Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1928-09-07

Inc cooperating tuaIAeunB Stbtcm HIS
long been recognized by many members
Of both parties as helpful. but II it is to be
regarded as of controlling value in the
solution Of the farm problem. why have
the administrations in which Mr.. Hoover
has served as Cabinet member failed to
apply this remedy with prOmptness!
Contrast with this record of feebIeness
and failure the Democratic policy for the
improvement Of agriculture
We repudiate Mr. Hoovers proposal to
limit farm production to the domestic de-
mand, as calculated to belttle, rather than
to encouraie the great industry Of agri-
culture.
ENFORCEMENT OF PROHIBITION
There has always been room in the
Democratic party for those who differ as
to the best means of promoting temper
ance and Of suppressing the traffic in al
coholic beverages. A proposal for changes
in the existing national prohibition system
and also resolution approving the 18Th
amendment and the Volstead act, were
submitted to the committee on platform
and resolutions of the Houston convention.
Neither was adopted.
Both the committee and the convention.
after prolonged hearings recognized the
futility Of attempting to secure unanimity
for either contention. The committee re-
ported, and the convention unanimously
adopted, a declaration in the following
language:
The Republican party, for eight years
in complete control Of the Government at
Washington, presents the remarkable spec
tacle of feeling compelled in its national
platform to promise obedience to a pro-
vision Of the Federal Constitution which
it has fiagfantly disregarded and to apollo
gize to the country for its failure to enforce
laws enacted by the Congress of the United
States.
Speaking for the national Democracy
this convention pledges the party and its
nominees to an honest effort to enforce the
18th amendment and all other provisions
of the Federal Constitution and all laws
enacted pursuant thereto
G. o. P. HELD INsINcERE
The question should not be treated as
merely political, but rather as moral and
economic. Some claiming to be reformers,
have clouded the subject with confusion
and misunderstanding. They have dis
credited the motives of those who display
moderation and fairness in public discus
sions and have questioned the loyalty to
the cause of temperance of all who are
dissatisfied with present conditions.
President Wilson vetoed the Volstead
act. The integrity Of his purpose was not
questioned; his good faith was generally
conceded.
QUOTES SMITHS TELEGRAM.
The Democratic candidate for President,
Gov Alfred E. Smith. d eclared in his tele-
gram to the convention:
THE equal and even enforcement of the
law is the corner stone on which rests the
whole structure OF Democratic government.
If il is the will Of the people of this Nation
that am to take an oath as President of
the United States to protect and defend
our Constitution and laws, will execute
that oath to the limit of my ability with
out reservation or evasion"
This language is an unqualified accept
ance Of the obligation to enforce the law
to the best of his ability.
Throughout the last two administration
the Prohibition Bureau has been under
the Treasury Department, whose head
prior to national prohibition, was largely
interested in the liquor business.
Mr. Ware, who thwarted the movement
to stop Hoover" at Kansas City and forced
Mr.. Hoover's nomination. claimed election
to the Senate on a platform containing 6
single plank-the repeal Of national pro
hibition.
Can it be said that because Gov. Smith
believes that. without returning to the Ole
evils of the saloon, temperance and respect
for law can be promoted through change.
in the existing system, he is nullifica
zionist and an enemy of the Constitution
Such arguments ilnpeach the intelligenc,
Of their authors.
1t is certain that only such notification
as meet with the approval Of public Opin
ion are possible. no matter who serves a
President.
SCORES POLITICAL CORRUPTION.
Honesty in public affairs is of transcen
dent importance. Corruption is the re,
signal of decadence Corrupt elections bree,
dishonest public officers. That this issu
exists is proved by the fact that both @
the major parties have so declared in thei
platforms. That the platform makers a
Kansas City dread the issue is shown il
their effort to anticipate the declaration o
, the subject by the Democratic party.
While rare cases of fraud may be re
garded as unavoidable in any bushes
, comparable in volume to that of the Unite
States, it becomes a matter Of genera
political concern when the party in powe
proves so derelict as TO fail to proven
shocking and repeated departures fror
standards of common honesty in the trans
actions Of the public business. The basl
for the platform declarations referred to i
found in notorious and criminal breache
. of duty in several of the executive depart
ments-in instances which have come t
light during the last seven years. Tn
wholesale frauds perpetrated by Republ
can ofiiceholders since March 4. 1921. hav
prompted pledges in Language which i'm
plies recognition of the necessity for reform