A Yard of Pump Water

Maine's laconic men have never had much natural respect for a woman's judgment. "Give a woman all the advice in the world and then she'll go ashore with both anchors on the bows," they say. But once in a while they have to make an exception. They have made one for Congresswoman Margaret Chase Smith. Elected to finish the term of her deceased husband in 1940, she was regularly re-elected by her Second District constituents. Last year, when aging Senator Wallace White announced his retirement, she announced herself a candidate for the G.O.P. nomination as Senator.

Her opponents were formidable. One was Governor Horace A. Hildreth, who was heavily and generously backed by the regular Republican organization, the power companies and many large corporations. Another was former Governor Sumner Sewall, a man who had never lost an election. The third starter was Albion P. Beverage, a Congregational minister with no previous political experience (and, as it turned out, no subsequent political following).

The four candidates held several joint debates. But Margaret Smith carried her campaign to places where a house with a shed is called a village. Whenever she could get away from Washington, she hustled back to Maine. Booted & bemittened, on days when the fog was so thick a man could hardly spit, on days when the natives allowed "it wuz cold enough to freeze two dry rags together," she made the rounds of the state. In Bangor, she fell and broke her arm, stubbornly insisted on keeping a speaking date four hours later.

Mrs. Smith made no promises; she just pointed to her record. She had voted with the G.O.P. majority and had stuck to the progressive wing. She had learned her district like the back of her hand. She faithfully answered every letter herself. Every week, she sent local newspapers a folksy column called "Washington and You." Said a constituent: "That Margaret is straight as a yard of pump water."

On primary day last week, women trooped to the polls in unprecedented numbers. To the astonishment of almost every political observer, Mrs. Smith won. Her 63,000 votes were more than all her three opponents' combined. If she won the Maine election next September--as every G.O.P. candidate has done for the last 32 years--Margaret Chase Smith, 49, would become the first woman ever elected to the Senate completely on her own.*

* Arkansas' Hattie Caraway first came to the Senate by appointment, to fill the term of her deceased husband. She was elected for full terms in 1932 and 1938 with the help of the Huey Long machine.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.