Evening star., 1932-06-27
By the Associated Press.

]
CHICAGO, June 27.-In a keynote
speech briStling with denunciation of
the Hoover administration, Senator
Alben W. Barkley today urged the Dem
ocratic National Convention to favor a
vote by the people on repeating the
eighteenth amendment and called upon
the Nation to turn the Republicans out
! of Office.
Describing the Republican plank on
! prohibition as "a promiscuous agglom-
grafton of scrap lumber" the Kentuckian
said the Democrats should recommend
passage of congressional resolution
be voted on by State conventions chosen
solely for that purpose.
Barley denounced the Republicans
and President Hoover for the "exor-
bitant and irdefensible rates" Of the
Smoot- t-Hawley tariff act and promised
| to lift tariff -making above the Sordid
processes Of log-rollers and back
scratchers"
Farm Policy Denounced.
He excoriated the administration
farm policy and said the Democrats
would undertake ito remove from the
shoulders of agriculture a portion of the
| unnatural burden which it bears be-
cause others have been able to shift it
there through special legislation in
their own behalf"
| Paying his respects to the Hoover ad-
ministration, the keynoter recalled that
the President "and his Republican Con-
! gress took charge of the Government"
on March 4, 1929, and added:
But every prediction, every promise,
every assurance made by them to obtain
votes has turned to ashes in their
hands, and every pretenSe has been ex-
posed in all its naked affectation
Agriculture has continued its col
lapse. Industry has languiShed beyond
any previous record. Credit has been
restricted until finance and productive
enterprise are frightened and stagnant
and there is constantly marching a
greater army of unemployed men and
women in search of honest toll than
has ever been experienced by this OF
any other nation"
Mismanagement Charged.
There is nothing wrong with this
republic" he added, except that it has
been mismanaged, exploited and de-
| moralized for more than a decade by a
leadership incomparably short-sighted
and bereft of true craftsmanship, in
capable OF understanding and dealing
WIN fundamental causes, and incapable
even now in the midst of its fearful
havoc OF understanding the extent OF
its own mischief"
Declaring that we must by a major
operation remove from the body of oul
Nation and the world, both of which are
SICK and detected, the dead flesh and
decayed bones resulting from I2 years
OF Republican quackery," Barkley con-
tinued:
We must apply to the hopeful
out msused patient the recuperative
processes Of democracy which for q
century and half has responded to
the emergencies which have always
Deset us at the end Of every period oi
Republican control which lasted lone
enough for its virus to take effect"
Should Uphold DRY Law.
! Concerning the eighteenth amend
ment, Barkley said: so long as it is a
part" Of the Constitution no citizen oi
the republic has legal or moral right
to violate it," and added:
Whatever may be the divergent views
OF men and women on the merits OF
dement's Of the eighteenth amendment
as a national policy, it is inconceiyabls
that this or any other part of the Con-
stitution Of the United States should
apply to only part and not the whole
OF the American Nation. That great
instrument declares that this Constitu.
ton and the laws made in pursuance
thereof shall be the supreme law of the
land But it cannot be the supreme
law Of the land If it can be abrogateo
by the people of part of the land while
remaining in force over the rest oi
them. Such a conception DESTROYS the
very nature and structure of the Con.
stltution, for if it can be made thus tC
qualify one Of its provisions it may bt
made TO qualify all OF them This wculC
be the end OF the Constitution itself.
Under these circumstances this con
vention owes it to the people of thi
Nation 10 make its declaration upoI
this subject clear, understandable ant
unequlVocal. There is no reason VIII,
the people should be deceived or de
luded. TlAre is no reason why a po
htica4 declaration should look in ever.
direction and see nothing.
Expression for the People.
In order, therefore. to obtain tn
present will of the American people OF
this subject of universal controversy
this convention should in the platform
here to be adopted recommend the pas
sage by Congress Of resolution re
pealing the eighteenth amendment ant
. its submission TO the people of tn
States through conventions whose dele
gates shall be chosen upon this issu
alone
t IF the people are to pass again
upon this question, let them pass upol
it in such bald, naked and unequivoca
terms as to make their decision intel
ligent and certain.
IF their verdict shall be In favor o