Evening star., 1933-07-17
The Political Mill
BY G. Could Lincoln.

eighteenth amendment In two states
of the hitherto dry" South tomorrow,
Alabama and Arkansas. On Thurs
day, the voters in Tennessee, which has
been classed both as border State and
as q Southern State, will determine the
issue Of repeal when they elect dele
gates to q State constitutional conven-
ton. II all three Of these States reg
lister, In their elections this week, in
favor Of repeal, the eighteenth amend
ment may be considered Is dead as q
doornatl, with the question Of ultimate
repeal q matter of months.
The South has been considered the
bulwark Of national prohibition. Until
a year ago, Southern members OF Con-
gress looked upon proposals for repeal
Of the eighteenth amendment and for
the manufacture and sale Of beer and
light wines with a shudder. But that
attitude has been vastly changed. The
election of q Democratic President, on
q wringing wet platform, pledging re-
peal Of the prohibition amendment to
the Conctitution, has made a great
change. In the first place, there has
been growing in the South as in other
sections of the country a feeling that
national prohibition has not been a
success; that 1t has been impossible to
enforce, and that the control Of the
LIQUOR traffic had better be left to the
States themselves instead OF being in
the hands of the Federal Government.
Il ~
In the second place, the South Is. and
has been, strongly Democratic in politics.
The leaders of the Democratic party,
from the President down, have in recent
weeks urged the Democrats Of the South
to rally to the cause Of repeal, which
was pledged without qualification in the
national platform of their party. There
is no denying the fact that such appears
are potent. Furthermore, the Demo-
Gratis who have called upon their breth-
rem in the South to support repeal have
stressed the argument that repeal OF the
eighteenth amendment does not neces-
sariIy mean the return Of the old saloon
They say, indeed, that the Democratic
party is pledged to oppose the saloon,
and that there is no chance whatever
for its resurrection If the Democrats
live up to their pledges.
Five years ago Bishop James Cannon,
jr., and other dry leaders In the South
raised the flag Of prohibition in the
presidential campaign. They were SO
successful that four States Of the South
Virginia, Florida, North Carolina and
Texas-broke away from their tradi-
tional allegiance to the Democratic party
and voted for Herbert Hoover against
Alfred E. Smith. Underlying in this
fight, however, was the religious issue
which was made against Mr.. Smith
with far more telling effect than was
the prohibition issue. Bishop Cannon
has just issued a new appeal to the
South on moral and DELICIOUS grounds
to defeat repeal Of the eighteenth
amendment. He was joined in this ap-
peal by Dr. E. L. Crawford, general sec
retary of the Board Of Temperance and
Social Service of the Methodist Episco-
pal Church South Bishop Cannon and
DR.. Crawford in their appeal say that
the dry Democrats of the South today
met in ls28-moral principles against
party loyalty.
The statement however seeks to
rouse again the religious issue in the
South, with its references to John j.
Raskob, former Democratic national
chairman, who is called "A Roman
Catholic Knight of Columbus" and the
present Democratic national chairman,
Postmaster General James A. Farley,
Columbus" Mr.. Farley, they point out,
has been sending messages into the
South urging the Democrats to support
their national party platform and vote
Tor repeal. Mr.. RaSkob, they say, sought
to muzzle Protestant ministers in the
South in 1928 by threats that contri-
buttons would be withheld for their
support II they did not cease their op-
position to the wet Tamnany candi-
date Alfred Emanuel Smith"
This appeal Of Bishop Cannon and
Dr.. Crawford may be regarded as q
last desperate effort to save the South
to the national prohibition cause. Their
attempt again to inject the religious
issue Is similar to their tactics five years
ago How effective 1t will prove re-
mains to be seen. The elections in Ala
bama and Arkansas tomorrow will tell
the tale. The repealists declare their
entire confidence that they will win
In both these States, and indeed, in
every State whether vote Is permitted,
even II it were Kansas, the very sun.
flower Of prohibition. The desper-
ateness OF the cause Of national pro-
ninition can easily be gauged when Gov.
Ginord Pinchot OF Pennsylvania, who
mas been the dry political leader Of the
East and North par excellence, permits
nlmseif TO be quoted as saying that the
repeal wave Is irresistible at this time,
what Will happen after the repeal of
the eighteenth amendment? The drys
are not likely to sit down and let things
drag along. They will seek If they can
TO make prohibition again a political
issue OF importance. Should the old
saloon with its attendant evils return
IN some Of the States, the issue will
be made for them. The vets them
selves, by their conduct Of the LIQUOR
trafnc and Of themselves after repeal,
VIII determine the issue very largely,
mat veteran dry leader, Mrs. Ella A.
Boole. president Of the Woman's Chris
tan Temperance Union, while ex-
pressing herself as not confident that
repeal can be blocked, insists that the
ngnt 1or temperance-and in her mind
that means prohibition of the use of
aiconohc beverages-will 60 on and on.
And she Is probably quite correct. The
which the peoples Of the earth and
government has wrestled down through
the ages. It is not likely to stop now,
with the repeal Of national prohibition.
The effort undoubtedly will be made
to keep individual States dry, to keep
the counties and municipalities dry.
Normally, says Mrs. Boole in an In
terv1ew in her Brooklyn home in New
York, there are eighteen or twenty
States which are opposed to repeal. But
she said that the patronage club
welded by the Postmaster General Far
ley and the Democratic administration
Is likely to prove too strong, and she
fears that the necessary thirteen States
to block repeal may not be found. II
there are eighteen or twenty States out
OF the entire forty-eight which favor
continuance Of national prohibition, as
Mrs. Boole says. the wets viii ask why
on earth they should be permitted to
lay down the law for the other thirty
or twenty.eight States which do not
favor national prohibition.
\
II repeal takes place this year or
early in 1894 the congressional elections
next year are likely to be strangely
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