The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-07-22
SENATOR REPLIES TO DR. ?. \. BAKER
 OF ''DRY" FORCES
Anti Saloon League Superin- tendent Says AIabamian
 Hope Of Wet Interests

Senator Oscar w. Underwood. com menting upon pr. Bakers statement regarding the senator's probable alignments in the 1924 presidential campaign. told The Age-H Herald late Saturday night that the assertions were part of a nationwide propa- Ganda against him. launched by the Anti-Saloon League.
 Similar statements. attributed to Wayne Wheeler and other leaders of that cause have appeared in oth- CT sections of the country" Senator Underwood said They know that 1 stated my position during the cam paign with Musgrove. Then l ad- mitted that l had opposed adoption of the eighteenth amendment. be- cause 1 did not believe the states were ready at that time and thought the method improper However, no man can nullify the law and l am for enforcement of the law. have stated clearly on previous oc- casions. l shall make reply to these various statements later"
 MONTGOMERY, Ala, July 21.- Senator Oscar w. Underwood of Ala bama is the present hope of the wet interests of the United States a presidential candidate, and despite what he may say respecting prohibi- tion after being nominated, he will not because of his previous record be satisfactory to the drys.' is the statement of pr. P. A. Baker. gem eral superintendent of the Anti-Sa- loon Lea que of America. whose home is in Montgomery.
 pr. Bakers statement follows:
 T he political program of the wet interests for 1924 is becoming obvi- ous each day. The attitude of the President on the enforcement of the Volstead law has destroyed all hope of encourag cement from the repub- lican party as such. although there are a number of wet republican sen ators and congressman from whom they are expecting very substantial support in carrying out their ulti- mate program in the Congress when the time comes.
 Their chief hope Is to capture the democratic party to the extent of nominating a thoroughly wet can didate for President The eastern leaders with some of the middle western leaders realize already that McAdoo will go into the con- vention with more delegates than any other candidate. but McAdoo ,s supposed to be dry and with his vigorous methods would stand squarely for the enforcement of the amendment. This does not suit these wet leaders. and their first objective will be to kill off McAdoo's candidacy. The "favorite son" scheme is to be worked in states like New York, New Jersey. Ohio and possibly Indiana. for trad ing purposes. but the chief objective is to capture above one-third of the delegates and to depend upon the two-thirds for success. exactly as they did at San Francisco.
 o o o
 Secs Swing To Underwood.
 When this plan is known to be well in hand. they are to, swing their wet forces to Senator Under wood, who in announcing his can didancy thefeafter is to come out strongly in very dignified way for law enforcement-Or a sort of death bed repentance act.
 Senator Underwood exactly suits the wet element of the east as a can didate. The country, however. will soon forget that as leader of his party. in both the house and Senate he spoke and voted against the sub mission of the eighteenth amend ment-not only so, but when the measure was before Congress to make the District of Columbia dry he supported an amendment to sub init the question to the popular vote of the people of the district when he knew full well there was no election machinery for holding a legal cleo tion in the district and none could be created for that election. He also knew that no question of policy for the district ever had thus been sub mitted, and to submit the liquor question would enable 30,000 igno- rant negroes as well as vicious whites to vote under the debauching influence of the lfTuor traffickers with no legal restraint.
 If these wet gangsters should suc- ceed in carrying out their program by the nomination of Senator Un- derwood, the prohibitionists of the country will see to it that his record on the liquor question shall be re- peatedly laid before the public, re- Gardless of any eleventh hour an nouncement on his part, and it will again be demonstrated that the way of the. beer wagon is not the way that leads to the White House. Sen ator Underwood was the strongest .4ngle factor in opposition to sub mission in Congress, which he has al right to be; but after the question is fought and won out in spite of his opposition, he is not the man to be elven the reins of government to ad- minister it."