Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-24
The Political Mill
By C. Could Lincoln.

4 II
Wet candidates for Senator and
Representative and for governor are
cropping up in unexpected places.
Apparently opponents of prohibition
have reached the conclusion that now
is the time to break lance for the
liberal cause" The drys probably will
call 1t the cause of rum" which proves
after all there's something in a name
Liberality and rum have very different
sounds in the sensitive ears of the
voters. One of the most surprising
announcements so far is that of former
Representative r. L. Henry of Houston,
Tex, who is to run as wet for the
Democratic senatorial nomination
against that veteran dry champion and
author of the eighteenth amendment,
Senator Morris Sheppard. Mr.. Henry
is no tyro at politics. He served in the
House for twenty years. He quit ten
or a dozen years ago and now he is
going to stage a comeback, if he can,
under a wet banner and against the
darling of the prohibitionists. Texas
has its wet spots. But it is reputed
to be overwhelmingly dry. 1t is one of
the four States of the Democratic South
which went for President Hoover, who
supported prohibition. against AL Smith,
laws. If Mr.. Henry is to stand chance
in the race against Senator Sheppard
the sentiment among the voters must
undergo a real change. Henry says "the
dismal farce of prohibition as it now
exists should be terminated"
X \ X
If the drys really believed that Sena-
tor Sheppard, who sponsored the resolu-
ton in the Senate which eventually LED
to the eighteenth amendment, was in
danger of defeat by wet they would
send their shock troops into the Lone
Star State in a hurry. F. Scott Nc
Bride, general superintendent Of the
Anti-Saloon League of America, already
is urging the drys to grid up their
loins for the battle which is to come
in the congressional elections and to see
to it that an overwhelmingly dry House
be returned to Washington.
X X +
The news that Marcus A. Coolidge,
Democrat, of Fitchburg, Mass, is about
to declare himself a candidate for the
Democratic senatorial nomination on
wet platform, is not so surprising. An
nouncement of a Democrat for the
Massachusetts, senatorial nomination on
dry platform would be rather breath
taking at this juncture. In some quar-
tiers it is believed that Mr.. Coolidge has
a good chance for the Democratic NOM
ination. A lot will depend, however, on
what the Boston Democratic leaders
have to say In the matter. When Mr..
Cool1dge'S name was first put forward
as possible nominee for the Senate
there was much shaking of heads on
the ground that he came from the same
city as Senator Walsh and that geo.
graphically he would not do. But this
opposition appears to have abated' con-
siderably. Senator Walsh could claim
Clinton, just outside of Boston, as
residence, and furthermore, he has be-
come a kind of State institution rep
resenting the entire State rather than
any particular section. Coolidge should
be good name to offer to the voters
OF Massachusetts,. Marcus A. is no
former President had agreed to become
a candidate for the Senate on the
Republican ticket, as he was urged
to do, and Marcus A. Coolidge had been
the selection of the Dem Jcrats, it would
have been Coolidge versus Coolidge next
November.
Democratic candidates for the sena-
torial nomination in Massachusetts, are
beginning to materialize rather rapidly.
William q. Thompson, a Boston law
yer, Is another who Is out for the honor.
He, too, is anxious to tear down the ex-
tsting prohibition law. The sentiment
In the Bay State at present appears to
be strongly against both the eighteenth
amendment and the VolStead act. II, as
a result of the coming campaign, the
State does away with the baby Vol
stead act" as the State enforcement
law is known, it means another bit of
territory in which prohibition will have
to rely on the Federal Government alone
FOR enforcement. Several of the States
now. have no enforcement laws, in
Guiding New York and Maryland. If
many more join them. the problem of
prohibition enforcement is likely to be-
come more and more difficult.
X X
Secretary James j. Davis of the De-
partment of Labor has been an an.
nounced candidate for the Republican
senatorial nomination for upward of a
week, and still there has been no indi-
cation he will resign his cabinet ONCE.
AS matter of fact, it would be rather
stupid politics If he did. He is MAX
ing the race now with the prestige of
peing Secretary of Labor. It would be a
oinerent matter if he were running as a
former Secretary of Labor. Senator
Grundy, his opponent. is not taking
himself out of the Senate merely be-
cause ne is a candidate for the nornina-
ton, and why should Mr.. Davis?
Neither one of these gentlemen has 81
far said much of anything about the pro-
hibitlon question and where he stands
How long they will be able to get away
with such silence no one can saw. In
pennsylvania there are a lot Of drv
voters. But. on the other hand, there
are are also lot OF vets. With Ware back
ing the Davis Brown ticket (Francis
Snunk Brown is running for governor
on the ticket with Davis) it does not
seem possible that the ticket will end
up particularly dry. If Mr.. Grundv at
tempts to sidestep this question in the
coming campaign, he may find himself
IN the position of Senator George Whar-
ton Pepper in 1926, when Pepper was
defeated by Ware.
Now comes a story to the effect that
MI; Grundy Is going to obliterate him
sen from the senatorial campaign and
step back into the roll of kfnsmaker
". ne has occupied for many years
III III pennsylvania as president of the
pennsylvania Manufacturers Associa-
Ton ana raiser of campaign funds. The
story runs that Grundy and the Melons
VIII back Gov. Fisher for the Senate.
FIsner was their choice for governor
TOUR years ago and Fisher was the man
VINO appointed Grundy to the Senate a
lew months ago when Ware was finally
turned down by that body. This story
Is put forward today by the POST
Gazette in Pittsburgh. It places Chief
justice Robert Won Moschzisker on the
r1sner ticket as candidate for gov
ernor. II there is any truth in it, one
OF Two things apparently has happened:
Eitner the Davis-Brown ticket, backed
Dy ware, has thrown a real scare into
Lne Meilon-Grundy faction or Mr..
GSrunoy has decided that he does not
IKE lie IN the Senate, after all. The
report is that Mr.. Grundy is willing to