The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-06-18
KEEPING UP
With
THE NE WIS
BY LUDWELL DENNY

CIl6 OSIlOCTdCS is certain.
But the South is not convinced.
Here in Texas, where West and
South meet, there is a grim attempt
not to let anti-Smith partisanship
mar hospitality to the Smith forces
from the North and East, but they
can not disguise their hatred and
fear of the New York Governor.
This feeling against Smith is gem
eral. You find it in talking with
people in day coaches and Pullrnans.
You find it in Dallas and in Houston.
And it is even stronger, il possible.
in the advance guard of delegations
arriving in this convention city from
the States south of the Mason
Dixon line and east of the Missis-
sippi.
One gets the idea that opposition
to Smith is not a thing imposed
from above by the political bosses.
and not essentially the result of
outside propaganda.
Politicians and propagandists OF
the South and Southwest have Ia
ken advantage of the anti-South
sentiment for their own purposes,
but they found, rather than Gre
ated, the fear Of Smith, which split
the Democratic party four years
ago, and which will be a major fac
tor in this convention.
AS the politicians have not caused
this movement, neither can they
control it, Therein is the danger,
so far as Democratic unity and VIC
tory is concerned. Most of these
Democratic politicians, like their
Republican brethren, are interested
above everything else in party VIC
tory. They are less ready now
than four years ago to split the
party
IMANY or perhaps most of the
A'A anti-Smith politicians have
come round belatedly to the view
that Smith is the candidate with
the best chance of carrying the cleo
ton
Anyway, they know that the
= 80 W oA4l4Cu may De death
OF the Democratic party or some-
thing mighty close to it. Therefore.
most OF them already are willing to
compromise" and accept Smith. if
they can do this without alternating
their constituent.
That is the sharp difference he
tween the Kansas City Republican
convention last week and the Hons
ton convention. There a majority
OF the Republican bosses COM
Dlned unsuccessfully against Hoover.
who had the support of the major
lCy rank and file. 1t was an attenpt
10 thWart a popular preference.
But IN the South and Southwest
Doth the politicians and people are
opposed to the leading Democratic
candidate, and the bosses who &C
cept Smith for eXpediency sake will
De oetying popular preference. That
IL why everyone here is expecting a
bitter convention fight.
Even though most of the SOUTH
ern politicians apparently are in
the mood to accept Smith as a ne
cessary evil and to strive for unity
on that basis, they are now and
will continue to be under historical
pressure to walk out CT the con-
yention if that is the only way to
stop Smith.
How much Of the hatred for
Smith by this dry Protestant rank
and file is caused by his Roman
catholic religion and how much bv
his wet convictions is difficult tn
determine. Nor does it matter
much. For in the South and South
west, orthodox Professionalism and
extreme prohibitionism are almost
identical. In these regions prohi-
oltlon is not an economic or no.
lltical question-not even an ethical
question, in the sense that personal
choice is involved, but a religious"
question.
Liquor is the devil and the. devil
is liquor. If you compromise with
the devil you go to hell-the old
fashioned fire and birthstone hell.
Il II
ITO many of the common peonIs
Il Of the South, Smith is the
personal emisSary of Satan He is
not to be treated or discussed as a
man. When, for instance, one of
the rare Smith advocates points out
that the President can not wipe out
the Eighteenth Amendment, nor
modify the Volstead act, and that
Congress alone has legislative power,
the answer( is that these are the
arguments Of satan.
That Smith is an honest man.
who would try to enforce the dry
law as long as it is on the statute
books and that he could not do
much worse than Secretary Mellon!
an eX-diStiller, is doing, is also con-
sidered the voice of the devil from
which the God-fearing, must flee.
The religious opposition to Smith
in its extreme form takes the be-
lief that he is the forerunner Of
the "Anti-Christ," whom Catholics
reverence as a holy father. The
Pope is to move from the vatican in
Rome to the White House in Wash
ington, or at any rate the people
will be the actual President if Smith
is elected, they fear.
Less extreme Protestant Demo-
Gratis form a minority. They de-
plore the attitude of the majority
to which they give the harsh names
of "bigotry" and intolerance. " But
this minority is not so ready as
citizens of similar conviction in
other parts of the country to say,
"the sooner we uphold the constitu-
tional guarantees of religious free
dom and equality by nominating a
Catholic, the better it will be for the
country, for democracy, and for
Amcricanisnl."