Evening star., 1932-07-05

The Sumter Is. CO Item: I'VE believe
it (the repeal plank will strengthen the
party enormously"
The Dallas (Tex) Journal: "The
party will have to stage its hardest
fights In these (Southern) States"
The Memphis CTenn.1 Commercial
| Appeal: THE Democrats deserve victory
| on their platform alone The only GER
| tainty in the Republican liquor plank
is the overlordship of the Federal Gov
ernment IN the control Of police regu-
laton. The menace involved will make
many Southerners, regardless OF their
belief about prohibition, think hard"
Opinions Differ Widely.
The Shreveport Oa) Times says the
repeal plank "gives the Nation what it
wants" while the Marshall CTex.) Mes
senger declares the convention voted
to split the party wide open" and the
Charlottesville (va.) Daily Progress
took middle course by predicting that
Bishop Cannon probably would join the
Republicans again, but apparently with
vastly less brave display than four
years ago"
While some papers, including the Re-
publican Colorado Springs (Colo) Ga
zette, declare the Democrats did what
the Republican convention wanted to
90, many among the most stanch pro-
hioit1on advocates assert that both ma
tlonal conventions were unduly inf1u-
enced by wet galleries and the excite
ment Of the moment.
The Hoquiam (Wash.) Washsngtonian
declares the repeal plank was adopted
IN wave Of hysteria" and predicts
that more sober days will come" Sim
ilarly, the Stockton (Calif.) Independent
reters TO the Democratic convention as
having Deen swept of its feet by wet
oratory, and the Rochester On. W
Democrat and Chronicle complains that
dry sentiment among the delegates was
given no opportunity to express itself"
A Few, like the Denver (Colo) Post.
hlIlI at well organized wet lobby.
Inc democrats need money and lots
OF 1t to finance their 1892 Campaign %
says the Post, "and the only source of
revenue they can find is the booze
interests, which are willing to spend
millions in a fight to repeal prohibition. !"
Unalarmed by Stampede.
The Cincinnati (ohio) Times Star is
not worried whether the conventions
were stampeded. It says:
THE country was stampeded into
prohibition; 1t is fair enough that it
should be stampeded out"
The attention given prohibition by
both conventions, at the expense of
pressing economic problems, arouses
wide indignation, particularly among
the dry editors.
Both platforms are wrong in giving
so much weight to liquor" says the
Detroit (Mich) News. The much
smaller Washington (Ind) Herald
be disposed Of, but it is nothing short
Of colossal crime that it is being allowed
to push all other considerations into
the background"
In the same vein the Yuma (Ariz)
Sentinel observes that at will be fine
for the politicians if they can slip the
voters q little beer and make them
forget their troubles" and the Ana
helm (Calif) Bulletin bemoans the
turn Of affairs as follows:
1T seems unreal, impossibly un-
American and almost ludicrous that the
people of this country should in these
times Of stress be seeking with such
flendish determination to restore alco-
hol to its throne. What a country!
What q situation!"
The friends of national prohibition,
on the one side, and its enemies ON
with the sharpness of their words of
commendation and condemnation.
Repeal Plank Hailed.
"The Democratic repeal plank is
sign of the return of common sense"
says the Youngstown (ohio) Vindicator.
'The first definite and decisive step to-
ward national prosperity" is the way
the Seattle (Washl Daily Times speaks
OF the repeal Endorsement. Says the
Philadelphia (Pa) Record, mo citi-
zen could ask more" The Baltimore
Md Evening Sun applauds: Down
with spies; up with beer In essence,
that is the prohibition plank the Demo-
cratic party adopted. All honest men
will rejoice"
And on the other side Of the ques-
ton: I'm adopting the repeal plank, the
Democratic convention took an ex-
| tremely unwise STEP" says the Chata-
nooga (Tenn) News. 1.-The situation is
the result of a huge expenditure of
money on the part of men who expect
TO reap rich harvest from the traffic
II 1t is restored, and overconfidence on
the part Of the drys," joins in the Ada
(Okla.) Evening News.
Many Of those who protest against
the Democratic repeal plank believe,
with the Albuquerque IN. Mex Morn
ing Journal that the proposal contains
no real safeguards and that "the saloon
would return" r.
Repeal of prohibition means a re-
turn of the saloon" insists the Wheel
ing (W. Va) News. THE Democratic
plank does not in fact provide against
return of the saloon and the evils of
an unregulated liquor traffic" agrees
the Syracuse IN. " Post Standard.
The New York, (NY) Daily News, on
the other hand. complains because the
Democrats advised against return of
the saloon at all, asking why and State
which wants the old days back should
not be permitted to have them.
Looks Only to Congress.
A point overlooked by many editors
Is made by the Cumberland, (Md.)
Daily News when it says: 1.-THE national
conventions do not write constitutional
amendments. These are prepared by
Congress. The issue Is so indubitably
injected into the campaign this year
that no candidate in either branch can
afford to pussyfoot on it"
OD JHe same CllcHle, blCOOI MuTu
Wichita, CKans.) Eagle asks everybody
interested again to remember that the
issue itself cannot be launched before
the Nation except by Congress"
Whatever the merits of the whole
discussion, and whatever the outcome,
the editors agreed by the hundreds that
real prohibition war impends, and
that it will not be over soon. The edi-
torial estimates of the time it will take
to arrive at any decision on constitu-
tional prohibition range from to 10
years.
Meantime, it is unanimous, too, that
prohibition Is now an integral part Of
the partisan political set-up of the
country, a circumstance which the
Peoria Gllinois) Journal sees fit to de-
scribe thus:
The Nation has suffered from prohi-
bition as a moral issue. 1t now bids