Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-07-29
EXPERTS PREDICT DEFEAT
OF j. A. REED IN MISSOURI

Long and his supporters have built
up following which under ordf-
nary circumstances would spell sue.
cess. The regular state organiza-
ton is arrayed solidly behind Mr..
Long, and against Mr.. Reed. The
greater number of farmers have re-
sponded more impressively to the
Wilson-Long battle cry than to the
wild alarm beloved defiantly by
the militant and picturesque insur-
gent, who began as a valiant cham.
pion Of the Wilson policies and end
ed by constantly opposing him.
The organized women bodies have
unsheathed their hat pins and vo-
cal weapons and are thrusting at
Mr.. Reed from all sides. The Anti.
Saloon league has sent it's most
practical workers and trained the
full capacity Of it's printing presses
against Mr.. Reed. Most of the news
papers of the state are demanding
in vitriolic leaders that the senator
be rejected by the Democratic vot-
ers of the state and that the Repub-
licans ignore the Macedonian cry
for help from the Reed camp. Ger
tainly all organized forces that usual
ly dictate results in politics are
largely on the Long side as it were.
Therefore the confidence of the
senator and supporters is most
surprising. The basis for their con-
fidence is that the majority Of Demo-
cratic as well as Republican voters
will resent the interference" of Mr..
Wilson in the ''locaP' issues of the
state; that the regular machine has
lost it's grip on the voting public
and that Mr.. Reed has turned out
to be just the sort of senator that
Missouri wants to represent 1t at
Washington.
That Mr.. Reed thinks so in any
event is shown by the fight no has
conducted in every one Of the LA
counties of the state. Not since the
days of Tom Benton and Champ
Clark have the voters been treated
to SO entertaining campaign.
The "Lone Wolf"
Mr.. Reed has played the part OF
the clone wolf" to perfection. He
has literally taken off his coat-and
collar, too-and accepted all Corners.
A postmaster Of platform polemics,
he has met every challenge. hurled
charges, cracked any opposing head,
called into play every device calcu-
lated to attract attention and arouse
sympathy. The dramatic stage lost
a potentially great historian when
Mr.. Reed turned politician instead
Of actor. Irving was no better pSy-
chologist of human emotions. Co
uuelan's voice was no more appeal
ing.
Mr.. Reed, stripped Of coat and col
lar, intent and intense, his own sur
charged emotions given ful pay
is a most engaging figure. Meet
ing the most convincing and dam
aging charges, his vocabulary Is
amazing, his audacity superb, his
mendacity whitening. No figure is
sacred from his keen-edged satire.
He treats Mr.. Wilson as a sick
man, nothing less, and boldly calls on
the voters to regard him as such.
Also he commands them not to per-
nit Mr.. Wilson or any one else to
"interfere'' in their constitutional
rights to think and vote for them
selves. He sweeps Mr.. Long aside
disdainfully as unworthy of serious
consideration, though his young op.
ponent is really fine type of Amer
lean manhood, alert, likeable and
eminently respectable, direct, frank
and not without courage.
But it is upon Mr.. Reed that the
eve of Missouri is squarely focused.
1t is from his lips that fall kaleido-
scopic torrents of defiant and i'm
pressive figures of speech. Mr.. Long
and a great army of volunteers pro-
claiming their fealty to the Wilson
policies by supporting his champion
call Mr.. Reed to book for his apos-
tasy to his party and its idol. Mr..
Reed retaliates by calling everybody
a liar and undertakes to prove 1t.
His answer to the big posters that
appeal to the farmer, clerk, toller
to "help us to get rid of Reed pro-
yokes biting retorts that arouse the
sporting sense of the mobs he adj
dresses.
Reeds Defeat Seen
The Anti-Saloon league probably
has never organized or staged
more determined effort to beat a
candidate for office than 1t has d.
rected against Mr.. Reed. Fine. Mr..
Reed goes after the Antl-Saloon
league under a full head of vocal
steam. He point IT, his senate rec
ord to prove that while he IA IS
the enforcement OF tHS eighteenth
amndnent, he thinks the Volstead
act should be modified. Charges
that he did not support the war poll
cies of the administration he just
denies, that's all.
Criticism of stand on the League
of Nations merely provokes a reaf-
firmation of unalterable opposition
to anything approaching foreign
ENHANCEMENT" neither apology nor
racantation. v ly, Mr.. Reed is a
hard nut to crack. His optimism is
sublime, limitless, apparently sin
cere.
With all the cards that usually