Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-30
Virginia Committee Woman
Says She Only Suggested
Letter Generally.
HOOVER REITERATES
BAN ON CHURCH QUESTION
Candidate Gets Encouraging Re-
ports From Michigan and
New Jersey.

FIatIV denying tndC Slle was TcSpCn-
sible for the wording of a letter calling
on the women Of the country to ssve
it from being "Romanized and rum
ridden" Mrs. NJ. NJ Caldwell. national
committeewoman of Roanoke. Va. yes
terday informed the Republican ma
tional committee headquarters that she
fully indorsed the policy of the ma
tional committee and entirely approved
Mr.. Hoover's statement in repudiating
the phrase and all it implies"
Mrs. Caldwell's letter follows:
The form letter under my mimeo-
raph signature which appears in this
mornings papers was suggested in gen.
eral terms by me, but the phrasing was
not mine and the sentence attributed
to me to the effect that we must save
the country from being Romanized and
rum ridden was not so Worded or in
tended. I fully indorse the policy of
the national committee, and entirely
approve MIR. Hoover's statement in re-
pudiating the phrase and all it i'm
plies"
Hoover yesterday followed up his first
reputation of the letter by the fiat
announcement that he wanted no sup
port for the presidency on the basis
of religion.
Bars Religious Questions.
Il cannot fully express my indigna-
ton of such circulars" the candidate
said. Nor can reiterate too strongly
that religious questions have no pa1t
in this campaign. have repeatedly
stated that neither I nor the Repub-
lican party want support on that basis.
There are important and vital reasons
for the return of the Republican ad-
ministratoin, but this is not one of
them
It also became known last night that
j. e. Spaulding, chairman of the
Arlington County Republican commits
tee, sent a copy of the letter ~te MIR.
Hoover's headquarters on-Massachusetts
avenue late .Eries1y afternoon by mes
Senger.<
>"T received the letter from Mrs. c. w.
Harris of Lyon Village" Spaulding said.
Mrs. Harris had received the letter by
mail from Mrs. Caldwell. I was sur
prised at the phraseology used In the
letter, in view of our efforts In Arling-
ton County to keep religion out of the
campaign, and accordingly decided to
to send the letter to Mr.. Hoover's head
quarters for the information of those
there. I suppose the messenger handed
the paper to some one at the inforlna-
ton desk I attached no note of eX-
planation to 1t.
tHc arinic Y1onafinOc uhiCh mA
have held in Arlington County in sup
port of Mr.. Hoover it has been our
strict rule to have speakers refrain~from
making any allusion to the religious
question and the issue has not been
raised at any time"
Mrs Caldwell at Roanoke last night
indicated that she would have nothing
further to say without first conferring
with Republican headquarters here.
Prohibition Also Barred.
Before Mr.. Hoover made his accept
ance speech he issued the instructions
on which DR.. Work sent notices to all
Republican party officials and workers
that neither religion nor prohibition
were to be treated as issues in this
campaign.
Before issuing his statement yester-
day Hoover conferred with several of
his closest advisers, including William
j. Donovan, Assistant United States
Attorney General, and officers of the
national committee. When he called
the newspaper correspondents into his
office to make his statement public he
plainly showed an intense feeling
Hoover declined to go into a detailed
discussion of the incident which led to
his renewed declaration.
Chairman Works statement read:
II have now had opportunity to in
vestigate the origin of a circular letter
containing reference to religious uues-
tons which have been issued from
local committee office in Virginia. I
am informed that the national commit
teeWoman did not authorize the intro
duction of the religious question. that
she has always opposed it as a CAM
paic1 question. The Republican party
occ5 not countenance any appeal Of this
character.
Refers to June Statement.
Il stand for what Mr.. Hoover has said
1t is unnecessary for me TO repeat those
views AS early as last June I advised
the members of the national committee
as follows:
Ine campaign policy we propose to
follow will be informative and con-
Structive only. The prompting, of con-
science and personal liberty within the
law are not proper subjects for political
debate
Those of us who have the RESPONSE
bility of the campaign are using every
endeavor to eliminate the religious
question"
Hoover received encouraging reports
yesterday regarding Republican pros
poets in Michigan and New Jersey. in
conferences with Senator Vandenberg
of the former State and with a delega-
ton of members of the Republican
Service League of the latter State.
Senator Vandenborg said he expected