The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-10-08
HOOVER SEWS
UP BIC PART OF
ALABAMA VOTE
Effective Campaign for
G. 0. P. Nominee Made by
Boilers From Democrats.
BY w. L. STURDEVANT
MI


BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Oct. 8.-If
Herbert Hoover carries Alabama -
and there are many who predict
that he Wilt will be due in a
large measure to the kind of cam
paign his supporters have waged.
The Hoover movement started
slowly in Alabama. Then a few life
long DemOcratS-men of excellent
standing in their communities-an-
nounced publicly that they would
bolt and vote for Hoover.
Immediately there was let loose
on them a volley of abuse on the
part of the partisan press and
speakers that made the tactics of
the anti-Smith bigotS appear tame.
So personal did this abuse become
that many of the boilers in self
defense we're forced to fight back.
This they have done in paid adj
vertisements, in phamphlets and by
public addresses.
Hoover Socially o. X.
Men who have never participated
actively in politics have been forced
to take the stump for Hoover in
Selt-defense and their fight has
brought to light many of the argu-
ments against Smith which his
partisanS intended to soft-pedal -
the wet issue, the Tammany issue
and the religious issue.
And the religious issue does enter
the campaign down here regardless
of all that has been done to stop it.
So today we find an effective cam
paign for Hoover being waged by
men and women with Scant knOWl-
edge of practical politics, but large
and devoted personal folloWings.
AS a result of this it no longer is
a social error to be claSSed as a
Hoover Democrat" Any one with
a knowledge of the South will
readily appreciate the hurdle Hoo
yer has cleared in winning this con-
CeSSion.
Religion AS Issue
An instance of the boomerang
character of the personal attacks on
Smiths foes may be illustrated by
the case Of Oliver D. Street, Repub-
lican national committeeman from
Alabama, recently rebuked by Chair
man Work for injecting the religious
issue into the campaign in this
State.
Street was gOaded into this act by
the Birmingham News, strong Smith
organ. The News inSiStently de-
manded that Street say whether he
approved of the injection of the re-
ligiouS issue into the campaign. He
finally replied, in hot letter to that
newspaper, that he felt about the re-
ligiouS issue exactly as the News
did four years ago when, in dis
cusSing the candidacy of Smith for
the 1924 Democratic nomination, it
said that it was the unWritten law
Of the nation that only a protestant
be it's chief executive.
The News refused to print Streets
letter. So he got it up in pamphlet
form and sent out many thousands
of copies to the rural section of the
State.
Chance to Garry State
1t is doubtful if Street would have
done this if he had not been driven
to anger by the Smith organ. His
pamphlet was aimed more to dis
credit the News than it was to help
Hoover. But the fact remains that
it has hurt Smith particularly in
those sections of the state where re-
ligious intolerance hourisheS.
And if enough of these Democrats
bolt Smith it is not beyond reason
to believe that Hoover has a chance
to carry the State.
He already has the industrial vote
pretty well SeWed up.