Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-22
BY WILLIAM HARD.

L.
National affairs-As this session of
the Congress approaches its conclusion:
its consequences upon the strategies Of
the two great political parties for the
| next presidential campaign have be-
come pronounced. They can be summed
up, as seen in Washington. as follows:
This session has brought the grand
policies of the Republican party for
next year to q condition of apparent
fixity. 1t has brought the grand poll
cies Of the Democratic party for next
year to a condition of considerable ap-
parent f1uidity and indeterminateness
Hence, on the one nand, the general
conspicuous debate among Republicans
as to their next years procedure. Hence,
on the other hand, the calling of spe-
cial session of the Democratic National
Committee for the early days Of next
month. The Republicans are not
obliged to strive much to find out what
they think. 1t is now more or less set
tied for them. They, in numerous in
stances, are intensely personally hostile
to President Hoover. They multitude
nouSly, on Capitol Hill, find fault with
his political management of the Re-
publican party's affairs at a hundred
points or even at all possible points
whatsoever. They, nevertheless, seem
WAAOAly VI CoJCO ia
ing forward any rival to him for the
next Republican nomination. They, in
effect, virtually unanimously accept Mr..
Hoover as their prospective renominated
presidential leader. In doing this they
realize that they necessarily accept his
policies as evidenced and fortified by
the events Of the present congressional
session.
Those events, for President Hoover,
have had two main results. They have
accentuated him as dry" and they
have accentuated him as "conserva-
tive"
The Wickersham report gave him an
opportunity to take, at any rate, wet"
detour in the following of his dry" gen.
eral route. This opportunity he de-
clined to embrace. Some Of his init
mates, 1t Is true, endeavored to attrib-
ute to him slight potential diversion
from the main prohibitory road. Their
efforts were not in practice seconded by
him. He has deliberately added nothing
to his fiat condemnation of the eight
zenith amendment revision favored by a
majority Of the Wickersham Commits
sion.
The whispers of Mr. Hoover's OPEN
mindedneSs toward revision possibilities
have been succeeded by silence. The
leaders of the "drys," through direct
and indirect contacts with him, give to
that silence an emphatic and an assured
Interpretation. Their attitude toward
Mr.. Hoover in the next presidential
campaign is authoritatively revealed by
DR.. c. C. Morrison, editor of the ex-
tremely influential Protestant periodical,
''The Christian Century" in a recent
highly important editorial:
X
Mr.. Hoover" says DIR. Morrison,
''has now distinctly passed beyond his
non committal tribute to prohibition as
noble experiment and beyond his stout
declaration of purpose to enforce it be-
cause it is the law. Mr.. Hoover now
stands with those who believe that 1t is
a good law, good at least in the sense
that no alternative is in sight which
does not involve worse evils"
DR.. Morrison then goes on to discuss
the complications which confuse the
whole presidential struggle of next year
and ably points out the extra "dry-
ness" which Mr.. Hoover as a "dry"
viii need in order in certain parts
Of the country to overcome the effect
produced by his increasing reputation
as conservative"
In this session of the Congress Mr..
Hoover, through his support of Fed
eral Power Commission, the members
| Of which have been charged by a
majority Of the Senate with undue
friendliness to the power interests, and
through his sturdy defense of the
Treasury and of the income taxpayers
| against the So-called raids upon them
by drought relief projects and by the
soldiers bonus loan project, has seemed
| to "progreSSiveS" to be in course of be-
coming a conservative" Of the Tory
| order.
mr. HEnyric0,1 tel nka I,a
| prominence that Mr.. Hoover must give
| to his dry" position in order to sat-
isfy the rural ''progressives." who will
| abandon their ''progressivism" only in
order to be able to forward their
| "drynesS."
DR.. Morrison says: "Mr. Hoover's
chances Of success next year are
! dubious unless he makes prohibition
the paramount issue in the campaign.
There are hosts of drys who will not
| support him If the liquor issue is
subordinate to other issues in 1882.
Their opposition to his economic point
of view is so pronounced that they can
be persuaded to vote for him only in
the hope that q straight-out test of
popular sentiment on prohibition will
settle that question
| This analysis by DR.. Morrison Is
thought here to correspond to the rural
| political facts. In precise proportion
as this session Of the Congress has pic
tured Mr.. Hoover more and more as
conservative" it also has driven him
more and more toward being f1xedly
a dry"
The Republican outcome seems to be
a renominated Mr.. Hoover and re-
emphasized conservative" and re-
iterated "dryness."
X
With the Democrats the situation
Is chaotically different. They began
this session of the Congress in
conservative" tone. Through seven
of their greatest leaders they jointly
informed the country that-so to
speak-they would not start anything"
Just now, This declaration was re-