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Show THE NEXT SENATE AND J I THEONE AFTER For a short time after the Novem- gj ber election it appeared as though the j j Democratic control of the senate had I been materially weakened through .1 I Republican gains in Nevada, Indiana r and Colorado. Had those states re- f turned Republican senators, the Dem I ocratic strength would have been re- duced from fifty-three to fifty, and the Republican strength, assuming victory for that party where it held : its own. would have risen from forty-two forty-two to forty-five, with one Progressive. Progres-sive. But when the returns came in 1 more fully it apM?ared that not only - had the Democrats held those four states, but had gained In Wisconsin. j South Dakota and California, thus increasing in-creasing their number In the Sixty- fourth congress to fifty-six. while the I Republicans will be reduced to thirty- P nine. Thus, as the record now stands, j, the Democratic plurality, according to an unofficial publication just is- ". sued by the secretary of the senate. ! will be seventeen iu the next con- grcss and the majority sixteen. L These llgures havo a significance f beyond the effect upon the Demo ik cratlc program during the last two i years of tho Wilson administration. r They mean that even if a Republican t president should be elected In 1916, t he would probably be met with a po- : litically hostile senate, and with a possibility that this condition would I continue throughout his adminlstra tion. With a Democratic majority of I sixteen senators in the next concress L; j the Republicans would have to carry I seven Democratic and one Progres- - I sive seat In 1 91 1 and hold their own f in order to win a tie There are sev- r- enteen Democrats, fourteen Repub- v, licans and one Progressive whose . terms expire March 4. 1917. and 1 whose successors will be elected in November. 1916. This means that the fc I Republicans must re-elect every Re- t publican senator two years hencp and f 'capture the one Progressive and eight Democratic, or nine Democratic seats P in order to gain n majority of one f But six of the seventeen Democrats come from such rock-ribbed states as r Arizona. Florida. Missouri Texas. F Virginia and Mississippi. The other f states now represented by Demo- cratlc senators of the 1917 class are p West Virginia. Nebraska, Maine, In- diana, Tennessee, Maryland. New Jer- Bey, Montana, New York, Nevada and Oliio. If the Democrats can retain , five of these eleven, they will hold the si nate at a tie Washington Star. P |
