Evening star., 1926-04-03

Straw votes conducted by news
papers in many sections of the coun-
try have served to intensity public
interest in the prohibition controversy
before Congress and to make more
| than certain bitter contests over this
issue in the Fall elections.
Whether the newspa per hallotinG is
regarded as mere wet propaganda or
A true reflection of public opinion. de-
pends upon the point of view. For
instance. the St. Paul Pioneer Press,
while conceding that everybody knows
that such polls are not absolutely 2c-
curate. adds: But they do reveal the
trend of public sentiment. And it is
significant that every poll taken in
the United States on prohibition has
shown a heavy majority against il.
Just as confidently the Houston
Chronicle declares the polls are no in.
dication of the CountryS sentiment
because "only the persons with deep
personal urge in the matter vote
y =
Summing up the whole situation.
with especial reference to recent de-
velopments in the wettest of wet cen
ters. the Newark Evening News OBJ
serves: New York and New Jersey
are two of the wettest States in the
Union, vet they the wetSD cannot
pass memorials in their own wet
States. In face of this showing vets
who indulge in unrestrained Jubilation
over such signs as have appeared of
a changed public sentiment are goins
too fast. A crack has come, but 1t Is
not wide enough to warrant expecta-
tons that the country is ready at this
time to alter the Nolstead law
sr,t- to, Jn hn hirv
issue of the elections this year is no
novelty. according to the St. Louis
! Post Dispatch, which declares "it has
been big issue in American politics
since it's inception" But the one
question to be settled now. says the
POST Dispatch, "is whether the origi-
nal republic, founded by the fathers
is 10 be preserved or Federal en-
pire is to be established. II is high
time for the American people to check
the imperial movement
The effect OF all the agitation upon
Congress has been reflected in fury of
debate alone, the Brooklyn Daily
Eagle notes. with the ''wets" naturally
aggressive and the "drys" on the de-
fensive. Nothing definite in the way
of action need be expected at this ses-
sion." the Eagle thinks, but this
much is certain however: the issue
will figure more largely in the cam
paicn than ever before. and any
means that aims to crystalline senti-
ment one way or the other and give
some measure of light to the law
makers will be helpful to better
consideration of the most Vexed prob
lem now before the American peo-
pie
The DAYTON Daily News holds that
a fairly and openly conducted news
paper poll cannot "be dismissed as
propaganda, as some dry leaders
would have it, and the Columbus
Ohio State Journal continues in the
same vein, accounting for change
in sentiment. "it is not due to wet
propaganda, as the dry extremists
continually shout but to the conclu-
sion of a part of the sober-minded
citizenship that, all things considered,
prohibition has not improved moral
conditions. but has had the opposite
effect"
The Grand Rapids Herald favors a
straight-cut, legal settlement of the is
sue. An official restatement that
american majorities are dry today
as when the eighteenth amendment
was promulgated, this paper argues,
would leave so clear a duty upon a
law-abiding public that it no longer
could he avoided or evaded. I'VE may
be right or we may be wrong con
cludes the Herald. "At any rate, we
have sufficient confidence in this
opinion to welcome the official ref
erendum which would settle it,
The Columbia Missourian believes
that ''the psychology of the situation
is in favor of the vets" because those
who are in favor of prohibition have
no motive to express themselves ir
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