic
majority in Wayne County.
Wayne County, expected to
cast its second highest vote in
history, was far behind the rest
of the state in counting its
ballots, throwing the guberna-
torial race results out of focus.
Sigler was almost neck and
neck at that point with G. Mennen
Williams, the young socialite lib-
eral who ran on the Democratic
ticket.
WITH 1,100 precincts heard
from Sigler had 248,985 to 256,949
for Williams. The count included
200 of Wayne County's 1,672 pre-
cincts.
While Sigler was trailing, the
remainder of the state Republican
ticket, handpicked by the Gover-
nor, was maintaining about a 30,-
000 vote lead over its Democratic
counterpartand in these totals
the proportion of Wayne County
votes was higher.
This bore out politicians' spec-
ulations that many Republicans
would "cut" Sigler in the secrecy
of the ballot place.
* * *
WASHTENAW County and Ann
Arbor remained solidly in the Re-
publican columns as far as state
officials were concerned.
Gov. Kim Sigler ran a few
votes behind the rest of the GOP
slate, but every candidate was
virtually assured a very firm 2-
1 margin.
Sigler received 11,259 votes from
20 of 48 county precincts report-
ing, to G. Mennen William's 7,-
227.
Republican Eugene C. Keys ap-
peared to be winning his fight to
retain the office of Lieut. Gov-
ernor by a 10,338 to 6,377 vote.
IN BRIEF, othertvotes were:
Secretary of State-Republican
Frederick M. Alger, Jr., 11,945 to
5,809 for Noel P. Fox, Democrat.
U.S. Senator-Republican Hom-
Ctsountry Waitsfor
Last Ballot
By HARRIET FRIEDMAN
Truman or Dewey? At 5:30 a.m., as The Daily goes to press, it will
take the last ballot to find out.
Some commentators, have compared the situation to that in 1916,
when the Presidency changed hands in the early hours of the morn-
ing.
But unlike Charles E. Hughes, whose misfortune it was to go to
bed as President, and awaken as just another citizen, no one in the
country who was following elections, went to sleep with security this
morning.
There were 60-1 odds for Dewey in New York yesterday. Deweyj
supporters all over the country couldn't find anyone to take their
bets. And in Ann Arbor, the typical comment was: '"It'll all be over by
10 p.m."
But no one counted on an election turnout which kept the Ann
Arbor polls busy till almost midnight.
And even more, no one counted on the effectiveness of one man's
lone-handed campaign for re-instatement in office against the prac-
tically unanimous opposition of the American press, plus the loss of
votes to Thurmond and Wallace.
When the results first began to come in, showing Truman in the
lead most listeners felt that the results were merely from typically
Democratic industrial centers.
But as the vote returns reached 48% and Truman still led in pop-
ular votes, unbelieving audiences in party headquarters, and in dormi-
tories and fraternities, blinked incredulously and caught the excite-
ment.
Radio commentators, especially the pollsters, were slow to become
aroused. They carefully discounted the early results, but gradually
became more aroused as the "every last vote counts" nature of the
elections became obvious.
One high point of the returns came in the fight over New York.
Truman, who probably lost more than 50,000 votes to Wallace, made
Dewey breathe happily for every up-state vote he could gather, and
the combined forces of Truman and Wallace easily over-balanced
Dewey's take in his home state.
As night turned into morning, Republicans began to pinch them-
selves and wonder whether it was all a bad dream. One Senate seat
after another, and one House position after another, fell to the Demo-
crats.
Special all-night Republican demonstrations were indefinitely
postponed.
Cause for most comment as the race became tighter and tighter
was the probability of presidential election by the House of Repre-
sentatives.
The election would be carried out by the new House, which ap-
pears to be predominately Democratic, but analysts pondered the
effect of the State-Rightists of the South.
And although Wallace announced his continued disgust with
both major parties, the Dixiecrats seemed regretful over their role as
a bloc to Truman's re-accession.:
But the votes were cast, and neither party was doing anw of the
predicting on such future problems. Republicans and Democrats were
just counting up the votes one by one.
Democrats Win Senate, House;
Thrilling Upsets Stun Nation
Bulletin
At 5:26 a.m. Truman led Dewey by a popular vote of
17,418,016 to 16,122,656.
Truman was ahead in 27 states whose total electoral vote
was 279, while Dewey was leading in 17 states with 214 elec-
toral votes.
* * * *
By The Associated Press
President Harry S. Truman, the astonishing underdog,
clung grimly to a slender majority of the nation's electoral
vote early today. Gov. Thomas E. Dewey, who had been rated
a sure winner in most polls, trailed behind.
Truman, confounding the dopesters, topped Dewey in
the popular vote also, though the contest was far from finished.
Democratic legions swept close to outright control of the
Senate and made marked gains in House contests.
The Presidential race looked like the closest since the 277
to 254 Wilson-Hughes struggle of 1916--and the possibility
even arose that no one would get a majority of the electoral
tally.
