Evening star., 1932-08-28
Text of Roosevelt Speech
Eyasions on Prohibition Charged to Hoover and
Cmrtis-Temperanee Declared Best Promoted by
State Control-Tax Relief Seen in Repeal.

I did not In this campaign continue to
speak very plainly of these evasions, in
Sincerities and deceptions. AS I have
repeatedly pointed out, Republican lead
ers are attempting to fight this battle
with words. And in fighting with words
We may use them either as a flaming
sword, frankly, honestly and with cour-
age to press home the cause of truth
or we may use them as shields, to turn
aside, evade and obstruct the attack of
an adversary.
1t is in this latter sense that the Re-
publicanS have been fighting a battle
of words. Now shield is bigger thing
than a sword and so when they would
use words as defense, they must use
more of them. Witness the Republican
platform-long, indirect, ambiguous, in
sincere, false, compared with the con-
else sincerity of our own platform. And
this is especially true Of what they say
about prohibition.
Rambling Platform Seen.
We first have a long, rambling party
pronouncement in the Republican plat
form, and then we have long, RAM
bling explanations of its meaning.
Words upon words, evasionS upon eva
slons. Insincerity upon insincerity. A
dense cloud of words. We rush into the
cloud to find whether there is mean
ing and substance at the bottom of it
all and We find nothing. When we
emerge from the cloud we see another
in the distance and we rush over to
that. And again we find nothing. And
so we rush from cloud to cloud and
find at the bottom of each nothing but
dust-meaningleSS, worthless duSt-at
the bottom of cloud of words.
One of the stories that we learned in
our youth was that of the famous oracle
of Delphi. In ancient Greece, 1t is told,
there was a place where volcanic gas
came forth from q crevasse in the earth.
Over this crevaSse the pagans built a
temple and directly above the fumes
arising from the earth they set the
throne of the oracle. When the oracle
was partially stupefied by the poisons
in the gas she uttered strange and in
coherent words. The high priests of
the temple were supposed to tell the
people the meaning of these incoherent
words. The people never suspected
the priests were not possessed of a
real understanding Of these words and
that they interpreted them to suit their
own convenience. But great issues were
decided by this method Pagan kings
CdIllc W Ille VI dCle anu OH us ulCO-
herent mumblings the fate Of nations
was sometimes staked.
Describes G. o. p. Oracle.
In June the Republican oracle sat in
Chicago. There was a furne of heated
oratory; clouds of prohibition proposals
were emitted. The Resolutions Com
mittee and the convention itself sue
cumbed to the Supplying influence. 1t
uttered words in the party platform
words and more words-till meaning
was lost and reason slumbered. And
then when the convention ended and
the people asked the high priests of the
party what it all meant, the answers
were so diverse that one was tempted
to suspect the worst-that it meant
nothing at all. The Secretary of State
explained in the choicest phrases of
Republican diplomacy; Senator Borah
spoke out in his fortnight fashion and
said 1t sounded wet to him; President
Butler said the words were dry.
I suspect that those who wrote that
plank thought it would sound dry to
the drys and wet to the vets. But, to
the CONSERVATION Of the high priests, it
sounded dry to the vets and wet to the
drys. This was very serious, indeed.
ASOiAiCOAAAAl6 44dO W DC uOIlG ABOUT u,
Well, something was done about it
The Democratic party fairly and square
ly met the issue. 1t adopted, by ar
overwhelming vote, a plank so plain
and clear and honest that no one could
doubt its meaning and the candidates
accepted this statement 100 per cent. e
Plain Speaking Extolled.
And then public opinion, moved by a
true American admiration for brave
and honest statement, expressed itself
in no uncertain terms. 1t liked the
Democratic platform. 1t liked people
who spoke their minds. It liked courage
and candor. This must have been dis
turbing to the high priests of the Re-
publican party, but, as always, they
hesitated and temporized And then in
the six weeks following the Democratic
convention, vast air of expectancy
! surrounded the White House. Rumors
came forth that the high priests were to
speak. People were to be told at last
the meaning of what the June oracle
had said.
There were difficulties in the way, be-
cause the high priests had often spoken
Of this subject before. In 1928 the
Republican candidate for the presidency
said: Il do not favor the repeal of the
eighteenth amendment; and, amplify-
ing his meaning at that time, he added
that 1t was "a great social and economic
experiment, noble in motive and far
reaching in purpose"
| He brought about the creation of thu
Commission on Law Enforcement anc
obedience composed of IAN able grouI
of distinguished citizens of character
and independence of thought, repre-.
sentative of different sections of thu
country" When after l8 months O.
sincere and painstaking work, this com
mission reported its findings to him, h,
submitted the report to the Congress
commencing all Of the minor finding
of the commission, but not approving o
the commissions proposed revision O
the eighteenth amendment.
Charges Praise Was Faint.
He condemned the report with fain
praise, thus: 1T should stimulate tn
Qualification Of the public mind and tn
advancement Of public thought" I
did stimulate and clarity the publ
mind to the extent that it showed
that what it had long suspected wa
true, that national prohibition had no
been and could not be enforced. Blu
it apparently did not stimulate an
clarity the presidential mind becaus
the White House, SO far as prohibition
was concerned, fell into deep silence
AS the Republican convention approach
ed, according to the newspapers of tn
time, appeal after appeal was made t
him and innumerable drafts of a pro
hibition plank were submitted to him
Out of it all came the incoherent utter
ance of the Chicago oracle to which
have alluded.
At last, on the 18th day of August
the President spoke to the people. T
any one who will read the prohibition
plank in the Republican platform an
the remarks of the President on thi
question in his acceptance speech, tn
difficulty under which the Presiden
} labors will become obvious and tn
} reason for his use of meaningless word
will become clear. 1t is the difficult
that always attends sacrificing princi
Piles for votes, and attempting to con