Evening star., 1930-06-26
The Political Mill

| 10 prohiDlCon. Inc plank which they
have written, indeed, is merely a para
phrase Of Mr.. Morrov's declaration of
his attitude on the prohibition issue
when he opened his campaign for the
Republican senatorial nomination a few
weeks ago. This Is the first time that
Republican State platform in New Jer-
sey, or in any other State except WASH
ington, has declared for repeal of the
eighteenth amendment The State
convention In Washington surprised the
dry leaders In Congress from that State
when recently 1t declared for a big
change In the prohibition laws.
The New Jersey platform declaration
| on prohibition. which was awaited with
the keenest interest, urges the repeal of
tne eighteenth amendment with q sub
Stitute providing that the National Gov
eminent shall see to 1t that States
which wish TO be dry shall have full
protection against imports Of LIQUOR
from other states or from foreign ma
tions. 1t also declares against q re-
| turn OF the old saloon, even though
the control Of the liquor traffic is 10
be left to the individual States. In
these respects the New Jersey platform
may ne said to support the prohibition
loea, just as Mr.. Morrow supported II
In his speech, although he declared that
the control Of the liquor trafic was
properly in the hands Of the State gov
ernments and improperly in the hands
OF the National Government,
The drys in New Jersey, thousands
OF whom supported Mr.. Morrow in the
primary election, not because of his
sttltuoe toward the prohibition issue
/ and appreciation of his services in the
past are expected to vote for Mr.. Nor
| row In the general election next No
! vember, despite the plank in the party
PLATFORM. 1t is only reasonable to sup
pose that these dry Republicans, if
tney were willing to vote for Mr. Nor
rows nomination for the Senate, will
also vote for his election to that ofHce
Furtnernore. the drys have nowhere
else TO 90 unless 1t be TO the Democratic
nominee, Alexander Simpson, who Is
Wetter than Mr.. Morrow, or to the
candidates of the National Prohibition
party, who are not widely known and
could not by any possibility be elected.
Their choice lies between Morrow and
simpson, and the reasons which i'm
PEELED them to support Morrow in the
primary campaign will cause them to
vote for him in November.
y
There are several dry Republican
members Of the House from New Jer-
sey, including Representatives Wolver-
! ton and Ackerman, whom the plank in
/ the State platform may embarrass II
IS said. But why should it, really?
They are known to be drys and per-
sonal platforms will be dry, just as
in the 1928 presidential race while the
Democratic national platform was dry.
~
Tn
is live issue, as well as in New JERSEY.
/ The State Supreme Court has put off
! unSll September 29 or later its fnal de-
cision In the contest brought by the sup
porters OF Francis Skunk Brown for the
Republican gubernatorial nomination
against former Gov. Pinchot. This leaves
the issue very much up in the air. So
much so that the dry Gov. Pinchot is
said to be seriously considering quail
Tying as an independent candidate for
the governorship in the event that the
court should decide against him and
| throw out the ballots cast in LuEerne
County, thereby giving the nomination
to Mr.. Brown. He must file before the
date set by the court for its final hear
ingS In the contest or 1t will be too late
for him to file as an independent. The
Pennsylvania laws are more lenient to
/ Independent candidates. than are the
y
an independent candidate must file be-
fore the primary election is held. That
is the reason that the Apti-Saloon
League Is unable now to put an inde-
pendent dry Republican in the feld
against Morrow and Simpson.
Gov. Pinchot must pick himself q new
party title in the event he files as an
independent. He is said to be consider
ing "the Roosevelt party" as the proper
| titla for his IN hnrRr Of his old
chief. other titles suggested are the
Lincoln party and the Washington
party.
The wet group in Pennsylvania which
supported Phillips in the gubernatorial
primary race and Bohlen for the SEN
atorial nomination are still angling
: round for candidate for governor.
There has been a suggestion that the
group might support the Democratic
nominee for governor, who Is wet and
running on wet party platform. The
Democrat is John M. Hemphill of
Chester County And now comes Mayor
Harry A. Mackey of Philadelphia just
back from a trip to Europe, with the
suggestion that he may be a wet candi-
date, running as an Independent Re-
publican, for governor next November.
1t Is inconceivable that Mr.. Mackey
would be a candidate for governor in
the event the State Supreme Court up
holds the contest brought by Brown,
for Mackey supported the Brown-DaviS
ticket in the senatorial primary cam
paign. But if Mr.. Pinchot should
finally be declared to be the Republican
nominee, Mackey might then enter the
race as wet Republican. In three
eornered race Pinchot the, dry, against
Hemphil and Mackey, both vets, might
well be expected to win the contest for
governor.
There Is one candidate for Office in
Pennsylvania, however, who does not
appear to be worrying over his pros
poets. Nor does there appear to be
any cause for worry. That Is James j.
Davis, Secretary of Labor and the Re-
publican nominee for the Senate. There
has been no suggestion of an inde-
pendent wet to run against Davis. He
seems to be fairly satisfactory to both
vets and drys in the Republican party.
And the huge vote by which he won
over bis opponents in the primary, Sen
ator Grundy and Prof. Bohlen, seems to
have left the opposition cold. Mr.. Davis
is still holding down his job as Secre-
tary Of Labor. winding up the work for
the fiscal year now closing and prepar-
ing his report to the President 1t is
within reason that he may continue as
Secretary of Labor right UP to the
time OF his election to the Senate One
good reason for this might be the desire
, OF the administration to have him hold
on until President Hoover had the right
man for his successor. Dwight w.
Morrow, another senatorial candidate
is still holding on to his office as Am
basSador to Mexico. The senatorial
campaigns in Pennsylvania and New
Jersey are not likely really to get under
way until late in September or the first
of October and both of these candidates
are in position to render valuable serv-
ice To the Gnuernnnert in the internal