Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-21
Asks Voters to Decide Elec.
ton on Records of Two
Parties.
OKLAHOMA AUDIENCE
CHEERS HIS ATTACK
Takes Fling at Mrs. Willebrandt,
G. O. P. Committee and Eel.
lowship Forum.

OKLAHOMA CITY. Oklahoma,
September 81 [P).-Gov. Alfred E.
Smiths special train left here at II
o'clock today for Denver. Several
short stops are scheduled across Ok
lahoma and Kansas.
BY the Associated Press.
OKLAHOMA CITY. Okla. Septem-
bor 2i.-Gov. Smith wants the Ameri-
can people to decide the November
presidential election OH the record of
the two major parties and their nomi-
nees and not on religious grounds.
Before a demonstrative audience that
packed this city's Coliseum last night
to hear his second speech of his West
ern swing. the Democratic presidential
nominee minced no words in an effort
to drive home this point.
Declaring he had been forced to drag
the religious question out into the open
because of IAN apparent widespread at
tempt' to distract the American people
from the real issues" by circulation CT
nm American secret propaganda involv-
ing his Catholic faith and moral habits.
the governor struck blow at those ne
believed responsible, challenged his cp-
ponents to find single scandal IN
his long legislative and gubernatoriai
record and appealed to the people not
To be swayed by religious prejudice IN
casting their ballots.
Opponents Assaiied.
The Republican national committee,
Mrs Mabel Walker Willebrandt, AS
sis.ant Attorney General; the Ku Klux
Klan, the Fellowship Forum, frater-
nal publication of Washington. u. u.
and former Senator owen of this state
a Democratic bolter--all were men
toned by name In the address, whlcn
the governor said would be his last on
the Subject of whispering tolerance
and Tammany. Now he said, ne VIII
devote himself to what he considers are
the real issues" such as farm feileI,
water power, Government reorgaEiza-
ton and other topics.
Water power will be the theme OF
his third speech Of the Western tour. ana
TODAY he turned toward Denver, Where
he will deliver that address tomorrow
night. 49,
WITH Rev. John Roach Straton' New
York Baptist clergyman, and Rev. MOT
decai Ham. Oklahoma Clty baptisC
minister, two of his critics. on tne
platform, the governor told his audi
ence last night that "one OF the mean
L. in the r0r0s
naien was a circular sent to him by
> Masonic friend of his and purporting
to have been sent out under Catholic
auspices to Catholic voters"
Disowns Circular.
Quoting from 1t. he said 1t tells
how we have control in New York:
stick together and we'll get control OF
the country" He said 1t apparently
had been sent to the Masonic Order in
New York because 80 many members
of that order are friends OF mine and
have been voting for me for the last
10 years"
He disowned any connection with the
circular and said he would take
chance that nobody inside of the
Catholic Church has been stupid
enough TO do thing like that"
And then. as the crowd cheered, he
added: Let me make myself perfectly
clear. do not want any Catholic in
the United States of America to vote
for me on the sixth Of November be-
cause I am Catholic. If any Catho-
lie in this country believes that the
welfare, the wellbeing, the prosperity,
the growth and the expansion of the
United States Is best conserved and
best promoted by the election of Hoover.
I want him to vote for Hoover and not
for me-"
But on the other hand" he con-
tinued Il have the right to say that
any citizen of this country that believes
I can promote its welfare. that / am
capable of steering the ship of state
safely through the next four years and
then votes against me because of my
religion. he is not real, "ure. genuine
American"
Called Red Herring.
IT, nominee said that the cry of
Tcmmany Hall" which former Senator
Owen had raised in letter to Senator
Simmons. Democrat. North Carolina,
and printed in the Congressional Record,
was nothing more nor less than red
herring that is pulled across the trail
in order to throw us off the scent"
Its nothing more nor less than my
religion" he declared In challenging the
truth and the honesty" of Owens
purpose.
AS to the Whispering against him,
he said at one point "One scandal in
my administration would save the Re-
publican national committee all the
money that believe they are using to
spread through the mails this scurrilous
propaganda"
He said North Carolina woman
who called on him recently at Albany
told him that the amount of anti
Smith propaganda that was being sent
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