Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1928-10-18
DOUGHTON ON
CAMPAIGN ISSUES
Eighth District Congressman De-
clared Here Saturday That Gov
ernment Cannot Endure Under
Bootleg Rule

Hon. Robert L. Doughton, con-
gresham from the eighth North
Carolina district, and candidate for
reelection on the Democratic ticket,
spoke to probably the largest crowd
gathered in Boone since the camp
paign opened, at the courthouse Sat
urday afternoon. He is accompan-
led on his tour OF the district by
Mrs. Lyman A. Cotton of Salisbury,
an effective campaigner for the
national Democratic ticket. As the
vereran congressman launched into
his defense of the county, state and
national tickets, the general consen-
sus of opinion among his champions
was that this was Doughton's great
est Watauga deliverance. He de-
clared the government cannot cen
dure under bootleg rule and said it
was folly for southerners to expect
stronger prohibition by voting for
the Harding policies.
81 am rrohibitionist by inherit
ance," Mr.. Doughton said, "and
SIall StdHu 1OI piOIllDltlOil III lto
N until l am convinced
that it is unavoidable and that some
other plan will work better. But we
all agree that the present situation
is unbearable.
"When Governor Smith asked for
modification Of the prohibition
amendment, he was merely seeking
for some remedy for this unbearable
situation. | am not convinced that
his plan is the best, but l can un-
derstand why he is groping for some
way to rid the country of bootleg
rule.
''North Carolina is a dry state. We
had prohibition before the 18th
amendment was adopted, and if it
were repealed we should still have
prohibition. But if 1--WE lived IN
New York as Governor Smith does,
and if we had seen the deplorable
lack of enforcement there as he has
seen it, perhaps we would feel just
as ne does about national prohi-
bition.
But Governor Smith has said
without equivocation that he will
eI5Qrce the PROHIBITION Law a long
as it remains Oh tie statute. hSs- the
Republican candidate made such a
direct and open statement? He has
not. The most he has ever con-
ceded on this subject is the per-
fectly innocuous statement at Eliza
! j. 70 c-3nopnd
Moreover, his whole campaign is
based on carrying out the Harding
Coolidge policies. We know what
the Harding Coolidge policies on
prohibition have been. 1t is absurd,
therefore, for southern Democrats,
seeking q stronger enforcement OF
the prohibition law, to vote for
Harding Coolidge prohibition poll
cies"
AIr. Doughton took up one by one
the principal objections to Cover
ror Smith and refuted them. In re-
gard to Governor Smiths religion,
Mr.. Doughton read from the consti-
tuition the clause prohibiting the ap-
plication of any religious test to any
candidate for public office. Laying
aside the copy of the constitution,
he came ciosar to the audience and
asked, "Are we to make an unwrit-
ten law that shall supersede our con-
stitution? If we set such pre-
cedent as that, our constitution will
be worthless.
Speaking of immigration, Mr..
Doughton pointed out that Mr.. Smith
said in Nashville that he endorsed
completely the Democratic platform
on immigration and that is all a
Democrat should ask of his candi-
date.
Mr.. Doughton defended Tammany
Hall as the friend of the south. He
admitted that years ago there was
corruption in Tammany Hall at a
time when the whole government
was shot through with corruption
and when great statesman said that
politics could not be made clean.
But since then, he said, Tammany
has cleaned it's own house, and no
crookedness can be found in the
modern Tammany Hall.
"The Republicans have tried
their best to find some scandal in
the Democratic administration, but,
failing that, they have fallen back
on what Tammany did some time in
the seventies and eighties because
they can find nothing else against
the Democratic candidate"
Mr.. Doughton charged that Hoov-
er was President Coolidge's ad-
wiser on farm relief and said that it
was common knowledge in Wash
ington that Hoover wrote the two
vetoes of farm measures which Pres
ident Coolidge sent to congress. He
charged Hoover with deserting the
man who made him--Woodrow Will
son. Hoover, he said, was actually
a candidate at one time for the