Fair Warning

Every good politician knows how important control of local governments can be to a national election. But last November, when they swept 14 of the 16 offices then at stake in Cook County, Illinois' elated Republicans committed a major political blunder. They figured they could win this spring's Chicago mayoralty with anybody.

They got some help in this belief from national headquarters. Said National Chairman B. Carroll Reece: "It will be said, undoubtedly, that the abilities and character of the individual candidate are more important than his party label. Do not be beguiled into accepting such arguments."

Last week Chicago's voters gave their answer to this political naivete. In the biggest turnout in a Chicago city election, they rejected the G.O.P.'s Russell W. Root--a political nobody--and elected the Democrats' businessman candidate, Martin H. Kennelly, by a 273,354 majority. Kennelly's margin had been exceeded only once before in the city's history.

Observers conceded that the G.O.P. state administration's part in the Centralia mine disaster (see Labor) accounted for the loss of about 75,000 votes. For the rest, the Republicans could blame their own blunders and the political genius of the new Democratic boss, Jake Arvey. Little Jake's astute handling of the old Kelly machine and his timely dumping of Boss Ed himself had gone far to retrieve last November's disaster.

Republicans had had fair warning. But there was some doubt whether its meaning had been driven home to Carroll Reece. He now said blandly that the Chicago election had "no special significance."

In East St. Louis, Illinois' fourth city, Mayor John T. Connors, Democrat, was elected to a third term, despite the fact that he and two of his henchmen had recently been under indictment for winking at gambling. No one was much surprised. In grimy, roistering East St. Louis, such an accusation is about the best endorsement a politician can have.

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