Oct. 7.
A month to-morrow the clection for the next Presidency of the United States of America will Place. Outside the country] there day has made many a rurallean be little interest in the itor revise his opinion of the durban dweller's traditional impatience. Yet, in recent years, ven the City of London has felt impelled to remove from motorbuses the reproach of being unable to outstrip the pace of the ordinary walker proceeding from High Holborn to Liverpool Street. So, in Shanghai, it is a matter for consideration whether the man who is foolishly ener-Jgetic enough to walk from the Racecourse to the Bund should allowed much longer to reach is destination before a motor vehicle starting the same journey. Jat the same time. For that can well happen at certain specific Jhours of the day. Along the Bund itself problems of a similar kind arise. The trams are crowded enough in all conscience. They would be still more crowd-led if motorists, desiring to get to the French Consulate from Garden Bridge in the shortest possible time, abandoned their cars at the British Consulate and themselves to the rails.
This congestion helps to prevent the elimination of the I [rickshaw which is one of the Imost fruitful causes of accident land traffic difficulties.
The loss of time and the Jdisloeation of business arrangements by traffic delays must be considerable. Any scheme which would lead to reform would productive of a large financial saving to Shanghai. It is trio [that the authorities are constantly considering suggestions and, where practicable, carrying them in to effect with good results. The question, however, Jwhether the time has not come for a systematic examination of result, except always in so far as jit be generated from that universal desire of mankind to speculate on the—prospects lof any struggle from a horse race to a boxing match. Mr. Herbert Hoover and his opponent, Mr. Franklin Roose-It," are" both well-known to other nations, the one by his tenure of the high office which he now holds and hopes to hold again, the other partly by the glamour of hi name and, in recent months, by the' swift development of the necessary machinery of publicity in the ress and on the screen. The issues between the candidates jate mainly domestic. Foreign policy is unlikely to be affected lby the result, except in so far ithe removal' of the preoccupations of electioneering is expected to give the American Government and the people an opportunity to pay to world polities an attention which has naturally slackened in the last few months. It is apparent that, lone of the important subjects for' dispute is Prohibition. The desire for repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment has been strengthened by the economic troubles of the moment. It reflected in Mr. Roosevelt's strong bid for "Wet" support} Jand in the signs of a modification lof Mr. Hoover's views to prevent, detachment from his following of jan important section of "Wet" Republicans. Tariff policy another vital issue. Blame for ithe "depression" is being laid at ithe door of the high protectionist. Jduties adopted by the present administration. American busines men are inclined to say Saat the abandonment of free trade by Great Britain and other countries is directly due to the Hawley-Smoot tariff. They point to the insistence "by lead Jeconomists on the lowering Of tariffs as a necessary condition precedent to solution of the problems to be examined by the World Economic Conference. On that account their inclination towards Mr, Roosevelt is mari Personality will play its par On the one hand stands Mr. Hoover, lacking in fire but coldly logical, possessed of the prestige his present office and of the still-strong confidence imposed him as the result of his achievements in organisation during the War. He was thought A year ago to have little chance of re-election owing to the angry realisation of the complete failure lof his "prosperity" programme Since then the pendulum h swung back. Recognition of the basic causes of the slump has rather strengthened the idea that Mr. Hoover's experience had best be relied upon to pull the country through the present @ificulties. The belief that the tide is beginning to turn will accentuate this feeling on which, the next few critical weeks, Mr. Hoover may be expected to play. It cannot be denied how-lever that he has to face a wave lof something very like intense unpopularity which is stimulated by @ desire to find a scapegoat for the numerous ills of the general situation. Confronting him is Mr. Franklin Roosevelt—other candidature may be left Out of account, Mr. Roosevelt has a vigorous personality enhanced by his magnificent Personal courage in overcoming a serious physical weakness which, at the same time, is used by his opponents as a powerful weapon, despite a definite medical certificate, to raise doubts of hhis ability to stay the presidential course, "He has gained vemarkable triumphs in ending the formidable public influence of Mr. James Walker whom he has virtually driven from the Mayoralty of New York and winning the support of Mr. Alfred Smith, himself once strong candidate for the Presidency. He behind him men of no little experience and reputation. On the platform he is vastly the superior of Mr. Hoover. Through the microphone Mr. Hoover's logic scores some points over his opponent' eloquence which hardly conceals ithe fact that between the two programmes there is little difference. On the balance, however, Mr, Hoover's weakness in oratory almost restores Mr. Roosevelt's platform ascendancy, Nor should it be forgotten that the name of Roosevelt, in disregard of political labels, carries Yesterday it was reported that tio straw vote of the "Literary Digest—by this time an accepted feature of election campaigns—showed a clear majority for Mr, Roosevelt. Mr. Hoover, partly by reason of his position at White House, has been behind hhis opponent in'campaigning. He is expected during the next four weeks to make up for lost time. 'The telegrams to-day show that Wall Street is not impressed by his speech at Des Moines, although he is pleased and' Mr. Charles Lindbergh has given him a glowing tribute. Only those in intimate touch with the intricacies of American politics can with certainty attempt to assess his chances of effectively bidding against Mr. Roosevelt's reported capture of the farmers. And, as previous elections have shown, even the nest experienced student of the electorate's habits can go badly astray. Weighing up all accounts it may be safe to say that, if Mr. Hoover wins, it will be by a narrow margin, whereas a Democratic victory might be positive landslide. 'The telegrams from' America,—suit-jably shorn of mystical allusiveness "not understanded of the people" outside the United [States, may be expected to throw fa clearer light on the progress (Continued on page 48.) 4
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.