Evening star., 1926-06-01
BORAH DRY STAND
STARTS 1928 TALK
Demand for UNFOLDING Pro-
hibition Seen as ChaI-
Ienge to Coolidge.

Many a man in the political lime
! light has long ceased to grow i'm
patient over the inevitable attempts
TO construe his speeches as bidding
for presidential candidacy, and Sen
ator William +. Borah of Idaho is no
exception.
But it is serious question
whether the Idaho Senator struck out
for himself when he made his speech
at Baltimore demanding unqualified
support for the eighteenth amend
| ment while 1t is in the Constitution
and calling on the people not to be
| misled into a campaign of nullifica-
ton. Mr.. Borah's chief role in re-
cent years has been to affect the atti-
tude of other candidates. So what
Mr.. Borah has done can be construed
as no less than a proddinG of Presi-
dent Coolidge, who in recent months
has maintained an interesting silence
on the prohibition question. His at
titude is defended by his friends az
| a dignified retention of presidential
poise, for. having said everything pos
sible in the last two years on the
subject Of enforcement and having
issued an executive order to obtain
rigid enforcement of the Volstead law,
the supporters of the President see
no reason why he should enter into
a public debate on the merits OF the
prohibition question itself.
Gets Out In Front.
Mr. Borah. nevertheless. has taken
! advantage of Mr.. Coolidge's silence
and has out-dryed all other drys by
his emphatic statements. For sew
eral weeks the tide has been running
the other way. The "wets" have had
the center of the stage and the New
York State referendum, plus aggres-
sive efforts in the United States
Senate TO agitate national refer
endum. has given the impression
that something tangible in the way
of wet sentiment was developing in
side Congress.
The "drys" have been waiting the
opportunity for firm utterance that
would challenge the ''wets." Senator
| Borah stands out as the leader of the
! progressive group in the Senate anC
perhaps the most ndependent-minde6
| of all the members Of the Senate. He
follows neither party call nor what
is known as popular sentiment. He
blazes the trail in his own way.
| Coming from the West. of course,
where prohibition has been more or
less Of a fixture for several years,
| Mr.. BOrah does not weaken himself
with his own constituency by advo-
eating the dry cause without equivo-
cation. Nor can he expect much sup
! port from Eastern Republican States
anyhow for presidential candidacy
or anything else.
Ignores Eastern Area.
| So ignoring the East and looking
| toward the dry sections OF the Middle
West and the arid areas of the Far
| West Mr.. Borah is the logical cham
pion of prohibition in the Senate. He
has also as chairman of the Senate
| foreign relations committee had OPP
pOrtunities to differ with Mr.. Cool
idge. but he has the advantage over
other Senators in that his opposition
to certain policies manifested itself
even before MIR. Coolidge became
! President
Mr. Borah may be looking toward
| the presidency himself. but in COM
! mon with others who are watching
| Mr.. Coolidge he is said TO realize that
until there is a definite cleavage on
! issues there need be little discussion
| of personalities. Mr.. Coolidge has not
gone as far as the Anti-Saloon League
would have liked him to so. Mr..
| Borah's speech challenges him to go
| further. And it is a warming against
! any weakening at the White House
| on the Nolstead act, for the drys have
a way Of digging up a candidate and
| controlling delegations. Mr.. Borah's
| speech may he looked upon as an
adventure in prevention rather than
| an affirmative step toward the ad-
vancement of his own candidacy for
| 1928. ID. l..
| tCopyright 1920