Evening star., 1927-10-19
Politics at Large
Bv c. Gould lincoln.

How far IL the wet and dry issue to
play a part in the 1928 national potlti-
cal campaign? Candidates for ONCE
en- BODY principles of government in
the eyes of the American voter. III
both the ma ior parties nominate iof
President men who are regarded as
drvs, the fight OF the vets for recoSni,
ton will be n secondary contest. Waseo
ir, congressional, senatorial ana suner-
Material elections. But II one or the
major nartIes nominates a wet and
the other a dry, the issue Will be
ioined in a national way. 1T ia true
that a. President OF the United states
cannot change the Constitution nor
the eighteenth amendment or repeai
the Volstead act. But il wet can pe
elected President, 1t will ne ire
mendous encouragement to tne I'D
erals $50 called to distinguish them
from the drys. 1t will be signal 10
members of Congress that prohibition
is not as popular as has Deeh sup
posed the country over. 1t may nave
a strong influence upon the votes cast
In Congress upon prohibition legtsla
ton.
Ever since the eighteenth amend
ment was placed in the constitution
and the Volstead law enacted the anu
rrohihitionists have been attacking
Ir the enforcement Of the prohibition
law had been practically perfect. IL the
hootlegging industry had not become
one of the greatest industries in Inc
country i'm volume and In the amount
of money involved. the wet and dry
issue would have faded from the pic
ture. But only the willfully blind de-
nies that infraction of the prohibition
law is not conducted on gigantic
scale.
In the opinion of Senator Borah OF
Idaho, there must be a showdown at
the polls next year on the question OF
enforcing the prohibition law. He de.
mands the election OF President ana
the choice Of all lesser officials VINO
are in sympathy with the prohibition
Isw and ready to go the limit to en-
force 1t.
IL the Idaho Senator has his way.
the Republican party will go on record
in it's platform as fsvoring prohibi-
ton and it's enforcement. There is no
middle of the road for Mr.. Borah in
this matter. The party must stand
for the dry law or against it. No one
believes that the G. o. p. will he
found espousing the wet cause. prob
ably not even DR.. Nicholas Murray
Butler, president of Columbia Univer
sity, who has foretold Republican dis
aster unless the party turned wet. But
Senator Rorah, nevertheless, is drag
girg the issue into the open. He will
have no little support from other ar
dent drys. Indeed. nearly all OF the
Progressives, with whom he has allied
himself, are drys. They hail from dry
States Of the West, with the exception
of La Toilette and Blaine of Wiscon-
sin. Norris of Nebraska, Nye and
Frazier of North Dakota. Brookhart
of Iowa. McMaster of South Dakota
ali are drys. If Mr.. Borah is to lead
the Progressives in the Senate. and
perhaps in the pre-convention cam
paign for the presidential nomination
he will not suffer by the stand he has
taken on the dry question.
Dry Democrats are battling in the
meantime desperately to- eliminate
Gov. AL Smith of New York as the
possible standard bearer of their party
next year. When the Democratic ma
tional committee assemblies here next
January 12 to pick the convention
city and AK time for the convention.
there is likely to be far more interest
in candidates. than in cities. Chair
man Glenn Shaver Of the Democra .ic
national committee Is seeking to bring
harmony to the party, in which har'
mony has for three years been minus
quantity. But Mr.. Shaver's idea OF
harmony does not contemplate the
nomination OF Gov. Smith. The people
Of West Virginia, Mr.. Shaver's home
State. are politically dry. They are
anti.Catholic. This is true of the peo-
nle of other 'border" States. including
kentucky and Tennessee. The nomi-
nation of AL Smith would, it is said,
lose these States to the Democracy in
all probability, not to mention many
others.
The advocacy of the nomination Of
Judge Charles Evans Hughes of New
York for President by Secretary Mel
Ion of the Treasury Department is
puzzling some of the most astute poll
ticians. They do not know whether
Mr. Mellon is more anxious to have
Mr.. Hughes nominated or more anx-
iOus to prevent the nomination of Sec
retary Hoover of the Department Of
Commerce. They do not know, too.
whether Mr.. Mellon would swing the
Pennsylvania delegation in the Repub-
lican national convention from Mr..
Hughes if he could not he nominated
to Vice President Dawes rather than
to Mr.. Hoover. These are points they
would like to have cleared up. What
they fear. at least those of them who
favor Mr.. Hoover, is that MIR. Mellon,
on friendly terms with some Of the So
called international bankers who are
not so friendly with Mr.. Hoover, may
in the end prefer Gen. Dawes, who is
looked upon more favOrably by the
International bankers. During the 1924
convention, when the G. .. P. was
searching assiduously for a vice presi-
Dental nominee. word was passed out
that President Coolidge, at least his
friends in the convention, would be
well satisfied with the nomination Of
MIR. Hoover. Did Mr.. Mellon throw
the Pennsylvania delegation to Mr..
Hoover? He did not. He voted the
delegation solidly for Gen. Dawes.
Now the politicians are asking them
selves whether Mr.. Mellon may come
around to the support of the Vice
President for President in the next
national convention.
X X
Tt begins to look as though the Re-
publican leaders are bent upon max
ing prosperity the issue in the next
campaign il they can do SO. And il
the conditions in the country next
year are favorable they are likely to
do so effectively. There is every rea-
son to expect a further tax reduction
by Congress on the eve Of the cam
paign. Wages are high. even higher
in some cases than they We're during
the war. There is no real unemplOy-
ment problem and none now in sight.
X X
The draft Coolidge" talk. which
has ebbed and flowed ever since the
President issued his 81 do not choose"
statement in the Black Hills. is again
on the increase. 1t begins to look as
though the President in the end would