Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-19
The Political Mill
By C. Could Lincoln.

Morrow for the Republican senatorial
nomination is Of no particular moment.
Just another wet from New jersey"
is the way they put the nomination of
the Ambassador to Mexico. But there
are reasons to believe that the drys
we're considerably shaken by the ire
mendous sweep which Mr.. Morrow
made In the primary contest on Tues
day, carrying as he did territory that
was supposed to be very dry in senti-
ment.
Mr. Morrow, to any one who gives
the matter consideration, is not "just
another wet from New Jersey" Mr.
Morrow. by the stand he has taken on
the prohibition issue, appeals to many
of those who Sympathize with prohibit
ton and what it has sought to accom-
plish. but who feel. like Mr.. Morrow,
that conditions under national prohibit
ton have grown SO evil that there must
be a readjustment. The ultra drys
represented by the Anti-Saloon League,
see only one angle to the Morrow decla-
ration regarding liquor. They see only
that he Is opposed TO a continuance of
national prohibition as II now exists,
and that he proposes to return to the
States the control Of the liquor traffic
They do not apparently give attention
to those parts of Mr.. Morrow's address
in which he declared that the prohibit
ton of the use of intoxicating beverages
is right of government, and the i'm
plication that he believes that in the
States where the sentiment for prohi-
bition Is the dominant sentiment, there
should be prohibition. Further, Mr..
Morrow proposes to amend the ConSti-
tuition SO that the Federal Government
Cln hn fnd to iFNrr lNaI
introduction Of liquor into those States
which 60 dry" II his plan is adopted.
Such a program will please many of the
more moderate dryS, who have been
looking for some way out of situation
in this country that has aroused the
people as no other issue has for years.
" X
Mr.. Morrow's position on the liquor
question will not please the wringing
vets, either, who contend that the right
to drink is personal right which Gov
eminent has no right to seek to control.
These personal liberty enthusiasts can
get little encouragement from Mr.. Nor
rows position. At present, however, the
vets generally are nurrahing over the
Morrow victory, since it is the victory
of candidate who does not believe in
continuance Of national prohibition.
Mr. Morrow's position, as explained
In his address at the outset Of his cam
paign, is that the Federal Government
is not the proper agency to deal with
prohibition and that the State gov
ernments are the proper agency. Quite
naturally this attitude makes the Anti
Saloon League, which fought for years
to bring about national prohibition and
liquor control by the Federal Govern
ment, see red. But the Anti-Saloon
League is fooling itself If 1t believes
s,,ek ~
from Flew jersey" or that he has not
advanced a program that will make its
appeal to thousands OF persons who are
keenly interested in temperance and
even in prohibition who have been dis
gusted with the way national prohibit
ton has worked out.
~
The huge vote in the New Jersey
senatorial primary indicates the great
interest which the campaign waged by
Mr.. Morrow aroused. When all the
figures are In, it will be found that
about $4,000 votes were cast in the
Republican senatorial primary. or nearly
100, 900 more votes than were cast In
the 1923 primary, when three contest
ants, Kean, Frelinghuysen and Stokes,
and several other minor candidates were
Straining every nerve to get out the
vote. This big turnout of the voters
was partly due to the great enthusiasm
for Mr. Morrow personally and partly
due to the intersection of the prohibit
ton issue.
The Morrow victory in New Jersey
already has set tongues wagging regard
ing the possibility of Mr.. Morrow's be-
coming presidential nominee of the
Republican party in the future. Mr..
Morrow has a long way to go, however,
before that contingency could arise. He
has to be nominated by the Republican
national convention, composed of dele
gates from all the States of the Union,
not to mention the District of Columbia
and the possessions of the United States.
1t is a little too early today to predict
that q majority Of the delegates to such
a convention would vote for the nomi-
nation of q man who has declared him.
self opposed to national prohibition.
The suggestion two years ago that
candidate for the Republican presi-
Dental nomination held such views
would have caused him to be laughed
out Of court. The anti-prohibition cause
must gain much more ground than it
has today before the Republican dele
gates to a national convention may be
expected to support an opponent of ma
ton prohibition. Mr.. Morrow's chance
for such preferment will depend upon
how we'll his program Of modification
of the eighteenth amendment Is re-
ceived generally throughout the coun-
try, and not merely upon what New Jer-
sey and New York may think of it.
The Republican State convention Of
New Jersey is to meet in Trenton next
Tuesday. What the convention will do
about prohibition or anti-prohibition
plank remains to be SEEN There is not
the slightest doubt that New Jersey
contains a large number of Republicans
who are dry, despite the Morrow vote.
Will they go along with a platform in
conformity with the Morrow declara-
ton REGARDING prohibition? If the Re
publican State convention does not
adopt the Morrow idea in regard to
prohibition, meeting within a few days
after his sweeping victory in the State,
what chance Is there of the adoption OF
his idea by q Republican national con-
vention two years or four years hence?
X \
One thing which the Jersey primary
will do is to enhance the interest in the
final report of President Hoover's Law
Enforcement Commission. That COM
making recommendations looking to
better enforcement of the prohibition
laws as they stand. The opponents of
prohibition have strongly urged the
commission to report on the advisability
of continuing national prohibition as
it now exists.
X n
Representative Franklin W. Fort. who
leaped into the New Jersey senatorial
primary as q supporter of the eighteenth
amendment after Mr.. Morrow had made
his declaration in regard to prohibition,
Is being mentioned as q possible selec-
ton by President Hoover for the chair
nlanship Of the Republican national
committee, provided that Claudius H.
Huston steps out of that Office in the