Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-10-18
BATTLE To WREST
NOMINATION FROM
COOLIDGE IS BEGUN
BY DAVID LAWRENCE
(Leased Wire Service to The Journal.)
Copyright, 1921

Tics is no longer ADJOURNED SO lar
as attack on the administration of
President Coolidge is concerned. The
battle of opposing aspirants for the
Republican presidential nomination
has begun. Two months having
elapsed since the new president took
office, the opposition in his own
party has come, first, from the ele
ments which hope to make an is
sue OF the discomfort Of the farmers,
and second from the groups who be-
| lieve the administration isn't suf-
fciently dry on the prohibition
question.
Henry Fords broadside Of criti-
cism against Secretary Weeks for
selling the Gorgas plant at Muscle
Shoals to the Alabama Power COM
pany, an act which President Cool
| idge has defended, is in line with
the cry of the American farm bu-
reau here for scent fertilizer, which
Ford operation of the nitrogen plant
was to have obtained.
| Governor Clifford Pinchot's vehe-
ment denunciation of the policy OF the
| federal administration with respect
to enforcement \of the prohibition
laws is partly presidential politics
and partly prohibition campaigning.
To understand the Pinchot speech,
! in which he calls on the federal
government to put down liquor in
surrection and assist states to cope
with municipal problems of enforce
ment, and to get clear idea also
of what William Jennings Bryan is
driving at when he calls on the
president and the members of the
cabinet to take the pledge as tee
| totlers as an example 20 the nation,
one must know what is really going
n in the treasury department.
Haynes Hands Tied
First of all, it may appear to the
| layma1. as strange that naybody
should be attacking the Coolidge ad-
ministration for lack of effective
ness in enforcing prohibition when
Roy Haynes, the federal prohibition
commissioner who has charge of
enforcement, is absolutely satisfac-
tory to the Anti-Saloon league. He
may be called fanatical in his views
by opponents, but the "drys" think
he is sincere and capable. Then why
all the fuss?
The truth Of the matter is Mr..
Haynes is subordinate to the secre-
tary of the treasury, Andrew w.
Mellon, Of Pittsburg, Pa. And Mr..
Mellon is credited with having we"
sympathies. The whispers in Anti
Saloon league circles for many
months have been to the effect that
Roy Haynes, prohibition commits
sioner, is being hampered at every
turn by official red tape and the OBJ
struction of Secretary Mellon.
The late President Harding was
aware Of this situation and to satisfy
the "drys" he dealt direct with Mr..
Haynes. incidentally, Secretary
Mellon wasn't offended by this indi-
rection and took no active part in
opposing the "drys." Since MIR.
Coolidge came into office, the ''drys'
have feared the new president would
listen to the seer ttary of the treas
ury rather than Mr.. Haynes. The
president has several times confer
red with Mr.. Haynes and has ar
ranged through him the program OF
the governors conference here next
Saturday on prohibition.
| Mr.. Haynes spoke in behalf Of the
president last Saturday and assured
the citizenship conference that Mr..
Coolidge was as sincere in his atti'
tude toward law enforcement as was
President Harding and of course thu
latter, by his Denver speech, won
the hearts of ali drys. He advocated
the giving up of stocks of liquor
even though lawfully acquired and
later on he permitted newspaper
correspondents to tell the public
that he himself had ceased taking
even the occasional drink which in
recent years he would take after q
golf game.
To Smoke Out" Coolidge
Inside the ranks of the "drys" the
dissatisfaction with Mr.. Coolidge s
silence on the prohibition question
has been dsconcerting. They want
him to take the same active part in
enforce ment that President Harding
did.
!
Melons own state. If Mr.. Pinchot
has presidential aspirations he mus
win the delegation from his own
state. In this he finds the powerful
hand of Secretary Mellon lined up
a~ainst him. The shreWd leaders of
the dry movement know this and &C
tually set in motion a citizenship
conference at which Governor
Pinchot is not only chosen to pre-
side but is given a chance to make
an attack on President COOLIDGE
administration, which he couldn't
very well make at the governors
conference next Saturday at the
White House where the visiting gov
errors will be personal as we'll as
official guests.
Mr.. Pinchot is used to smoke out
Mr.. Coolidge or rather to build a
fire under him so that next Satur-
day Mr.. Coolidge will say the words
that the drys want said by the head
of the nation. Furthermore. Mr..
Coolidge comes from the wet state
of Massachusetts,, where the battle
. for the final enactment of a state
law to enforce the eighteenth amend
ment of the federal constitution still
RACES. A petition can hold up the
present law for a referendum vote,
and the drys feel that Mr.. Coolidge S
support in his own state will help
them a lot there.
Former Governor Henry J. Allen,
of Kansas, thinks the Coolidge adj
ministration has done its best on
prohibition enforcement, and has
prepared a reply to Governor Pin
chot. He calls attention to the fact
that if the Pennsylvania governor
cannot cope with officials of munich
paIities that refuse to obey the law
he can remove delinquent officers.
He recalls his own experience in re-
moving mayors in Kansas.
Accountable in East