Democrats and Republicans fought a hard battle in Chicago, Cook County, and Illinois and--both were victorious. No party won a complete victory.

In party circles--among the leaders and faithful followers of both parties--joy and despair prevail at the same time. One laughs with one eye and weeps with the other. This includes many who have no immediate party interest and all of those who voted carefully and from conviction. For these people, naturally, desired complete success for their ticket and the candidate for whom they voted. But few, if any, could enjoy this satisfaction, certainly nobody, who voted "straight" for the candidates of either party, for the list of the victorious candidates looks like a checkerboard.

For that very reason the election of November, 1918, in Chicago and, to a smaller extent, in the state, was a good election. The results lead to the 2conclusion that the citizens voted independently and selected their men themselves instead of obeying party orders. The result, furthermore, is a warning to both parties: Watch out; be careful and do your best: otherwise everything that has been preserved or won may be lost in the next election.

Senator James H. Lewis was beaten by his Republican opponent, Medill McCormick. That is to be regretted. For Senator Lewis ran as the President's choice and it seemed advisable to give the President a vote of confidence by electing Senator Lewis and thus to support the President in the Senate. But the defeat of Senator Lewis is by no means a misfortune. Nor is it a repudiation of the President's policies or a sentence of judgement against the Senator.

Mr. Medill McCormick, the new Senator, talks about a Republican success, not about a Republican victory. But even that is saying too much unless one starts from the premise that the Republican party was on the defensive and had to fear a grave defeat. Illinois has been considered for many years a Republican banner state, but, thanks to the split in the Republican party in 1912, the 3Democrat Lewis was elected to the United States Senate in 1913. In 1916, Illinois gave Mr. Hughes a majority of 202,000 votes and the present Governor Lowden about 140,000 votes more than the former Governor Dunne, while the Socialist Steadman received 52,316 votes. Mr. Medill McCormick's majority amounts to about 55,000--147,000 votes less than Mr. Hughes' majority and 85,000 less than Governor Lowden's two years ago. Thus it would seem that the Democrats would be justified in claiming success; if Senator Lewis had been re-elected, it would have been a splendid Democratic victory indeed.

If the state remained Republican from the point of view of national politics, the City of Chicago, on the other hand, acknowledged President Wilson's democracy absolutely and gave his spokesman in the Senate, Mr. Lewis, a splendid vote of confidence, Chicago gave Senator Lewis a majority of 51,557 votes, with a total vote of only 337,261, while two years ago the "popular" former Mayor of Chicago, Mr. Dunne, was beaten in the city with 386 votes by Mr. Lowden, with a total vote of 477,366. In the gubernatorial election of 1916, Chicago gave Lowden 224,963 votes; Dunne 224,577 and Steadman (Socialist) 427,826 votes. This year the voting in the senatorial election is as follows: Lewis, 184,887; McCormick, 133,330; Lloyd (Socialist), 19,044. Two years ago the vote for the popular Ex-Mayor Dunne comprised forty-seven per cent of the total vote; this year the vote for Senator Lewis is fifty-five per cent of the total and this in spite of the fact that for some of the most important municipal and county offices, either Republicans were elected or the Democrats mustered up such a small majority in the city that they were beaten by the rural vote of Cook County.

The Democrats can derive much satisfaction from the Republican "success" in the Senate election. Those of German descent in Chicago need not feel disturbed. They have voted well as Americans and practical, determined citizens. Their disappointments and hurt feelings could not induce them to give their votes to an opposition party without prospects. They have shown that they did not intend to segregate themselves and sulk in a corner, but have voted with a good majority for the President's man and the President's democracy and policy of justice.

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The German element of Chicago and Cook County have proved that they are an integral and component part of Chicago, and "the way you make up your bed is the way you sleep." For the first time in years there will be no criticising of the "Germans". They have rehabilitated themselves in the eyes of the public as American citizens of the good average type.