The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-03-28
NEA Service Writer


woshington--The politicians do
not know yet what sort of prohibit
ton planks they will write into
the republican or democratic plat
form this year, but it is now obvi-
GUS that the planks will differ from
those of 1928.
The compelling factors and the
signs of change have become so
many and SO strong as to be viz
tualIy unmistakable. All that
bothers the boys is how far they
dare deviate from the old formula
of promising law enforcement.
The republicans, in 1928, after
quoting both Washington and Lin
coin as to the necessity of stick
ing by the constitution, said:
1.-The people, through the meth
cd provided by the constitution,
have written the 18th amendment
into the constitution. The republic
can party pledges itself and its
nominees to the observance ana
vigorous enforcement of this pro-
vision of the constitution"
Meaningless Planks
The democrats, after panning the
LUZ iAOA SNAAANt'et
said: This convention pledges the
party and it's nominees to an hon
est. effort to enforce the 18th
amendment and all other provisions
of the constitution and of all laws
enacted pursuant thereto
Such planks were supposed to
satisfy everybody; even wet as
pirates for Office were willing to
promise attempted enforcement
while it is still a law"
But the planks didn't mean a
thing except that neither party
laded declare itself for or against
prohibition as a national policy.
AL Smith ran as a wet and Hoover
ran as a dry. That rirn't mean SO
much, either, because the relig-
ious and prosperity issues smoth-
cred the wet-dry phase.
Changes Induced by Fear
For that matter, neither party is
going to declare for or against pro-
hibition in 1882. The probable
change in the pIanks of both Will
be induced not by courage but by
fear.
There is a good possibility that
the new plduhs Will Gail loA
erendum of omission, which
the drys would regard as a f1op to
thel vets.
But politicians are so expert at
devising straddles that phraseolo-
gies are likely to be vague and biz
ARE. Afterward, the platform them
selves are likely to be forgotten
while everyone compares the rec
Ie % hn nardi6ataQ and LIST
ems eagerly for each word which
will indicate how wet the demo-
cratic candidate is going to be and
how wet or dry Mr. Hoover will be-
The Wet Trend
Nevertheless, there is great sig
nificance in the virtual certainty
that both platforms will make
some kind of a bow to the vets.
In an election year no politician
Is deaf to popular sentiment II he
can measure it. An no one denies
any more that there has been O
marked popular trend toward tho
wet side.
The drys have various ways of
belittling it, but they admit 1t just
the same. And the politicians are
taking 1t very seriously.
A few months ago many, If not
most, democrats were thinking that
the party's best course was to non-
mate it's inevitable wet candidate
and avoid any wet plank. Leaders
in the dry states urged that and
other leaders, outside the Smith
Shouse group, were willing
to play along.
Rut the sentiment for a moist
plank has grown and, although
there is bound to be a fight over
it at Chicago, the party now seems
destined to write a plank which
will not have the approval of Bis
hop Cannon or F. Scott Mcbride.