Table LI
The Socialist Vote for President by States from 1900 to 1920{1}
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| State | 1900 Debs | 1904 Debs | 1908 Debs | 1912 Debs | 1916 Benson | 1920 Debs |
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| Alabama | 928 | 853 | 1,399 | 3,029 | 1,925 | 2,369 |
| Arizona | ... | ... | ... | 3,163 | 3,174 | 125 |
| Arkansas | 27 | 1,816 | 5,842 | 8,153 | 6,999 | 5,111 |
| California | 7,572 | 29,533 | 28,659 | 79,201 | 43,259 | 64,076 |
| Colorado | 684 | 4,304 | 7,974 | 16,418 | 10,049 | 8,046 |
| Connecticut | 1,029 | 4,543 | 5,113 | 10,056 | 5,179 | 10,355 |
| Delaware | 57 | 146 | 239 | 556 | 480 | 1,002 |
| Florida | 603 | 2,337 | 3,747 | 4,806 | 5,353 | 5,189 |
| Georgia | ... | 197 | 584 | 1,026 | 967 | 465 |
| Idaho | ... | 4,954 | 6,400 | 11,960 | 8,066 | 38 |
| Illinois | 9,687 | 69,225 | 34,711 | 81,278 | 61,394 | 74,747 |
| Indiana | 2,374 | 12,013 | 13,476 | 39,931 | 21,855 | 24,703 |
| Iowa | 2,742 | 14,847 | 8,287 | 16,967 | 10,976 | 16,981 |
| Kansas | 1,605 | 15,849 | 12,420 | 26,779 | 24,685 | 15,510 |
| Kentucky | 770 | 3,602 | 4,185 | 11,647 | 4,734 | 6,409 |
| Louisiana | ... | 995 | 2,538 | 5,249 | 292 | ... |
| Maine | 878 | 2,106 | 1,758 | 2,541 | 2,177 | 2,214 |
| Maryland | 908 | 2,247 | 2,323 | 3,996 | 2,674 | 8,876 |
| Massachusetts | 9,716 | 13,604 | 10,781 | 12,616 | 11,058 | 32,265 |
| Michigan | 2,826 | 9,042 | 11,586 | 23,211 | 16,120 | 28,947 |
| Minnesota | 3,065 | 11,692 | 14,527 | 27,505 | 20,117 | 56,106 |
| Mississippi | ... | 393 | 978 | 2,061 | 1,484 | 1,639 |
| Missouri | 6,128 | 13,009 | 15,431 | 28,466 | 14,612 | 20,242 |
| Montana | 708 | 5,676 | 5,855 | 10,885 | 9,564 | ... |
| Nebraska | 823 | 7,412 | 3,524 | 10,174 | 7,141 | 9,600 |
| Nevada | ... | 925 | 2,103 | 3,313 | 3,065 | 1,864 |
| New Hampshire | 790 | 1,090 | 1,299 | 1,980 | 1,318 | 1,235 |
| New Jersey | 4,221 | 9,588 | 10,249 | 15,900 | 10,462 | 27,217 |
| New Mexico | ... | ... | ... | 2,859 | 1,999 | 2 |
| New York | 12,869 | 36,883 | 38,451 | 63,381 | 45,944 | 203,400 |
| North Carolina | ... | 124 | 345 | 117 | 490 | 446 |
| North Dakota | 518 | 2,017 | 2,421 | 6,966 | ... | 8,283 |
| Ohio | 4,847 | 36,260 | 33,795 | 90,144 | 38,092 | 57,147 |
| Oklahoma | ... | ... | 21,779 | 41,674 | 45,190 | 25,638 |
| Oregon | 1,494 | 7,619 | 7,339 | 13,343 | 9,711 | 9,801 |
| Pennsylvania | 4,831 | 21,863 | 33,913 | 80,915 | 45,637 | 70,021 |
| Rhode Island | ... | 956 | 1,365 | 2,049 | 1,914 | 4,351 |
| South Carolina | ... | 22 | 101 | 164 | 135 | 28 |
| South Dakota | 169 | 3,138 | 2,846 | 4,662 | 3,760 | ... |
| Tennessee | 413 | 1,354 | 1,870 | 3,492 | 2,542 | 2,239 |
| Texas | 1,846 | 2,791 | 7,870 | 24,896 | 18,963 | 8,194 |
| Utah | 717 | 5,767 | 4,890 | 9,023 | 4,460 | 3,159 |
| Vermont | 371 | 844 | ... | 928 | 798 | 25 |
| Virginia | 145 | 218 | 255 | 820 | 1,060 | 807 |
| Washington | 2,006 | 10,023 | 14,177 | 40,134 | 22,800 | 8,913 |
| West Virginia | 268 | 1,574 | 3,679 | 15,336 | 6,140 | 5,618 |
| Wisconsin | 7,048 | 28,220 | 28,164 | 33,481 | 27,846 | 80,635 |
| Wyoming | ... | ... | 1,715 | 2,760 | 1,453 | 1,234 |
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| Total | 96,116 | 402,321 | 420,973 | 897,011 | 585,113 | 915,302 |
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| Total Socialist vote{2} | 408,230 | 424,488 | 901,062 | ... | ... | |
| Socialist-Labor vote{2} | 33,546 | 14,021 | 30,344 | ... | ... | |
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note 1: World Almanac, 1920.
note 2: Appeal Almanac, 1916.
This table is compiled from the World Almanac. The column for 1920, in particular, may be suspected of serious inaccuracy in detail. The figures for Idaho, for example, would appear to be absurd, in view of nearly 12,000 in 1912 and more than 8,000 in 1916. The Appeal Almanac for 1916 gives larger totals, and adds a surviving vote of the Socialist-Labor party. The World Almanac for 1921 adds a note regarding the 1920 election:
The total for the Socialist-Labor ticket approximated 20,896, but it is to be said that in a number of the states the Socialist-Labor electors were called Independent Labor, or Independent, or Industrial Labor, so that the true total is considerably above that named above.
In general, the table affords a sufficient basis for general comparisons and judgment as to tendency.
German Influence in Socialism
Since the declaration of the St. Louis convention of the Socialists in 1917, which most outsiders and a large proportion of the Socialist rank and file regarded as not only consistently antiwar, but actually pro-German, it has been the fashion for Socialists of other than German leanings to minimize the German influence in the development of political Socialism in the United States. From the point of view of the loyally American or pro-Ally Socialists, of whom there are many thousands, it would no doubt be pleasing to clear it of the German atmosphere; but, unfortunately, the facts make such a proceeding difficult.
A great impulse was given to Socialism in this country by the German Socialists who were driven out of Germany forty years ago by Bismarck’s anti-Socialist legislation. They were men of a high degree of intelligence, largely mechanics of skill at their trades. They brought to America the Marxian orthodoxy, and stamped With their German rigidity of thought a movement which up to that time had been more or less a sentimental thing. Let us examine some figures which would seem to be significant.
The German-language press in this country has been largely confined to nine states. To the total circulation of the German-language press in the United States, their circulation in these nine states bears percentage ratio as follows: