Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-13
VETS SEEN GUIDING
DEMOCRATIC PLANS
RtfOrt to Keep Party Fight
on Prohibition Under
. Cover Noted.
By MARK SULLIVAN.

4S1Q1uB OSL1OCI6tlC OIy tcauCES 3l8Fe
heAd conferences looking to q course Of
action IN view Of the progress the vets
have made In getting control Of the
Democratic party. Several suggestions
have been considered. One was to hold
ak Chicago q conference Of dry leaders
from all the States. This proposal looked
IN part to q conference Of dry Demo-
Gratis only or alternatively to q confer
ence Of drys Of both parties.
This suggestion was dismissed on the
Rround that 1t might look to the public
like q movement toward q third party.
Another proposal was to hold confer
snce at Atlanta, Ca, OF dry Democratic
leaders from the IL Southern States,
who composed the backbone OF dry
strength in the Democratic party. To
n degree, this is still under considera-
ton. At least, it has not been aoan-
dOned.
The net impression from these ex-
changes Of views among dry Democratic
leaders Is that there Is not marked sup
port for the idea OF organized oppoSltlon
10 the present wet trend OF the party
as q whole They feel that because o.
Feneral conditions the party Is now mead
%son ~ 1872. They do not want to
throw q monkey-wrench" into that
prospect.
Compromise Is Offered.
sov,a NJ the most prominent Demo-
..stic drvs in the country showed re-
I,ictance to participate in any formal
IaIhlic resistance. One Of the two most
conspicuous Democratic drys, modl1ylng
hts r,reyious position, suggested COM
promise under which the Democrats IN
kheir next national convention Shoulo
20 as far as advocating beer and Lgnt
wines. To this the answer was Jnst
the vets in the party are now SO CONF
dent Of success that they would scorn
anything short Of platform caiLnS LOa
0OTnplete repeal Of the pronipibaon
The total picture of the whole OF the
Democratic party as respects pronlOl,,
tion begins by saying that the naIlona -
crvaYiRakion. under the headSnp o.
Thairnaan Raskob and Executive Head
.Inuett Shouse, Is thoroughly wet, WHAT
thev want In the next Democratic ma
tioral Convention is platform Gaining
for repeal Of the prohibttion amend
f,aent. Il Is q fair judgment to say tnen
s,,v,nort Il now great enough to bring
this about They are formally support
~ bv the Democratic organizations III
II states. including such large ones as
New york, Pennsylvania, Illinois ana
tTsssachusetts. These IL States are all
vaost enough alone to account Tor ma
inritv Of the roughly LOO delegates IN
fhe i,ext Democratic National ConVen-
fIo,, In addition, the Democratic or
carnations in several other states are
wet and are ready to make 1oLnlai
declaration to that effect IN tnelr nsHI
esste conventions. A wet Democratic
RATIONAL leader in the best position TO
lcnow recently stated that the vets now
control the Democratic organization IN
az states. II this Is accurate, 1t would
Ieave only is State organizations dry.
OF the is, 10 are In the solid South.
would Avoid Conflict.
Though the wet national Democratic
leaders have this owerwneimlng pre-
pcnderance, they wish 70 avolo puu ..s,
conflict with even 70 slight minority
A Is small States. A wet national
democratic leader has sounded out some
drv Democratic leaders OF the South
with a proposal that the latter permit
the ,,arfv to 20 wet without public OPP
r,osifion. One suggestion was that there
ia held, in advance Of the partys ma
tion convention In 1892, either meet
Ing Of the Democratic National COM
rnittee or q similar informal meeting OF
party leaders for the purpose OF ar.
convention adopt the wet position With
out controversy. While some dry DEM
ocratic leaders hold out against going
50 far as this, it is fair Judgment that
there Is no prospect Of really formidable
opposition by the drys.
This may be stating the situation too
strongly. There are, especially in the
South, many Democrats who earnestly
deplore the prospect Of the party taking
the wet step. Some are very highly
placed in civic life and have much in
fiuence. The point Is, however, that
only q few are powerful in political life.
A few Southern Democratic Governors
or ex-Governors expect to stand out
against their party going wet. Many
political leaders in the South, however,
are Of q different mind. They realize
the wet movement within the party ma
tionally has gone too far to be resisted.
They also feel the party is headed
toward success in the presidential cleo
ton Of 1892, and they are naturally re-
luctant to menace that prospect.
What has been said so far refers to
the Democrats going wet in their ma
ticnal platform In 1882. The matter OF
the presidential nominee Is separate
thing. It is true the nominee Is most
likely to be wet or near-wet. AT the
same time any one who SOUNDS out tsie
wet leaders Of the Democrats nncs they
are by no means committed 70 any
nominee. Specifically, they are not
committed to the nomination OF Gov.
Franklin Roosevelt Of New York, now
50 generally taken for granted They
know they are able to have q wet plat
form because that takes only q ma
iority vote. Partly because Of this very
confidence about platform, they are
hesitant to seem distatorial about the
presidential nominee. who can only De
named by a two-thirds vote.
Dry Nominee Suggested.
II Is still possible the dry Democratic
leaders may make a fight on the presi-
Dental nomination by rallying round
some such dry as ex-Gov BYRD OF VIZ
Rinia or Senator Robinson OF Arkansas
or Gov. Moody OF Texas; ~ the drys
can assemble one-third OF the delegates
they can at least veto wet nomination
too unsatisfactory TO them.
One observation about all this is that
In slightly more than two weeks since
the election the Democrats, as a whole,
have made marked progress on their fu-
tlire course They have accomplished
this without line in the newspapers
and without any public controversy.
The contrast with what has gone on
among the Republicans is obvious. One
would infer that the Democratic party.
under its present national leadership, Is
better managed than the Republican.
Tt used 10 be the Republicans who
composed their differences quietly and
the Democrats who shook the earth
with their factional controversies.
The Democrats are going 10 be wet.
The next thing is to ind out about the
Republicans.
(Copyright. lsSO)
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