Evening star., 1932-06-18
|RURAL AND URBAN
| G. 0. P. SPLIT SEEN
Strong Divergence Noted in
Vote on Prohibition
by Convention.
BY WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE.

Special Dispatch TO The Star.
CHICAGO. June 18 N,AN.A).-
From perspective, the Republican con-
vention Of 1892 begins to loom and as
! sumo proportions. In even this slight
OF turmoil and becomes less an hys-
terical event. Time crystallizes the
| thing.
When 1t was present the convention
| seemed an interminable series Of un-
| important episodes without reality. In
| side, the color. clash and clack, with
men sitting doggedly and walking aim
lessly and talking futilely. acting wildly
or merely multiplying their monOtonous
personalities by the thousands. all jum-
| bled into meaningless presence, did
| not signify much.
Outside the convention in corridors,
| in hotel rooms and on Michigan Boule-
ward, a million meetings and partings
| and greetings, gossipings. Wrangling and
| intriguingS, lying, spying and crying
aloud about the trivia Of d changing
situation, seemed 10 reveal no reality
1t was purely phantasmagoria. Now
that 1t is all set and petrifled in the past
the thing reveals itself as an event
that means something in American
history.
Part Of American Progress.
Here two men were named for PreSi-
dent and Vice President by major
party and for four or five months they
must hold the spotlight and under the
spotlight work out by their thoughts
and words and deeds, plans and dreams
the destiny of the American people as
it effects one Of the great parties In
the country And whether that party
wins or loses. the convention and the
candidates become a part OF the trend
of American life and progress.
Moreover. the Republican convention
put forth platform which shall be
the political creed either OF a majority
or minority Of the American people
while the campaign is III progress ana
may be the course OF action which
President will follow for four years.
At least the platform Will be guide
for whatever minority or opposition We
NAV have to the incoming government
If the Republicans fail. So the con-
yention which seemed nothing but an
irrelevant. intangible and only the
filmsiest Of vast pretenSes, was III truth
and fact something that Will have a
line or part Of d line in the story OF
America. Men will say at least that
here. at this Republican convention
after l. years Of trial, national prom
bition found its first rest.tement under
the experience that comes with trial
and error.
Held Minor Issue.
In perspective one sees this curious
thing. That to those who made the
prohibition plank, to those most re-
sponsble for its form and lor us
phraseology. 1t seemed minor issue
They were irritated that 1t had IN
truded into the convention. They were
interested in economic measures. They
were battied and alarmed by the state
IF the Nation quite apart from prohlpl-
ton
To their opponents. the repealers
prohibition loomed large. 1t seemed a
vital question beside which the passing
phase of economic status was as
nothing.
Those on both sides Of the question
were good Americans-inteilgen SEN
sitiye uuquestionably sincere-but those
whom We call the vets felt that IN the
prohibition issue was a question OF
liberty, question OF government,
question affecting a way OF life.
To the new dryS who were willing 10
restate the eighteenth amendment in
ltllllS OI tADti o'Nii
a matter OF expediency Of no more than
passing moment. They were Hamll-
tonans. They accepted the right OF
Federal Government TO prohibit the
sale OF intoxicating liquor as they ac-
cept the right of government to pro-
hibit the sale OF narcotics, the sale OF
uninSpe cted meat. of Short-Welght gro
ccries and certain poiSonS. or to make
legal offenseS out of lotteries and OF
scores of pleasant diversions Of man
kind which experience had proved are
socially Improbable.
With the drys it was a question OF
how best to do it. With the vets it
was a protest against doing it at all.
This explains why the viCtors in the
only dramatic issue before the conven-
ton felt no particular pride III victory,
and had small understanding Of the re-
sentiment and bitterness under defeat
which ragged in the hearts of the re-
pealerS.
Regarded Unreal Fight.
The drys would vastly have preferred
to ignore the whole prohibition Ques-
tion and lock horns about some real
iSSue-the World Court or the Recon-
Struction Finance Corporation, or repa-
rationS. or the tariff. Indeed. to these
IlSN ulSS d 4lSilI Oh pIOIl4D4t4OlI SeelleO
as vaguely unreal as though suddenly
the colored delegates had brought up
the question of the Marines in Haiti
and waXed passionate about it.
History should note this difference Of
emotional attitudes 1t is Illuminating
1t explains why prohibition came and
why it will stay i'll many rural States
where men habitualy try to legallze
their morals
Two facts seem significant in ana
lying the vote on prohibition. First.
the vets are jubilant over the discovery
that the dryS won their victory With
the Southern States as Taft III 1912 and
Hanna III 1896 owed much Of their con-
vention strength to the controlled dele
gates from States which do not yield
Republican majorities. The fact wrecked
Taft; it cost Mckinley and Hanna a
pretty penny in the campaign.
Empty Victory"
But another fact looms up-only II
States voted with the vets, leaving 81
States to the dryS The significance
of this fact lies in the American Con-
stitution, which requires that at least
SO States must be rallied to the wet
cause before the vets can change the
Constitution and repeal the hated
amendment
Moreover, the Senators from these
81 States. or from even fewer States.
can prevent the passage of any amend
ment through Congress which is not
satisfactory to the leaders of the dry
cause.
If the repealers had won their issue
in the convention and still lacked votes
enough in Congress, their victory would
have been empty. Repeal conceivably
may win the election by producing a
majority of the electoral college. But if
it fails to produce a Constitutional ma