Independent Statesman

Ever since the New York election, Harper's Weekly and the Evening Post have boasted of the strength of the "Scratchers'" movement in that State, declaring (the wish being father to the thought) that it had become too formidable to be longer ignored. But an analysis of the vote fails to back up this claim. Taking the vote of 58 counties, not including New York city, and we find that Hoskins, the Republican candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, received 10,148 votes more than Cornell; while Potter, Democratic candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, being on both the Robinson and Kelley tickets, received only 17,271 votes more than Robinson. More singular still, the aggregate vote on the Republican and two Democratic candidates for Governor was 1,305 more than the aggregate on the Republican and Democratic candidates for Lieutenant-Governor.

Where were the scratchers? To borrow the language of the N. Y. Times, "Where does the influence of the 'scratchers' appear, in view of the fact that 1,300 fewer votes were cast for Lieutenant-Governor than for Governor?" It would appear indeed that Cornell has 10,148 less votes in the counties mentioned than Hoskins, but this fact would seem to be accounted for on the supposition that they were the votes of Republicans who voted for Robinson, but for the minor candidates on their own ticket.