Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-05

! wanted what is called in Massachusetts
an AL Yankee ticket; others wanted, to
use again Technology indigenous to
Massac husetts an all green" ticket. In
! November, if the wet Democratic can
! didate for the Senate loses, and If the
drys win the advantage of electing for
mer Senator Butler, the reason will prob
ably lie in the kind of animoSities within
the Democratic party suggested by the
Technology mentioned above
In short, judging by many conditions,
it is difficult not to believe that Massa-
chusettS Is wet: difficult not to believe
that in Massachusetts both the Repub-
lican and the Democratic parties are
wet.
Other Partial Advantages.
The vets, during the primaries of the
Summer and Spring, have won several
other partial advantages. In Ohio they
determined the choice of the Democratic
candidate for United States Senator and
they chose a fine and able man, Robert
Johns Buckley. Although the Demo-
cratic State Convention in Ohio did not
go wet and although the Democratic
candidate for Governor in that State is
a dry, nevertheless the nomination of
Mr.. Rulkley for the Senate is an out
standing wet advance.
These gains by the vets, which take
the forms outlined above, as in New
York and New Jersey, do not count sta
tiStically in Congress. But as reflections
of changed public sentiment they are
rather more important; and it is axio-
matte that they will show themselves in
Congress later on.
If We consider the results of all the
primary nominations for United States
Senator, not all the advantages gained
have been on the side of the vets. In
Maine the Republicans nominated for
the Senate dry, Wallace H. White, and
when he is elected, as he will be, he
will succeed Senator Gould, who is wet
That will be one definite addition to dry
strength in the Senate. In Iowa it is
the very confident expectation that the
Republican candidate, L. j. Dickinson,
will be elected. Dickinson is dry and
If elected will displace Senator Steck,
who, as a representative of the Democ-
racy OF Iowa, is looked upon as wet
These two potential dry additions to
the Senate are decidedly not to be ig-
nored, for in the field that we are now
discussing the gains and losses are made
in twos and threeS. The maximum num-
Der Of gains that the vets might make in
the Senate to Offset the two probable
dry gains is really not much more than
five at the outside. The vets might
possibly elect one Senator each IN Massa-
chusetts, Ohio. Delaware and Montana;
they might conceivably elect one in Ne
braska. But they are by no means GER
tain 70. 1t is possible the net result of
the Senatorial elections may be an addi-
ton to dry strength.
Nominations for House.
As respects the House. a survey of the
nominations made in the primaries does
not reveal any definite dry gain, does
not reveal any one case in which a wet
member OF the House lost the nomt-
nation TO dry. On the other hand.
several drys, important drys some of
them, have lost their fights for renom-
nation to vets. The most conspicuous
cases occurred in Michigan, where two
outstanding dry members of the House
were defeated for denomination by vets
Two similar cases occurred in New York
state One similar case occurred in
each OF several other States, Ohio, Ten
neSsee, New Jersey, Washington and
Nebraska
Looking forward to the election, 1t is
commonly said that there are "a dis
tricts in which the fight will be a
clear-cut one between a wet and a
Dry. The significance of that lies in
the SmallneSS of the number There
are in all 435 members of the House.
IL prohibition is to be the decisive
issue in less than 10 per cent of these
districts, the inference is that prohibi-
ton does not cut as large a figure in
the election as would be supposed from
the quantity of current argument.
Ihat statement is in part misleading
and should be qualified The essential
truth Is that the country is divided ter
ritorlally between dry and wet. In wet
territory both candidates are wet: in
dry territory both candidates are dry.
Practically all the South, together with
the rural portions Of nearly all the
states, Is dry, and in such districts the
contest for Congress is between two
drys. Conversely, the cities through
out the country are mainly wet and in
the cities the congressional contests are
between two vets
ANY summary of what has happened
ABOUT prohibition must include the
rapid change that has gone on during
the past few months and before in the
democratic party nationally 1t is no
secret-it is indeed proclaimed-that the
intentions OF those now holding the
key positions in the Democratic national
organization is to have the party In the
1882 national convention adopt a plank
for repeal
State Control Advocated.
The executive chairman of the DEM
ocratic National Committee. Mr.. .Jouett
Shouse, the other day announced:
The sound principle of local State con-
troll is in my judgment the only pos
slole ultimate solution of the LIQUOR
problem and will constitute the biggest
forward step to a return to the theory
OF States rights, upon which this coun-
try was founded
ms view, or the equivalent of this
Vlew-Some view contemplating reneal
OF the eighteenth Neutrality-suspicious.
practlcaIly certain to be inserted in the
national platform of the Democratic
party when 1t next meets in national
convention. That will be a revolution.
LOT the democratic party platform has
oeen dry, in one degree or another. in
all the conventions since national pro-
hloitlon came. Also it was mainly from
the Democratic South that the initial
impulse toward national prohibition
came.
For the adoption of repeal plank or
some form OF wet plank amounting tn
repeal the Democratic local Organization
Is already lined up in a sufficient num-
per OF states to make majority in the
National Convention, and as respects
platform majority controls
/ The States in which the Democratic
/ local organization is now wet. either
/ by formal State platform or by the
! equivalent of such action, include the
/ large eastern States of New York
! Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New
jersey, the large Midwestern States of
/ Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin, and
! the smaller States of New Hampshire.
/ Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut,
/ Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota. Iowa
Montana, North Dakota, Nevada and
Washington.
These States, from which all the dele
gates to the next National Convention
can be expected to be wet, are alone
almost enough to make the necessary
m inrltM In O didtinl, thar. L.