Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-14
DEMOCRATS SEEM READY
TO GO WET NATIONALLY
Drys in South and Elsewhere Will Fight,
However, But Hope of Presidential
Success Plays Big Part.

Senator Robinson q not the dryS'
only possibility; they could do very well
with former Gov. Byrd of Virginia,
brother Of the Arctic explorer)
To turn to wet potentialities for the
Democratic presidential nomination IL
to turn to the major end of the situa-
ton. Clearly the vets will have q close
approximation to two-tfirds Of the del
egates in the next nominating conven-
ton. Clearly, therefore, the presiden-
tial nominee is specifically likely to be
the man who becomes the favored selec-
ton Of the vets.
Not Certain About Nominee.
Whom the vets will support Il q
thing still in the making. 1t is COM
monty assumed that the wet managers
and leaders who now dominate the
party are as clear in their own minds
about whom they want for the presi-
dental candidate as they are about
having the party adopt a platform
plank for repeal of the eighteenth
| amendment. This Is not, as of today,
true. The Democratic leaders are
wise and tolerant. They do not want
! to seem to be forcing any candidate of
their own. Further than that the wet
leaders are not yet certain in their own
minds as to whom 1t is best to nominate.
Among wet possibilities, decidedly the
outstanding one at this moment Is Gov.
Franklin Roosevelt of New York One
element in his strength is the fact that
while he is wet in the sense that salts
f1es Northern Democrats, he Is not, so
to speak, too wet, not SO aggreSsively wet
as to give any sense of acute outrage to
the drys in the South. Democratic drys
have heard that Gov. Roosevelt is per-
sonally dry and that Mrs Roosevelt,
while dissatisfied with the eighteenth
amendment as an experiment, believes
in as close an approximation as can be
achieved to suppression to the traffic in
drink. Moreover, Gov. Roosevelt, by his
recent practice of spending several
months each year in the South, has ac-
CURED the good will of that section.
Those Southerners who come in contact
with him like him personally. II Gov.
Roosevelt is the choice of the wet DEM
ocrats of the North for the presidential
nomination, he has qualities and attri-
butes which to some extent would dis
arm nay determined laSt-ditch oppose
ton on the part OF the Democratic drys
In the South.
One of the chief reasons for the out
standing availability of Gov. Roosevelt
Is his record as a vote getter In the
largest State In the Union, the one State
almost indispensable to be carried In
order to win the presidential election.
Mr.. Roosevelt ran for Governor Of New
York in 1928 and won by a majority Of
25,564. He served two years, ran for
reelection last month, and won by a
majority OF 725,017 That record, that
immense increase In his majority, con-
stitutes a powerful reason why Mr..
Roosevelt should have the presidential
nomination.
1t is true this vote-getting record
OF Governor Roosevelt can be stated In
a way that seems less convincing, It Is
so stated by persons who oppose Civ
ing him the presidential nomination
They point out that while Gov
Roosevelt got 2,130,193 votes in 1928,
the total number of his votes last
month. was only 1,76s, 200. In short,
they claim that Mr. Roosevelt's recent
spectacular victory was due less to his
strength than to the weakness of his
Republican opponent and to the fact
that the Republican party IN New York
State had disappointed hundreds of
thousands Of Republican voters by GO
ing wet.
Some Observers See Smith. .~sv
Without attempting more intricate
analysis OF Mr.. RooSeveltS strength. as
a Vote-getter in New York State, with
out alluding to his position about pub
lie utilities that Is his further strength,
or the Tammany scandals that COM
pose weakness to him-omitting all
that let us turn to the most conspicu-
Gus Democratic wet currently and in
creaSingly mentioned as an alternative
to Gov. Roosevelt for the Democratic
presidential nomination.
Some of the shrewdest political OBJ
servers in the country maintain with
confidence that the Democratic nomi-
nee in 1928 will be, again, ex-Gov.
Alfred E. Smith. They say that Mr.
Smith as vote-getter in New York
State has record as convincing as
Gov. Roosevelt's: That Mr.. Smith
as a candidate for the presidency In
1928 came within roughly a hundred
thousand Of carrying New York Ond
today he could be expected to carry the
state readily The advocates of Mr..
Smith say he is entitled to the honor:
that he ran in 1928 as a pioneer of the
wet cause, that the wet cause has
now grown greatly, and that Gov.
Smith Is entitled to the reward Of his
pioneering
The prevailing truth has been, how
ever, founded upon law of politics
and human nature, that pioneers of a
cause rarely reap the fruits of their
pioneering BY their early fights they
shock opponents into an unyielding
mood. Later on, some other leader Of
the same cause Is able to run with q
lessened handicap of implacable oppo-
sition. The rule is that the bones of the
pioneer lie white upon the battlefield
while some newer leader marches for
ward to victory.
In any event, the present fact is that
the wet managers of the Democratic
party are not committed to nominating
either ex-Gov. Smith or Gov. RooSe-
velt They are confident the wet
cause Is so strong In New York State as
to make 1t unnecessary to select their
candidate from that State.
In their looking about they give some
attention to the new wet Democratic
Senator, Robert Johns Buckley, from
Ohio-which State is almost equally as
decisive and important as New York.
Senator Buckley suffers the handicap of
not yet being familiar to the country.
He has just entered the Senate He has
year and half before the Demo-
cratic National Convention Gin June,
1882 to let the country see whether he
is Of presidential size. He is being OBJ
served closely.