Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-06-14
PROHIBITION HIDES
ALL OTHER ISSUES
Repeal or Resubmission
Catches Popular Imagina.
ton of Chicago Crowds.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.


CHICAGO, June 1.-THE atmos-
phere not Of the convention. but Of
the town, the crowds, the lobbies, Is
overwhelmingly wet. 1t Is for the ex-
IRENE wet position. the complete up
roofing of prohibition. Chicago has
three evening newspapers and two
morning. On the eve Of the conven-
ton all five had seven-column head
lines on the first page. All fve head
lines dealt with prohibition. All five
reflected a spirit and atmosphere
strongly antagonistic to prohibition.
One read .'Drys in Panic as Crisis
Nears." Another. WET Leaders Pre-
dict Victory" Another, "Bonedry Law
Under Fire" The others conveyed
even more strongly the notion that
prohibition is bad and that prohibit
ton has lost.
AS mirrors Of the superficial atmos-
phere, these headlines are correct
enough The streets and hotel lob
bies seeth. with wet sentiment, wet Ge-
mandS. wet threats. It Is much like
the Democratic National Convention in
New York City In 1924. In New York
in 1924, as here now, the crowds, the
streets. the newspapers and the gal
lerieS were overwhelmingly wet and
were for the local favorite. AL Smith.
The effect in New York in 1924 was
rather to intimidate those delegates
who were dry and for McAdoo. In
rather frightening to the dry delegates,
who come mainly from small towns
and rural districts.
Other Questions Hidden.
The absorption Of the town and the
crowds with prohibition and with the
wet side CT the question is complete
The town seems utterly to have forgot
ten other questions and other condi-
tons. The writer OF this dispatch came
here from Washington. In Washington
there was tension about matters quite
distant frcm prohibition. In Washing
ton Congress was voting on issuing two
billion dollars OF fiat money and giving
1t TO veterans. Some 5000 veterans were
camped in the city to demand that Con-
gress give them the bonus
The President was asking Congress
to take steps that would save the in
tegrity Of the dollar and the solvency
Of the Nation. Coming from that
atmosphere at Washington into this at
Chicago, one would assume that for Chi
cago these other questions do not exist
One would suppose that depression does
not exist. One would suppose unem-
ployment does not exist. though, in fact.
II IS said Chicago has 100000 unem-
ployed
All this atmosphere here is. CT course.
false and hysterical. One hopes that
when the convention itself gets under
way and reaches the point of writing a
platform 1t will have sense of pro-
portion and steady nerves. 1t will be
under great pressure from the galleries.
of course. The galleries here, like the
galleries in New York in 1924. Will be
overwhelmingly wet. The galleries will
regard tie dry delegates as hicks" who
are stubbornly preventing the city from
having its way.
As respects the plank to be written
on prohibition, the vets here. like the
vets il New York in 1924, and also
like the Democratic silverites in 1896,
have become fascinated and obSessed
about one particular phrase, one word.
The vets demand that the plank con-
tain the word repeal" in the sense Of
advocating repeal Just so did William
Jennings Bryan in 1895 demand the
words sixteen to one" Just so did
New York insist upon the words 'ku
Klux Khan"
Dawes to Get Support.
The drys here will not consent to
the word repeal" in the sense of rec
ommending the repeal Of the eighteenth
amendment. The word that the drys
want is "resubmission" and resubmis-
sion only. The drys are willing that
the Republican party recommend that
Congress resubmit the eighteenth
amendment so that the country may
have a chance to vote to retain it or
to repeal it, That far and no farther
the drys are willing to go.
Aside from prohibition, there Is fur
Their progress on the one other impor-
tant matter. 1t is settled that several
important delegations will vote for
Charles G. Dawes for Vice President in
place Of Charles Curtis. So many dele
cations have come to this conclusion
that nobody but Dawes himself can
stop this movement. Once it starts in
the balloting, Dawes will be nominated
overwhelmingly. This is being done
utterly without prejudice to Curtis. The
sole reason mentioned by anybody is
Curtis age. Everybody who expresses
the intention to vote for Dawes does
so with expressions Of admiration and
affection for Curtis. The delegates are
practically all active politicians. Among
these Curtis has not one enemy and a
thousand friends. Curtis friends op-
pose his denomination solely on the
ground that at time like this the Vice
President should be man who, if he
should become President, would be un-
der no handicap Of age. Only Dawes
can stop Dawes from being Vice Presi-
dent. If Dawes does stop the move
ment, 1t will turn to some one else.
(Copyright, 1922