Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-25
The Political Mill

Mrs. Ruth Hanna Mccormick, Re-
publican nominee for the Senate in
Illinois, and the Republican party OF
that State generally has sidestepped
the prohibition issue in a manner
which may prove effective. 1t certainly
will be effective unless the dyed-in-the-
wool DIR in Illinois place an 1nde-
pendent candidate in the field for the
Senate. Mrs. Mccormick, who as q dry
won her election to the House as Rep
resentative at large in 1928 and her
nomination this year for the Senate,
has announced that she viii be guided
by the wet and dry referendum to be
held in the State this Fall. This prob
ably is enough to make the ardent dryS
froth at the mouth. On the other hand,
her declaration in regard to prohloitlon
largely removes the issue from the con-
test between herself and former Senator
j. Hamilton Lewis, who has come out
fiatfooted for the repeal of the eight
zenith amendment and who has been
counting particularly on the wet ana
dry issue to win over his woman oppo-
nent. Take it by and large, Mrs. Nc
Cormick's latest political move Is
Shrewd one. In test votes on the wet
and dry issue Illinois has gone wet In
the past. For example, in 1922 a State
wide referendum was held on light
wines and beer, and the vets won with
vote of 1,065,000 to $4,000. They
were successful, too, in a later refer
endum.
The Anti-Saloon League in Illinois. it
is but fair to say, has dis outraged TAX
ing seriously these referenda in the
past and recommended to the drys that
they do not vote in them. With the
stand now taken by Mrs Mccormick
and the Republican State convention,
pledging the Republican candidates to
stand by the result of the coming ref
er ldum, the Anti-Saloon League and
other drys will have to abandon their
former attitude of aloofnesS and seek
to win the referendum or see vote in
the Senate lost to the dry cause and
perhaps some in the House. In the
1922 referendum on beer and light
wines, down-State as well as. Cook
County was carried by the vets Chi
cago, it is recognized, Is strongly wet.
The dry strongholds have been out in
the State.
Mrs. McCormick's present stand may
be entirely satisfactory to the vets in
Chicago. 1t is quite clear, anyway, that
the City Hall crowd, which supported
her in the senatorial primary last April,
IS only intent ON being let alone, and
if Mrs. Mccormick is willing, as United
States Senator, to keep hands off local
affairs there is no reason now that the
organization cannot go ahead and sup
port her this November.
X X X
The referendum which is to be held
in Illinois this Fall on the same day
that a Senator is to be elected asks the
people to vote yes" or mo" on three
questions. One is the proposed repeal
of the eighteenth amendment; another
is the proposed modification of the Vol
stead act and the third is the proposed
repeal of the State enforcement law AS
a United States Senator, Mrs. McCor-
mick would have nothing to do with
the third proposal If it carried. But If
the State should vote for repeal of the
of the dry laws she would be commit
ted to support such proposals II they
are advanced in the Senate.
Mrs. Mccormick has declared herself
personally a dry and committed to the
dry cause. She does not say in her
statement, however, how she will rec
ommend the people to vote on the REL
abide by their decision after the ball
lots are counted.
Mrs. Mccormick is, after all, only
following in the footsteps of some OF
the most outstanding drys in the Sen
ate, among them Senator Jones of
Washington and Senator Walsh OF
Montana, the first Republican and
the second Democrat.
ton in Washington had gone wet a
few months ago, Senator Jones, CO.
author of the "five-and-ten" law in
creasing penalties for violations of the
Volstead act said that he would abide
by the. decision of the voters in his
State on the liquor question, although
he has been an ardent dry for years
He fastened to add, however. that he
was confident that the people OF his
State would strongly uphold prohibition
If they were permitted to vote on it.
Senator Walsh of Montana took very
much the same position. incidentally
Senator walsh this year is opposed by
a wet Republican candidate for the
Senate,
The chief danger for Mrs. Mccormick,
now that she has taken her stand in
regard to prohibition repeal or amend
ment, lies in the possibility of the plac-
ing of an independent dry Republican
in the field. Such candidate might
take enough votes away from Mrs.
! Mccormick to elect Senator Lewis 1t
was such tactics on the part of the new
York dry Republicans in 1928 that cost
| former Senator James w. Wadsworth,
| IT,, his seat in the Senate. Illinois,
however, is much more strongly Repub-
| lican than New York, and Mrs. Nc
Cormick could afford to lose lot of
votes to an independent dry and still
! she could win the senatorial election.
When in 1926 Frank L. Smith was the
Republican nominee for the Senate and
the Senate Slush Fund Committee,
| headed by Reed of Missouri, had turned
up lot of unfavorable facts for Smith,
an independent Republican was placed
in the field. But the regular Republicans
went right ahead and elected Smith,
notwithstanding the division in the
party vote. The late George Brennan,
| genial Democratic boss, was his partys
nominee on a wet platform in that year.
But he could not win against Smith.
| The Anti-Saloon League that year gave
| it's support to Smith, however. After
Smith was elected the Senate declined
! to seat him because of excessive ex-
penditures in his primary campaign and
! because more than $l25,000 of his cam
! paign fund was contributed by public
| utility magnates while he, Smith, was
| chairman of the State Utility Com
| mission.
| Mrs. McCormicks expenditures in the
! primary campaign last Spring are still
| under investigation. 1t has been shown
| that they amounted to more than those
of Frank Smith. She maintains, how
/ ever, that all of the money was ex-
| pended legitimately, and, of course, she
was not chairman of the Utility Com
| mission nor did she receive contribu-
tions from utility magnates. Nearly all
| OF the money she put up herself.
| X \ \
Already there is talk of an independ-
ent candidate, carrying the dry ban
| inst AHrr AHnOna...ninlr -