Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-09-29

Pomerene's strength, apart from the
thirst vote in the big cities, lies
with the great business interests of
the State. 1t has. therefore, been de-
cided to concentrate the heaviest fire
on breaking down Ohio business mems
belief in the wisdom OF swapping
Senator in the midstream of national
prosperity. There is to be partlcu-
larly fierce barrage on Pomerene' 8
tariff record in the Senate. He is to
Ibe pilloried as consistently
low tariff" man. His support
Of the Underwood-S bill,
which opened souphouses In every
industrial city in Ohio" as Il Willis
tract puts, is to be raked fore and aft.
1t will be shown that Pomerene never
voted once in favor of an amendment
to increase any duties, although ne
had frequent opportunity to do so.
On the Fordney- McCumber bill Willis
will reveal that Senator Pomerene
voted III times, land every time for
the lowering of proposed duties" FL
nal,y, as the arch-count in the fiscal
indictment Of Pomerene, Willis will
tell Of the Democratic Senator's vote
in 1921 against the first large tax-re-
duction bill sponsored by the Harding
administration.
When Ohio business men talk
Pomerane" Willis will fling the for
mers tariff and taxation record at
them. Willis will ask if Buckeye cap
tains Of finance and commerce want
to "repudiate" Coolidge economy in
government, Coolidge tax reduction,
Melons conduct of the Treasury.
Hoover's achievement in developing
the Department of Commerce and all
the other men and matters which, in
Republican judgment, enShrine the
present regime at Washington in
glory. All of these beneficent works,
Willis claims, will be imperiled ii
Ohio, by eleCting a Democrat to the
Senate, by that much weakens Cool
idge control" of the next Congress.
Such a calamity. the Republican can
didate is about to proclaim from the
campaign housetops. would be little
short of q national disaster
Although soft -pedaling the prohibit
ton issue in favor of the Coolidge is
sue, LIQUOR remains a live factor in
the Ohio campaign. A recently
formed modification league is see
ing to that. 1t is bipartisan and it
is effectively, though not openly, sup
porting the Pomerene cause. Like
everywhere else, prohibition splits the
two parties in Ohio among themselves.
The Anti.Saloon League, which is
supporting Willis, is doing it's utmost,
for example, to defeat Arthur w.
Sweeney, the Republican candidate
for Congress in the Akron district,
who is wet, and re-elect the incum-
bent Democrat, Martin l.. Davey of
tree surgery renown. Willis strength
is out in the rural counties, amid
which, the Wayne B. Wheeler organ
iZation first saw the light of day.
But. according to the Taft paper In
Cincinnati, the Times-Star, it will not
be altogether safe for Senator Willis
to imagine that the country regions
are hopelessly dry.
Change i'm Attitude.
I'VE see some evidence of a change
in attitude" says the Times-Star,
| among old-line drys in the agricul-
tural districts served by this journal.
These men and women do not believe
in the theory Of prohibition less than
they did, but they are beginning to
have doubts as to the practicabillty
of enforcing it. The persistence of
Bookkeeping, the wholesale corruption
of officials, and the steady increase
| in general laWlessness have made
them doubt the possibility of effective
! prohibition in the United States in
| our time. No matter how they may
vote, Some VI Tic IllOSl SlIiScIc uA III
Ohio are less sure of themselves than
they were"
Senator Willis, who is on the
Coolidge side of the World Court
fence and our European debts, is
going to make such capital out of
those two issues as current develop
| ments permit. He is going to defy
the League of Nations, for example,
to dictate" to Uncle Sam on the
matter of the Senate reservations.
Willis, too. has been prompt to snap
up the cancellation challenge re-
Gently laid down by that eminent
Ohio Democrat, Newton D. Baker,
former Secretary Of War. The Re-
publican senatorial nominee is a
last red center on the debts. He
| thinks Ohio voters are with Coolidge,
not Baker, on the cancellation
proposition. Baker holds that there S
| a far deeper stratum of international
| idealism in Ohio than Coolidge Re-
/ publicans imagine. even among their
own set.
For the first time since 1922. Ohio
Republicans seem confident of un
horsing Gov. Donahey. In 1922 he
beat Col. Carmi A. Thompson, now
in the Philippines for President
| Coolidge, because Republicans, mis-
| takenly overconfident did not turn