The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-10-09

-ECn Governor EuWdIuS has EADdhuOhOu
I We TcIk. = Democrats COncede Re-
publ can Press Is More Influential -
Other Influences,
By DAVID LAWRENCE.
Especial Despatch to The Reformer
r Copyright 1920
TRENTON. y. J.. Oct. 9.-New Jer-
sey. which was confidently counted upon
20 cast it's electoral vote for Cox because
Of his supposed fr:endliness to the wet
side of the prohibition controversy, Is to-
day more Republican than Democratic
though the Democrats have at last begun
to work effectively and may reduce n
might otherwise have been an overwhelm-
ing majority.
As it is, the chances are that New Jer-
sew will go Republican by 10000. MaJorl-
ties this wear should be cut in half or
doubled. as the case may pc, on account
of the woman vote and While ou,OOO Is a
uor.aal Republican majority IN New Jer-
sey. the woman vote could easily bring it
to 100000.
New Jersey. it will be recalled. pressed
the wet movement in the Democratic
party. Governor Edwards carried the
state two years ago with his statement
that he would make Jersey AS wet as the
Atlantic ocean" hut times have changed
since then. Witness the spectacle OF the
same Governor Edwards presiding this
week at the Democratic state convention
while a wet plank offered for the state
platform was rejected on the grounds OF
texpediency.'
Woman suffrage is responsible for the
tactics of the Democratic leaders. The
women in the Democratic party forced a
change. Moreover. the wet elements have
been the uncompromising foes of woman
r,nVay1 with tR1-N grysh HQNEnG for dis
affection. il was essential from a political
viewpoint to forget the wet question, and
eudeavor to muster the woman vote for
the Democratic candidate on the league
Of nations issue. .
Governor Edwards himself is quoted
a. having explained the situation h :
The platform of the Democratic party OF
New Jersey ignores the liquor question
as a matter of policy. / didn't vote on
the resolution because. as presiding othcer
Of the convention, / was not called upon
to. Those who opposed the resolution
tfavoring a wet plank had a majority OF
five in the convention. As presiding Off
Ger of the convention. | was not called
upon to vote. Those who opposed the
Nugent resolution had a majority of five
in the convention. As presiding officer, l
gave them all and more than was coming
to them. Ignoring the dry issue cannot be
interpreted to mean that the party in
New Jersey has undergone n change of
heart. The majority simply believed it
was good policy to leave such a plank
out of the platform this year" @-s
The same reporter who interviewed
Governor Edwards asked him how he
would have voted on the Nugent reSolu-
I ton had he been called upon to make a
public expression before the convention.
IF | answer that question he said. Il
will be misconstrucd by the public
Things have come to a pretty pass in
the Democratic camp when the most ar
dent advocate of WetneSS is obliged to
submerge his views. The Republican
party itself has not gone on record as
bone dry. but simply pledges itself to en-
force the law. The Anti-SaloOn league
would have been better satisfied with
some pledge that the NolStead law would
not be weakened nationally or that the
Republican party would enact state laws
to enforce the eighteenth amendment.
However. the Nugent faction of the Dem
~ocratic party has been conspicuOusly wet
and the significant thing is that the plat
form in the state of all states which might
have been expected to exude wetneSs
does exactly what was done at the Demo
cratic national convention at San Fran
ciscO-ignOres the issue.
Governor Cox did have a chance to re
peat what Governor Edwards did two
years agO-win New Jersey ON a wet issue
by a narrow margin-but the enfranchise-
ment of the women has made that impos-
SlDle. Inc DeIlOcFaIlc 0mlleG VINO
spoke dry doctrine in Portland, Oregon,
and began getting more and more wary
on the prohibition question as he faced
western audiences, evidently must have
been told about the ground swell in the
East coming from the feminine voters.
But with New Jersey trying to side
track the wet question. what are the other
issues? The Democrats privately concede
that the Republican press Is more in
huential in the state and that it has
said many things about the league of ma
tIons which have appealed to the preju-
dices of the different elements in the cleo
%torate. For instance, the Irish have
been alienated by talk of "a British
league The Germans have their own
grievances against the administration
that fought a successful war against Ger
many. The Italians have been stirred up,
too. And many women voters cherish a
grudge against the Nugent machine for
its opposition to woman suffrage. Put on
top of that the undercurrent of restless
ness which is prevalent in New Jersey,
as in the country. Consider.
indeed, the discomfort over the high cost
of living and the %irritations which are
inevitable in a reconstruction period, fol-
lowing a war of such magnitude as that
through which America has passed. and
your conclusion cannot but be that the
Democrats AVE about as much chance to
segregate the league of nations to the ex-