Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-19
FOUR STATE ELECTIONS
IMPORTANT IN DRY FIGHT
Ohio Contest Held Most Vital, With
Those i'm Montana, Massachusetts,
and Illinois Following.

ate IL one between Democratic Buckley
wet and Republican McCulloch dry. II
Is true that the Democratic party e.
whole In Ohio Is not wet or certainly
does not proclaim 1t is wet. On the con.
trary, the Democrats have nominated
for Governor q candidate who Is dry.
But this Is no qualification to the clear
ness Of the prohibition issue In the
fight for Senator.
II Republican Dry McCulloch wins
the drys will have held their ground.
II Democratic Wet Buckley wins the
vets will have won one Senator. They
will have won more, because Mr.. Bulk.
ley In the Senate, through his ability
and experience and through the esteem
in which he is held, would provide per-
haps the best leadership the wet cause
has ever had. Further, Buckley in the
Senate would be the symbol of adhe-
sion to the wet cause Of elements Of
the population having Mr.. Bulkley's
standing.
Ohio Is Pivotal.
Ths Ohio contest Is here set UP as
the ons having tho puest important
bearing on prohibition, for reasons that
every politician viii understand. Ohio
continues to have. as 1t has had since
the Civil War, the striking elevation as
large pivotal State which has caused
five Presidents to be selected from that
State. Every politician watches Ohio,
tries to anticipate what Ohio viii do.
If Ohio should, on November 4, elect
q wet Democratic Senator and especially
II Ohio should do this by considerable
majority-in that case the vets will
have made an advance Of which every
| politician everywhere will take notice.
Victory for the wet Buckley In Ohio VIII
mkA
There Is an additional reason for the
Importance Of this Ohio fight. While
Ohio is not the dryest State in the
Union, It Is the State in which the dry
forces are especially eager to maintain
their prestige. It Is the native home
and birthplace Of the Anti-Saloon
League, and has a similar relation to
other dry organizations. The drys viii
do their best to prevent the election
OF q wet Senator-and If they fail win
recognize that they have had serious
setback.
Montana Contest Next in Importance.
After placing Ohio first among the
| senatorial contests in which dry runs
against wet, 1t Is less easy to say which
Is the next most important Possibly
the contest In Montana, where the most
prominent Democratic dry Senator-cer-
Northern State-ThomaS ]. Walsh, u
soliciting new lease OF his official life.
Walsh Is running, of course, on his ~.
| ord, which Is that Of an earnest and
consistent dry Democrat.
| Against Walsh the Republicans have
nominated wet, Albert Galen. With
the effect Of simplifying the issue, both
candidates are Catholics. Were Walshse
opponent ,,s,.. Protestant, the Erohi6itic q
voting which in Montanas as IN other
States, sometimes takes account of re-
ligion. Were Walsh's opponent prot-
estant, It might be said that the issue
was obscured by the fact that Montana
has considerable Catholic population
together with q considerable population
Of the sort that in 1928, for example,
President. All this, however, Is out of
the way. The Republican nominee,
Galen, wet, is Of the same religious
faith as Walsh. 1t is q comparatively
unmodified issue of dry versus wet.
If Walsh should lose, the drys wiz
have lost only one Senator, but one Of
their ablest.
A collateral effect, If walsh should
lose, would occur within the Demo-
cratic party. Failure by Walsh would
facilitate the present rapid progress Of
the Democratic party in national sense
! toward the wet side Walsh is certainly
the most important, and indeed prac-
tically the only important, Democrat In
a Northern State. now holding ONCE
and now powerful in the party, who re-
mains dry. The Northern wing of the
Democratic party, In short, has taken
enormous steps toward the wet peSi-
ton and failure of Walsh to be re-
elected would accentuate this wetward
progress.
Zone further comment needs to be
made on this Montanagfight. Montana
is the only State in which the prohi-
bitton fight takes the form of q wet
Republican opposing a dry Democrat;
in New Jersey a wet Republican, Dwight
Morrow, is opposing a wet Democrat,
but in no other case is a wet Repub-
lican opposing dry Democrat. In the
majority of instances it is case Of Q