Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-08
The Political Mill
BY C.. Could Lincoln.

bert M. Hitchcock, elected to the Senate
in November, and at the same time
many Democrats are going to back
Senator George Norris, the Republican
nominee, who is seeking to succeed him
self The Republicans in Nebraska who
prefer Mr.. Hitchcock to Mr.. Norris
belong to the regular wing of the party,
the wing which resented Strongly Sena.
tor Norris desertion of the Republican
national ticket in 1928 and which has
viewed his attacks on the Hoover ad-
ministration during the last eighteen
months with disfavor. They say they
would rather have an out-and-out
Democrat in the Senate than to have
a Democrat who calls himself q Re-
publican.
But there are many Democrats who
like Senator Norris and all his works,
particularly his attacks on the Hoover
administration. They would like to see
him reelected, and the probabilities
setting in large part the detection from
the Norris standard of the regular
Republicans.
Senator Hitchcock is highly regarded
by the Democrats of his State and by
many of the Republicans, too. He APP
pears, however, to be in this Senate
race this year not out of any great de-
sire to return to the Senate, which he
left soon after the World War, but
rather to keep the Democratic party
alive in the State for future activity.
When the time rolled around for Dem
ocrats to announce themselves as can
didateS for the senatorial nomination
against Senator Norris, the prospective
candidates were as scarce as Repub-
licans in Mississippi. DR.. Jennie Cal
fas, however, who has been prominent
in politics and who bolted the Al
Smith ticket in 1928 and Is an ardent
dry, announced she would be q can
didate for the Democratic nomination.
This was just too much for the veteran
Senator Hitchcock. After trying to
pursuade number of other Democrats
to enter the race against DR.. Calfas,
the former Senator took on the Job
himself. In the primary he defeated
DR.. Calfas, as he was expected to do.
Having accomplished her elimination,
Senator Hitchcock Is reported to be
somewhat indifferent to the outcome Of
the race for the Senate itself. He him
self insists. however, that he will make
real campaign. He is perfectly will
ing to go again to the Senate and rep
resent the people Of Nebraska If they
ports received here, however, he does
not intend to attack Senator Norris,
whom he admires and whom he has
supported at times in his own news
paper, the Omaha World Herald. SEN
ator Hitchcock will make three or four
speeches during the campaign and let
1t go at that, it Is said. He Is 70 years
old and has not been in the most ro-
bust health during the last year.
4 \ X
1t Is significant that the Democratic
leaders, who are bending every effort
this year to defeat Republican candi-
dates for the Senate and the House and
who believe they will be successful in
large degree, are not now counting
the Nebraska Senatorship as even O
possibility in their lists of probable VIC
tories. They figure Norris elected. And
many OF them are by no means dis
satisfied with that outlook. They believe
that Senator Norris, as q Republican,
can do more for them in the Senate
with his attacks on the Hoover ad-
mtnistration than could Senator Hitch
cock, for example, an announced Demo-
crat. The Democratic leaders are look
ing to the West for aid in 1892. They
had Senator Norris with them in the
presidential fight in 1923. They would
greSsive Republicans and independents
OF the West with them two years hence
The regular Republicans, the dyed
in-the-wool dryS and other voters who
resented Senator Norris support of AL
Smith, in 1928, if they flock to the polls
in great numbers and vote for Hitch
cock, can still give Mr. Norris con-
siderable trouble. But will they do It.?
1t will be interesting, too to see whether
the Democratic candidate, Mr.. Hitch
cock, and his Democratic supporters are
able to retain their more or less friend
ly attitude toward Senator Norris, once
the heat of battle is on. Unexpected in
cidentS have frequently been the cause
of political explosions during campaigns
of the past.
The Anti-Saloon League is bent on
keeping its grip on the Republican
party in Illinois, just as it was bent on
keeping a grip on the G. o. p. in New
York in 1926, preferring to see DEM
ocratic Senator and wet elected rather
than to suffer a Republican to win who
might vote wet. The league has given
its Endorsement to Mrs. Lottie Holman
O'Neill independent dry Republican
candidate for the Senate against Mrs.
Ruth Hanna Mccormick, the Repub-
lican nominee, who has announced she
will vote for the repeal or modification
OF the eighteenth amendment and the
Volstead act if the voters of Illinois, in
a referendum to be held this Fall, de-
clare for such repeal or modification.
Mrs. O'Neill's entry into the Senate
race may make it very difficult for Mrs.
Mccormick to win against former Sem
ator James Hamilton Lewis, the wet
Democratic nominee.
The league leaders realize that there
Is not the slightest chance of electing
Mrs. ONeill to the Senate. But they
apparently prefer to see the wet Mr..
Lewis take a seat in the Senate rather
than Mrs. Mccormick, who is regarded
by the league leaders as q betrayer of
the dry cause. Mrs. Mccormick was
elected Representative at Large in Illi-
noiS in 1928, running as a dry. She
was nominated by the Republicans last
April for the Senate as q dry. The
league leaders say she has Straddled
the wet and dry issue now merely be-
cause she was afraid that the vets of
the Chicago Republican organization
would not support her If she main
tanned her dry attitude. Back in 1926
the dryS in New York pulled Just such a
fast one" on former Senator James
w. Wadsworth, Republican, then a Sem
ator, who had declared for repeal of
the eighteenth amendment. They put
into the field dry member of the
State Senate as an independent can
didate for the Senate. This candidate
polled about $780, 900 votes, which might
ordinarily have gone for Wadsworth,
and Senator Wagner, the Democratic
candidate, was elected. The drys may
defeat Mrs. Mccormick in the same
way and place Senator Lewis, a Demo-
aV,I iVa
going to permit the Republican party
in Illinois to become wet If they car,
help 1t.
Mrs. ONeil was the FIRST woman
elected to the Illinois State Legislature,
She has been active in politics for a