In that case, the showdown would come in the next House of
Representatives, with each state casting one vote to choose the Pres-
ident,
(Washtenaw County and Ann Arbor tossed their support to Dewey
by well over a two-to-one margin although he ran slightly behind local
Republican candidates for office.)
Dewey was running 6,694 to 3,197 in Ann Arbor and 11,772 to
5,147 in the county vote. Of 48 county precincts, 20 had reported.)
AT ROUGHLY THE HALFWAY mark son the long road toward
final compilation of 50,000,000 or more ballots, this was the national
picture:
President Truman had the lead in 27 states with a total electoral
vote of 267. (266 needed for the final tally to elect).
Governor Dewey, trying for the second time to win the Pres-
idency for the Republicans, was ahead in 17 states (including
New York as almost a certainty) having a total of 226 electoral
votes.
States Rights Democrats accounted for the other four states.
The anti-Truman votes in those four normally Democratic states
(Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Alabama) might have
historic results. Should neither Truman nor Dewey get a majority of
electoral votes (266), the choice of the President would be up to a
vote of the House of Representatives-where each state would haya
one vote.
* * * *
IN SUCH AN EVENT, States Rights candidate Thurmond hoped
to hold the balance of power. The States Rights movement was
born of protest against Truman's civil rights program.
Democrats elected three Senators out of the 11 Senate races
regarded as critical in the battle to control the Senate, and its
chairmanships. The Democrats were leading, too, in the other
eight.
In the races for Governor, Democrats elected nine and were lead-
ing in 12. Republicans had elected three and were leading in two.
The Presidential totals, at least for the time being, ran contrary
to most pre-election guesses of a sweeping Republican victory.
REPUBLICAN campaign managers toned down their victory pre-
dictions as the night wore on. However, apparent victory in New
York state, set off new GOP claims. The Democrats were restrained,
but hopeful.
There was no word yet from either Gov. Dewey, in New York
or President Truman, in Missouri.
Mr. Truman "disappeared" from his home in Independence, Mo~
where he announced he would spend the night. Aides kept silent on
where he might be getting the returns. For. themselves, they reported
growing optimilsm.
NEW YORK, with its big bloc of 47 electoral votes, switched back
and forth. When all but 20 of the Empire State's 9,959 districts had
been tallied, Dewey led Truman by 27,000 votes.
Pennsylvania (35 electoral votes) recorded a consistent lead
for Dewey and appeared safe for the Republicans. Truman took
a lead in Illinois, and Democratic leaders there said that its 28
votes were safely in the Democratic column. Ohio and California,
with 25 electoral votes each, were showing Dewey in the lead.
Thus most of the biggest states were recording at least temporary
leads for the Republican candidate, and Mr. Truman's 2 a.m. EST
lead in the electoral totals was made the hard way-through many
states, some with few votes.
TRUMAN ALSO MANAGED to pile up his early morning lead
despite the apparent loss of four Southern states to the States' Rights
ticket.
The Progressive Party of Henry A. Wallace had no state in its
enhi.my hint tC New Vnrk d mtea nennh *t h the haei'eo nf
I
MAY COME THROUGH IN '52!
Vote Embarrasses Pollsters
By B. S. BROWN
Science was set back twelve
years in yesterday's presidential
election.
The poll takers claimed that
they could predict the outcome of
the election within five per cent,
based on scientifically-controlled
samples of the population. But in
this 1948 election Gov. Thomas E.
Dewey failed to smother his Dem-
ocratic rival with the expected
avalanche of popular votes.
IN THE Literary Digest straw
vote fiasco 12 years ago, Alf Lan-
don was indicated as the over-
whelming favorite. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt not only
won the election, but carried 46
states in doing so and completely
swept the popular vote.
Once main the n nters are
gan State, Oregon, Purdue and
Northwestern, Minnesota and Il-
linois. After that the Irish men-
tor quit.
* * *'
THE NOTED pollster indicated
that part of the reason, in his es-
timation, why Truman was run-
ning far ahead of the poll's find-
ings was that the President was
being carried along by the Demo-
cratic candidates in the various lo-
cales.
He pointed out such out-
standing examples as G. Men-
nen Williams, gubernatorial
candidate in Michigan, Mayor
Hubert Humphrey, candidate
for governor in Minnesota, and
Chester Bowles, who won the
governorship in Connecticut un-
der the Democratic banner.
His reasoning was that the vot-
ers wanted the local candidates
and then merely tagged along with
Truman on the Democratic ticket.
AS FAR as the Congressional
voting is concerned, there was no
explanation offered.
Consensus in many circles this
morning indicated that Roper and
the rest would have done far bet-
ter in their prognostications had
they heeded the optimistic state-
ments of the President from Mis-
souri, who had to be shown. He's
about the only one who called his
shot, and did it with any degree of
accuracy.
NO HOT TIME IN ANN ARBOR:
City Spends Peaceful Election Night
--7-
The amount of election whoop-
ee in Ann Arbor last night andI
and doughnuts. The Young Re-
nn,,lC frnm th A rTTniverCity I
ening, but found no refreshments