The experts of the election board expect that the recent registration (the last one before the election on April 1) will increase the total number of eligible voters by about 60,000. And the expert campaign managers of the various candidates for the mayoralty think that the increase will be larger. One spoke of 70,000, and another of 90,000 more; and still another asserted that there would perhaps be as many as 125,000 new names on the poll lists; and the wisest and most expert of the wise and expert politicians merely shrug their shoulders and say, "A man is ready to believe what he wishes."

The number of those who registered was much greater than any dared hope. More than 133,000 made a pilgrimage to the various places of registration 2on Tuesday in order to secure for themselves the right to vote in the coming election. And so the number of eligible voters is about 808,000, and may be decreased to about 800,000 through revision. These totals have never before been attained, and have been approximated only in years when presidential elections were held, an indication that there is extraordinary interest among our citizens in the election to be held on April 1.

Whence this interest? What is the significance of this exceptionally large registration?

"A man is ready to believe what he wishes." Thus each of the various candidates and their campaign managers believes that the large registration is due to his popularity or that of his candidate with the politically independent, and as a rule, lazy and negligent public; and that the 133,000 men and women who registered on Tuesday did so in order to have oppor-3tunity to vote for him or for the candidate whom "Mr. Expert" recommends and wishes to have in office.

They may be right. It would be advantageous, for one could infer that our citizens have come to a better understanding of the fact that it is very important that all eligible men and women vote, not only in national, but also in local elections. But circumstances do not warrant this inference. The calm observer receives the impression that the gentlemen who state that the popularity of their various candidates was the cause of the unusually large registration are beating about the bush; that they ignore the principal reason because they are afraid that they will endanger their prospects of winning the election if they acknowledge or even mention the true reason why so many people indicated their intention to vote.

It may be, and probably is, true that many citizens, men and women, registered at the last moment, so to speak, so that they may vote for this or 4that candidate. But it appears to be certain that the great majority was actuated by a different motive. For the gentlemen who are candidates for election solicited the support of the citizens before the primary and were generally known at that time. However, the "wet-dry" question was not on the primary ballots, nor was it known at the time of the registration which preceded the last one that the liquor question would be put to a vote on April 1. The verdict of the State Supreme Court that the "wet-dry" issue should be decided by Chicago's voters on April 1 was not rendered until after the primary election. The prohibition question is the paramount issue at present, not only in Chicago, but also in our entire country, and no unbiased person can doubt that it was the chief reason for the extraordinarily large registration.

Anyone who believes or says that this is not so deceives himself and others. The attitude of most of Tuesday's registrants, and their stand with regard to the various candidates for mayor, is an unknown quantity. Thus far no candidate has any reason to claim a majority of there votes for himself.

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Most of these voters must still be considered as being undecided, for their interest in the prospective election of a mayor or of an alderman was not strong enough to cause them to register. Apparently they have not yet decided upon whom to support and whoever wants them will have to win them. If a conclusion in regard to the mayoral election may be drawn from the unusually large addition to the voting lists it is this: The result is still uncertain; a comparatively large number of voters are still undecided and free, and will support the candidate who conducts the best campaign.

In other words, owing to the fact that many names were added to the lists of eligible voters on Tuesday, the result of the election for mayor is more uncertain than before, and every candidate and his friends will have to work hard in order to gain votes, if they are bent on victory. Today, as never before, the warning is in order: Do not overestimate yourself, and do not underestimate your opponent. This is true of the mayoral election, as well as of the prohibition question. We must assume that 6every "wet" will vote.