Evening star., 1932-08-24
"On Common Ground

statement to press representatives yes
terday afternoon promising to President
Hoover the support Of the allied dry
forces a puzzled correspondent observed
that you send US away with grave
doubts as to whether you are wet or
dry" This, the reports say, left DR..
Polling laughing heartily
The correspondents confusion was
natural If one still attempts to sppraise
"wetness" and "dryness" by standards
that we're accepted until a few hours
before the Republican National Con-
~vertion. But the standards have
changed. President Hoover is con-
sidered by Dr. Polling as "decisively,
personally and politically, dry But
Judged by old standards that still apply.
in the opinion of such organizations as
the Anti-Saloon League, the Women's
Christian Temperance Union and the
Methodist Board of Temperance, Pro-
hibition and Public Morals, President
Hoover is no longer a dry. 1T is re-
mSIEDCICu wIlIl hlldb uSbCA ASfcbAOAA VAN
Democratic and Republican supporters
of Mr.. Hoover served his cause in
1925" today's statement from the
Methodist board declares. 1T must
have been with a heavy heart that
the President turned from these
loyal friends and struck hands with
their enemies and the enemies OF the
eighteenth amendment"
DR.. Polling and his followers may be
said to represent the new order of drys
who have taken the politically signif1-
cant action of formally recognizing the
President as one of them. They oc-
cupy, according to the Presidents letter
to DR.. Polling, common ground in q
desire to rid this civilization Of the
evils OF the liquor traffic" The method
chosen to attain this end may separate
them. I'VE may not all agree on
method" the President said, "as / have
come to The belief that we must,
through constructive and not destructive
changes, revive the energies Of the
States to deal with the new evils, with
Federal constitutional guarantees against
the return of the old" But this diff
ference in method is not enough to
ALLEVIATE the group for whom Dr.. Pol
ing speaks. I'm the strategy of this
campaign" said DR.. Polling, we have
decided to support Mr.. Hoover, with
nf nnininn tn
the legislative program which will be
supported during the next Congress.
-" We have said in every State OF
the Union that we are for the eight
eenth amendment and for liberty with
law"
The Methodist Board Of Temperance,
Prohibition and Public Morals says to-
day that it would be idle to deny"
that President Hoover's proposal for
a change in the prohibition laws has
been bitterly disappointing, and con-
cludes that Vice President Curtis is the
only candidate to whom "commenda-
ton can be given"
And what it all amounts to seems TO
be this: The President will receive from
the new group of drys their support be-
cause he represents, to them, the adVo-
cate of the common cause, which is TO
rid this civilization of the evils OF the
liquor traffic" The Vice President-and
therefore the Republican ticket-Wlll
receive the support of the old group OF
drys, because he stands for what they
stand for, which is the retention CT the
eighteenth amendment. And in the
congressional districts, and in the halls
of Congress after the election, both old
and new drys will work, first, to the
end that If an amendment is submitted
1t will not confine the question to enc
of retention or repeal; secondly, after
the amendment is submitted, they will
work in the States for retention OF the
eighteenth amendment, which means
defeat OF the proposal fer the new
modifying" amendment. That is the
apparent position of the drys, provided,
Of course, that their leaders in their
stotepoertS rep-esent the drVS