Evening star., 1932-06-09
The Political Mill
By C.. Could Lincoln.

1t took q world war to get the United
States into prohibition; It apparently
is taking q world depression to get the
country out of prohibition. Had times
remained good, there would have been
little threat to political leaders and
the political party in power, and with
little threat to the party in power the
anti prohibition movement would have
made, in all probability. little progress
compared to what has happened. The
effort Is made by political leaders to
keep prohibition divorced from politics.
1t cannot be done. Even If both the
Republican and Democratic National
Conventions wrote into their national
platforms identical planks declaring for
resubmission Of the eighteenth amend
ment, prohibition would still continue
to be a dominant political issue in the
coming campaign. 1t would be an is
sue because the vets and the drys
would compel each candidate for House
and Senate to say whether he stood
for repeal of the eighteenth amend
ment or preferred its retention. Fur
thermore, it has long been well under
stood that the Democrats will nomi-
nate as their candidate for President
a supporter Of repeal of the eighteenth
amendment. No dry need apply at the
Democratic National Convention. which
meets June 27 in Chicago. The Re
publican candidate for President has
so far given no indication that he in
tends TO support repeal Of the eight
zenith amendment.
With the gathering OF the Republican
National Committee in Chicago today
preparatory to the opening of the G.
o. p National Convention there on
Tuesday. the prohibition issue thrusts
itself still more prominently forward.
For within few days the Republicans
must determine whether they will ac-
cede to a mounting demand for resub-
mission of the eighteenth amendment
or whether they will stand by the
ardent drys and refuse to pledge the
G. 0. p. to such program. The argu-
ment of the dryS is that the proponents
OF resubmission do not propose any
alternative plan for the present control
of liquor They are mistaken. The
proponents of resubmission are for re-
peal, and repeal means return to State
instead of national control of the liquor
trafic 1t will be for the individual
States to determine-juSt as 1t was
before the eighteenth amendment was
adopted-whether liquor traffic should
be permitted and how controlled. The
Federal Government would levy a tax
on alcoholic beverages. 1t would un-
dertake to see that dry States were
protected from a flood of liquor from
their wet neiehbcrs That. however. i
as far as the Federal Government would
go. TIE ban ag2inrt the saloon would
have to be applied bv the individual
State, If it desired su"h ban.
x K
John D. Rocl-ofe jr. whose recen.
l-tt0r 70 DR.. Ni"ho'cT Murray Bntle-~.
~u~r-rt ne an o,lt-and-o''t repeal nlan';
- the Penublican ra.io"al Platform
has aroused tremendous interest, and
-. vcj hi7 grasp of thu situation 50
io- - tho draft Of substitute for the
"'~i7tc"nth amendment is concerned
H lid:
"Ir my Judgment 1t will be so diff
cul- for orr people to agree in advance
CT r'f"+ TIC substitute should be and
81 r1li':e'r that anv one method will
At The ortire N"t'c" that repor1 viii
r" FIR Ices possible if coupled with an
"''-rretn measure For that reason
e" more strongly approve the simple.
c'9ar-cut position You Or. But;e-) arr
r-T~Hs.:l" TO recommend and which I
sh~n count it not only duty but a
pr1"icgc 10 support"
No rI":tc~ what kind Of iockeying is
Core With the national Platform Of the
Republican and Democratic parties on
the matter of prohibition. resubmisscn
or repeal in the final analysis the
members of Congress who battle for
renomir alton end reelection will have
to tell their constituents whether thny
are for repeal or against it. It is thn
Congressman who hes tn" cay VII her
a proposal for reDeel sholl b. subr''t II
to the States. Undo" the Constitr'i7n
a revision or amendment of the Cen
stitution originates when the Congress
by two-thirdS vote r"crtT resolution
proposing such an smnndrcnt to the
Constitution. And in the congressional
elections the battle will be won or lost
for repeal.
The first OF the "Progressives" Of the
Senate TO come up for reelection this
year has been defeated for denomination
Senator Smith w. Brookhart of Iowa
The conservative Republicans in Wis
consin are to take a shot this year at
Senator John j. Blaine. and out in
North Dakota they will seek to unhorse
Senator Gerald P. Nye. The conserva-
tive outfit has taken first blood" and
has set people to wondering If in these
hard times the country is not really
growing more conservative and less
radical minded. more ready to protect
what they have left than to take
chance Of getting further into trouble
by following after will 90 the wisp
panaceas proposed by the Progressives.
In Wisconsin primaries not so long ago
the conservative Republicans won a
victory electing majority Of the dele
gates to the Republican National Con-
vention. This hadn't been done for
years. The Progressives say it was be-
cause SO manv ~oters went into the
Democratic primary If these continue
to vote with the Democrats. however.
they will not help Mr.. Blaine next
September.
The wet-and-dry issue did not crop
up openly in the fight between Senator
Brookhart and Henry Field. the seed
man in the Iowa senatorial primary.
Field has been considered dry. But
there is reason to believe that some of
the vets in Iowa took an opportunity
to rap at Senator Brookhart, who has
been the dryest of the dry in the Sen
ate for mariy years. The Democrats
have nominated Louis Murphy for the
Senate, newspaper publisher in Du-
buque, widely known and considered a
strong candidate. He is wet Muir
ply walked away from former Senator
Steck in the Democratic primary But
despite the fact that the turnout in
the Democratic primary was larger
than Tor years, Iowa locks to be Re-
publican State next November.
OF more concern to the drys how
ever. Was the primary for the Demo-
CT attic senatorial nomination in North
Carolina. There wet, Robert r. Rey-
nolds, took Senator Cameron Morrison
for ride" No one not even Brook
hart, has been dryer than Morrison. On
July 2 there is to be a second primary.
with Reynolds opposing Morrison and
all other candidates out of the picture
The candidates who ran third and
fourth in the receOt urinary arc re-