Washington, July 26.
It is ravely that the leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties have anything either to hope or to fear from the appearance in the field of presidential candidates other than those regularly nominate ed by their respective conventions. Only once in 60 years has the "running" of a third candidate affected the result of a presidential election, and that was when the division of the Republican vote between Mr, aft and Colonel Roosevelt resulted in the election of Mr. Wilson, who was thus enabled. to carry many of the strongest Republican states, both east and west. With this exception third candidates have been negligible quantities.
At every election since 1876 ' the Prohibition party has had its own candidate in the field, and yet, notwithstanding a supposed growth of public sentiment favourable to prohibition, the party has never succeeded in polling much more than two per cent of the total popular vote. and its vote was less' in 1908 than in 1904 and less in 1912 than in 1908, although it gained slightly in 1916. The Socialists also have had their own candidate in the field at every election since 1892, and unlike the prohibitionists have considerably increased number. But the highest vote they ever secured, which was in 1912. was only six per cent. of the total popular vote, while at the last' election it was little more than three per cent.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.