The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-10-02
KEEPING UP
With
THE NE WIS
BY LUDWELL DENNY

one thing he boasts of most-his
! frankness.
/ In this intervening month before
the election G. o. P. orators will en-
deavor to get across to the country
that AIS personal platform as out
lined on his western speaking tour
is not what 1t seems, that he is
trying to goldbrick the voters.
For two weeks Smith has been eX-
pounding his prescription" for
making this happy and prosperous
country in contrast to-, what he
calls, the awful mess the admins
tration has put us in. BY so doing
he has given the Republicans some
thing to shoot at. They propose to
show that his prescription is quack-
| cry compounded of evasions.
! Here is the ammunition that will
be used to shoot holes through AIS
'franknesS':
EIRsT is prohibition, In wet
4 Milwaukee he makes modifca-
ton a major election issue. In dry
Omaha he denies that he believes
liquor is the great issue in this
campaign" and reminds his dry au-
dience there is nothing the Presi-
dent can do about liquor-all he can
do is to recommend to Congress"
In Milwaukee he proposes to solve
the present liquor problem by
amending the Eighteenth Amend
ment to the Constitution, although
every one knows it is politically i'm
possible to induce both branches
of the Legislature Of three-fourths
of the States to repeal or change
chat amendment now, if at all.
While insisting on the imposSi-
bility Of Federal enforcement Of
nationwide prohibition, he pro-
poses State option, which would
make It more difficult for dry States
to enforce their laws.
In view of the present undisputed
dryness Of Congress and the improb-
ability of quick modification, Smith
pledges himself to honest enforce
lnent in the. interim. But what
greater handicap could happen to
enforcement, or, if necessary, to
making a difficult change in the
present experiment, than the leader
ship of a President avowedly OPP
posed to the thing he tries to enc
force and hostile to the experiment.
Second is farm relief. At Omaha
he announced his conversion to the
NcNary- Haugen principle Of farm
relief, which the country including
his own chief editorial supporters
interpreted to mean his advocacy
of the disputed equalization fee OPP
posed by Coolidge and Hoover. Later
he denied he was advocating the
equalization fee, or any other
specific machinery for disposing Of
the farm export surplus.
This machinery which he now
calls relatively unimportant COM
pared with the principle" is to be
! left up to a commission of experts.
But in fact the machinery" is pre-
cisely what all the row is about. So
actually he has no definite solution
to offer now.
Third is immigration. In his &C
ceptance speech he opposed reten-
ton of the 1890 census basis of i'm
migration quotas, which favors
Northern Europeans rather than
Southern Europeans, and which
Hoover supports. But in his speech
at st. Paul, where Scandinavian and
other Northern European immi-
grants predominant, he apparently
reversed his position by saying
there was no issue between himself
and Hoover on immigration.
Fourth is intolerance. While at
lacking those who are trying despite
constitutional guarantees to bar him
from the presidency on account Of
his religion, he in turn tried to
brand as bigots and as insincere per-
sons. Everywhere who dares ques-
ton his Tammany connections.
Fifth is tariff. He is evading
the tariff issue, though he is frank
ly appealing for support of big bust
ness and though his party platform
deserts the traditional Democratic
position to straddle in the direction
of Republican protectionism.
NTOW these arguments may be
IN truths, half-truths or no
truths. But they are of the type
which, unless all signs fail, will
make Smiths going much harder
in the wind-up than it has been in
the earlier stages of the campaign
When this campaigner, whom
Senator Walsh calls the Happy
warrior" starts out next week on
his second and final swing around
the circuit he will meet two OBJ
stacles to happiness. He and his
prescriptions will be an old story
on his return engagement. And in
the minds Of his audiences he will
find many wicked doubts, planted
there by such shrewd and expert
enced spellbinders as Curtis,
Hughes, Borah and flock of others.
OF course, that does not mean
that Smith is beaten. Indeed, he
is usually at his best when the fight
is hottest. But 1t does mean that
the fight of his life is coming to
him soon.