Evening star., 1932-08-08
The Political Mill
By C.. Could Lincoln.

speech accepting the presidential nomi-
nation. Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt of
New York, the Democratic nominee fo-
President, will tackle the case of Mayor
Jimmy Walker of New York. with a
public hearing for Walker and his ac-
cuSers. Mr.. Hoover is expected to dis
cuss the prohibition issue in his speech
of acceptance Hitherto he has been
very quiet about this question. But If
Mr.. Hoover has kept mum about the
wet-anddry issue, Gov. Roosevelt has
been equally silent about Mayor Walker.
It is expected that President Hoover
will stand on the Republican prohibi
/ ton plank in the national platform. 1t
| has been called a "straddle" plank,
designed to please both vets and drys.
| At least 1t calls for submission of
new amendment to the Constitution
which would make 1t possible for the
| States to go wet II they desired, with
the Government barring saloons. To
| the ardent dry, the Republican plat
| form is anathema. or was not long ago
| Mr.. HooverS Interpretation of the
plank, which has been called the
| Hoover plank" in contrast to the plank
proposing the submission of outright
repeal of the eighteenth amendment
offered by Senator Bingham Of Con-
| necticut and other ardent wet Repub-
| licans at the Chicago convention, is
awaited with the keenest interest. Like
! the plank itself, the President Is likely
to declare that gains made by national
prohibition should not be lost--the
gains referring to the control of
/ legahzed liquor traffic and the blotting
out Of the saloon. At the same time, it
is expected that the President will
recognize the demand by millions of
| people for a submission of this question
| OF national prohibition to the people.
The Republican plank offers sub
Stitute for the eighteenth amendment.
The Democratic plank, on the other
hand, calling for outright repeal would
90 back to the exact situation which
existed before the adoption of the
| eighteenth amendment and enactment
of the Volstead law.
| About Gov. Roosevelt and Jimmy"
Walker. II wise New York politicians
are correct in their guessing the mayor
will be forced to walk the plank. Ger
tainly the Governor has given the
mayor every opportunity to reply to
the charges launched against him and
may not be accused of taking snap
| judgment. The mayor seems destined
| for dismissal. Nor is this likely to in
| jure the Governor very greatly In his
fight for the electoral votes of New
York State. When the mayor is "out, -"
if he is out. there does not seem much
likelihood that Tammany leaders are
going to break their hearts or their
backs for him Tammany leaders. gen.
orally speaking, will regret that Jimmy
/ I7n loot Ion I1ne ~
Gov Roosevelt should retain the mayor
in office, that would be something else.
1t probably would not help him "up-
State" and certainly would give him
! a black eye out in the country. The
country seems to have a pretty definite
idea that New York City could get
along very well without Mayor Walker.
x 4
President Hoover's acceptance speech
had been set for August IL for long
time, comparatively speaking. Gov.
Roosevelt picked the same date for the
Walker hearing 1t may have been a
coincidence, but it looks very much as
though some one in the Democratic
camp had adroitly set about blanket
ing the publicity which President Hoo
| ver's campaign keynote speech was sure
| to have.
|
MisSouri's primaries have definitely
established once more the fact that the
State has gone wet" This seemed
quite evident after the adoption of the
Republican and Democratic State plat
forms earlier this year. But the re-
markable victory of Col. c. Bennett
Clark, son Of the late Speaker Champ
Clark, in the Democratic senatorial
| Y1YiY11aru ond tho inI,
Henry w. Kiel made of the Republican
gubernatorial primary seem to have
clinched the matter. Kiel, who has
been in the past three times mayor of
st. Louis. is the wetteSt of the wet. and
Col. Clark has campaigned for months
as strong opponent of the eighteenth
amendment. Charles M. Hay. who was
a Democratic nominee for the Senate
in 1923. has long been known as an
| ardent dry He was literally showed un-
der In the race for the senatorial NOM
ination this year, with Clark and q
third candidate, Howell. running away
ahead of him. Howell had the backing
of Tom Pendergast, Democratic boss of
Kansas City. But it did not do him any
good in the end.
X + 4
This prohibition question has a most
upSetting way of cropping out this year
Notwithstanding the ringing cries Of
leaders in both Republican and Demo-
cratic camps that the presidential and
congressional contests will be fought
out on the economic issues The drys
in New York State are threatening
President Hoover, just as they
threatened former Senator James w.
Wadsworth and Tuttle. who ran for
Governor in 1880. They have sent a
memorandum to the White House
pointing out what happened to Wads-
worth when he ran as wet for the
Senate in 1925 and what happened to
Tuttle and the other New York Re-
publicanS who dared to be wet" when
they sought Office New York is a
pivotal State, and the dry Republicans
continue to insist they hold the balance
of power. Perhaps they do. But in
view of what has happened in a lot
| of the States which have hitherto been
rated very dry it would be astounding if
the President should yield to the drys
of New York and declare himself op-
posed to the Republican plank on pro-
hibition and for a continuance of the
noble experiment" without any change
! whatever.
| The announcement that former Sen
ator Wadsworth of New York is a can
didate for the nomination for the House
in the thirty ninth district will be well
come In Washington. Senator WadS-
worth served for a dozen years in the
! Senate and was recognized as one of
the ablest Of its members. His decla-
ration against the eighteenth amend
ment in the 1925 campaign defeated
him, for the drys put an Independent
dry Republican in the field, who took
from Wadsworth nearly 100000 votes
and assured Senator Wagner's victory.
| This put wet Democrat in the Senate.
But the Republican drys wished to pun
ish Wadsworth. They may continue to
| be great asset to the Democratic party
in the Empire State, desiring to rule
or ruin. Wadsworth is running in the
| primary against Representative Archie