Evening star., 1927-03-13
By BEN McKELWAY.

| "A Senate OF the last Congress:
u "~ . T" he is the only Sena-
tor since have been here
who has had the courage to tell
Wayne B. Wheeler, this hireling of
the Anti.Saloon League, what he was
and to what measure of attention his
| approaches to Congress were en-
titled"
"" the interposition of Wayne
B. Wheeler. backed by the brow-beat-
ing organization of which he is
spokesman"
"The whole machinery of cloture
was put in motion, with Wayne B.
Wheeler at the lever.
"Wayne b. Wheeler had taken snun.
and the Senate. as usual, sneezed.
wayne b. Wheeler had cracked
his whip, and the Senate. as usual
| crouched."
they at least should have told
Wavne B. Wheeler that legislative
| subseryiency ceased when it reached
them"
"It has been against the tactics and
| trickery of the dry forces in this body
to railroad a bill through this cham
ber without adequate debate, simply
because Wayne B. Wheeler cracked
his whip"
Judgment or my determination to con-
tinue my fight against prohibition
than have the wailings Of Wayne b.
! Wheeler"
"The real purpose is to create some
10 or IL new jobs for Wayne Il.
Wheeler
''The American Government is actu-
ally paying handsome salaries to offi-
cials who do nothing but wait on
Wayne b. Wheeler"
My 'wringing wet campaign, as
Dr. Wheeler calls it"
"a pork barrel for the Wheelers.
when cloture was voted on the re-
organization bill yesterday Wayne b.
Wheeler was in the gallery"
"Dr. Wayne B. Wheeler has the te-
merity and audacity to tell Secretary
Mellon that poison must remain In
alcohol"
"Who is this man Wheeler? / hold
in my hand the editorial page
ETC., ETC., ad inf1nitum.
The question of the indignant,
though unenlightened, Senator, VINO
is this man Wheeler" naturally sug-
gests another query: Upon what
meat doth this our Caesar feed that
he hath grown so great?
What Is "Wheelerism?"
Some one may have coined the
word ''Nheelerism" If not, 1t should
be sent Immediately to the mint. for
there is need of 1t. Wheelerism I'M
plies the state of mind which puts
| a Senator or Representative Sounoiy
to sleep during some terrific onslaught
against prohibition by the militant
vets, and wakes him up refreshed
in time to chirp a cherry Yea" while
| the clerk records his vote in favor
of another wallop at Demon rum.
iWheelerism furnishes the solution TO
the problem of why. in spite of all the
propaganda and bitter tears spread
and shed throughout the Nation on
account of prohibition, we have with
us today--Prohibition. And Wheeler
ism, finally, presents itself as the
target against which Is leveled all
the bitter invectives OF those VINO
want a drink-being able, OF course.
to take it or let 1t alone-and see no
earthly reason why they shouldn't
. have it.
Wayne B. Wheeler is to the vets
> what John Brown once represented to
= the South. And Wayne b. Wheeler,
: like John Brown, numbers among his
> severe critics those who, at heart,
really are in sympathy with his aims.
Wheeler is the personiication of a
cause which has triumphed. and in its
Z onward march has stepped upon and
; crushed what man holds nearest his
heart-his right to do as he pleases.
: He is the recipient, perhaps, of more
: vitriolic vituperation than any other
man in the public eye today. By in
ference he is pictured as a devilish
1 ogre, who snoops up and down the
corridors of the Capitol seeking Sena-
!, tors to devour- or Representatives to
) cudgel into submisSivenesS. He is
shown with a whip in one hand and
a hoop in the other, watching with
e demoniac grin while cabinet officers
, start at the crack of the lash and leap
, through the circle. And often the
harassed public reads of him and
: comes to think of him as the fiend
y who poisoned the rum, cackling in
D ghoulish glee as he tears away the
Y shroud to gloat over the corpses of his
2 victims.
Il Credited With Huge Power.
His enemies credit him with more
power than ever frightened the dreams
of a Car and take a Covenanter's
: grim pride in having kept their togas
clean from the soil of his embrace.
But at the same time-crediting him
!. with his power-they whisper that he
Il works by stealth and trickery and
4 fails to show himself in the assem-
| = blages where men are men.
L But with all this heaping of abuse
upon the head of Wayne B. Wheeler
n there is something impersonal about
; 1t. One loses the impression of Wayne
e B. Wheeler as an individual: comes to
think of him as a Thing, or as a
deplorable situation, or, depending
q upon the point of view, as a benign
a influence in the direction Of all things
q that are good. 1t is to be believed
1 that few of those who direct their
. TRADES against Wheelerism have ever
n met Wheeler. They would surely be
/ impressed with what a mild sort of a
little fellow he is.
L Yet his enemies so describe him that
lone comes to believe that when
{ Wheeler walks the pavement groans,
q the birds fly away and the squirrels
q seek refuge behind some solid oak
;, At the Treasury Department, for in
\ stance, one concludes that a watch
e man is posted at the gate to herald
! the approach of Wheeler in order to
enable Mr.. Mellon, Gen. Andrews, Mr..
4 Haynes and others to get their papers
ship shape and snap to attention for
i inspection. At the Capitol, one en-
visions the approach OF Wheeler as a
: signal for the constituted representa-
tiveS of free people to scramble; seek
some darkened corner until he passes,
2 or to meet him beneath the dome,
there to bow and scrape and thumb
> their noses at the villainous vets
: while he sits enthroned under the
symbol of Liberty and exacts from
his subjects many talents In the form
of votes for the whisky bill.
Fiction and Fact Differ.
: But what a contrast there is be.
tween this Wheeler OF fiction and the
: Wheeler of fact. He stands feet ia
inches, and the casual observer con-
cludes that he must crane his neck
considerably to register that extra half