Evening star., 1926-09-20

There are about as many ISSUES"
in the 1926 congressional campaign
as there are candidates-that Is to
say, in nearly every congressional
district and State in the Union, some'
thing concrete, local or specially ap-
plicable to a nominee or a section is
involved. On that specific thing, in
the vast majority of cases, election
fates will be decided on November 2.
There is certainly no paramount issue
that divides the two great parties ma
tionally, as free silver once did, or
as the tariff always has, or as the
League Of Nations divided them IN
1920. Prohibition comes as near be-
ing the outstanding issue this year
as any one thing. but on it there is
dissension within both the Republican
and Democratic parties. Men and
women are running for Congress IN
1926 on this or that side OF the liquor
question. There are just about as
many Republican vets as Demo
cratic, and just about as many Dem
ocratic drys as Republican. II Is tnls
criss.cross. topsy- state OF at
fairs that justifies the assertion that
prohibition Is not yet a political Is
sue. If the next presidential cam
naien finds one party dripping wet
and the other bone dry, thatH be a
horse of another color.
All this does not mean that the
drvs and the vets are ignoring the
Vending congressional battle. Nor
does ii mean that either the Repup-
licans or the Democrats are falllnS 10
exploit the drink issue wherever tney
think the prohibition or the antl-pro-
hibition cause will be the winning
trick. The vets, having proclaimed
that the .sbattle Of 1926" would be
the opening skirmish of the war Of
1928" put the drys correspondingly
on their guard. The result will be
that wherever q wet head shows itself
on November it will be the recipient
of a. dry crack, and vice versa.
surveying the field at this hour,
with the campaign about to get into
it's stride, the generalissimo OF the
prohibition army, Wayne B. Wheeler.
holds there Is no cause for anxiety.
Wheeler contends that the primaries
have shown that the people are as
strongly in favor Of maintenance and
enforcement Of the eighteenth amend
ment as ever. OF the 435 members
of the House, a few more than 300
who are uncompromising adherents
of the prohibition amendment have
been renominated by Democrats and
Republicans in districts where nomi-
nation ordinarily means election. or
candidates for the Senate (34 al
together), Wheeler claims that the
vets will not elect more than 8 at
the outside.
- X x
IF the prohibition issue is to the
forefront in certain States more tnan
in others, that situation exists IN
PENNSYLVANIA, Illinois and ONO. IN
Pennsylvania the Anti.Saloon Leasu ue
leader does not concede the eiectioli
of Ware. Republican wet, as fore
cone conclusion. Even If elected,
wheeler is confident that Ware will
never be seated. The wet and dry
controversy will be the dominant issue
in Illinois, largely because the slush
fund question is the brush with which
both Brennan, wet Democrat, ana
smith. dry Republican. are tarred.
Rrennan asks Smiths defeat because
the latter got about half Of his cam
naien fund from public utilities, while
brennan himself, with no primary con-
test to wage, accepted three-Iourths
of his campaign expenses from
the same tainted sources. Wheeler
professes no anxiety that Illinois Will
send to the Senate a man who stands
for qualification" of the eighteenth
amendment. In Ohio, classic Anti
saloon League soil, Wheeler believes
the prohibition duel will be won by
Willis, dry, against Pomerene. mod
crate wet. In the Senate, Wheeler
points out, Pomerene said that the
webb Kenyon bill and the supple
mental Volstead act were clearly un-
constitutional" but the Supreme Court
held otherwise. "Pomsrsne'a wet