In Texas

The complexion of Texas seemed to be altering. In August, upon her nom- ination by the Democrats, Mrs. Miriam A. ("Ma") Ferguson was virtually accepted by the Nation as the Governor-elect of Texas. Last week, public prints of all party affiliations published despatches to the effect that this first blush had faded; that Dr. George C. Butte, Republican nominee, was offering "more resistance than any Republican since the days of the Reconstruction." The reports held that the Republican Party of Texas is once more "a white man's affair." In the old days, only Negroes would vote for a "Yankee," as the Texans who wore plow-handle moustaches called the Republicans. Dr. Butte's party was said to have eliminated the Negro vote. Furthermore, though he has many times denounced the Klan as rigorously as Mrs. Ferguson, Dr. Butte was said to be backed by many klansmen as "the lesser of two evils." A university man, onetime Dean of the University of Texas Law School, Dr. Butte ex- pected also to enjoy the "intellectual" support in Texan cities of Texan college alumni. The strongholds of the Democrats are in the expansive but scantily populated agricultural regions of the state. Democratic leaders pointed repeatedly to Mrs. Ferguson's impressive victory in the primary but continued to be reported, even in their own press, as "alarmed."