The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1928-09-01

as ASSe0lDlylnan OF New YORK. 1t Is a
record, no doubt, which the Democratic
candidate for president would prefer be
forgotten in the dusty archives of the
state capitol It is record of long years
of faithful subserviency to the liquor in
tereStS. But that record has been brought
to light and given nationwide publicity,
and now the governor in desperate effort
to defend it has issued a long statement in
which he does lot of explaining but in
which he dare not dispute the accuracy OF
his votes as recorded in the Assembly
journal.
His explanation of his record. which
shows him to have been a consistent
champion of the saloon, and a bitter foe
of all legislation designed to remedy
abuses growing out of the license law then
in effect iY New York State, even to the
point of opposing legislation that sought
to curb public prostitution and gambling,
allied vices of the liquor traffic peculiarly
foStered and protected under that liquor
license law, was prompted by an expose Of
the record by William Allen White of
Kansas.
WHY BRING THAT UP?"
Governor Smith is very much aggrieved
that his record as Assemblyman should
have been brought into his presidential
campaign. He says: For some reason
best known to himself, Mr.. William Allen
White, of Kansas, in an interview made
Slanderous statements about me and my
legislative record" And he also assailS
the Republican national committee, de-
claring there was 'unmistakable evidence"
that it had openly associated itself with
tAis personal attack
SMITH MAKES 1T A PARTISAN ISSUE
The Democratic presidential candidate
has only himself to blame for making pro-
hibition and its enforcement a partisan
issue. He invited the attack upon his po-
Sition with reference to the Eighteenth
Amendment and the Volstead act when he
sent his wire of acceptance to the Houston
convention, boiling the Democratic party'S
prohibition plank in the platform. The
outstanding and chiefly emphasized decla-
ration in that telegram was the governors
pronouncement against prohibition. He
unequivocally declared that he had not
changed his views on this issue. But now,
assuming an injured air, he brands as
SlanderouS and un-American the publica-
ton of his record, which clearly shows
what his attitude on this prohibition issue
was. and which he says is not changed.
HOPES TO HEAR NO MORE FROM 1T
Governor Smith has made the issue. He
has no cause for complaint against those
who are willing to meet him on that issue.
But apparently he believes. or at least
hopes that with his explanation of his
votes in defense of the saloon and the
liquor license laws as an Assemblyman.
that record will no longer figure in the
presidential campaign. He has washed
his hands of the whole affair, and he says
in conclusion: "I have been called by my
party to the leadership in a great cam
paign. am hoping to be put in posi-
ton to do for the people of this country
what have accomplished for the better
ment of the government of my own state,
and from now on I shall refuse to be
drawn into discussion of these matters"
THE PUBLIC WILL NOT FORGET
No, Governor Smith, you can't rid your
self of that past record SO easily. The
people have heard you say that you have
not changed your views on this great is
sue which you have maae the leading issue
in this campaign. They will continue to
be informed what your views were, and
what they are today.
SEEKS TO JUSTIFY RECORD
Governor Smith justifies his wet record
as shown by the journal of the General
Assembly on various grounds. In some
instances his excuse is that he had reason
10 believe that the bills were uneonstitu-
AonaI in some instances that the bills