• U.S.

POLITICAL NOTES: Oct. 29, 1923

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TIME

On Oct. 22 the Princeton University Press issued Woodrow Wilson’s Case for the League of Nations, a compilation in book form of the ex-President’s explanations of the League Covenant and Versailles Treaty. Mr. Wilson authorized its issuance.

At Brockton, Mass., before a state convention of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, Mrs. Elizabeth Tilton exclaimed:

“In a recent raid by dry agents in Philadelphia some of the bottles bore [Secretary Andrew W.] Mellon’s name. Think of it, a man who holds one of the most honored places in the Federal Government indulging in the illicit liquor traffic. . . .

“It is men like Secretary of the Treasury Mellon who are every day lessening America’s chances to launch on a great new era, free from the shackles of the liquor traffic.

“Federal Prohibition Enforcement Agent Haynes has been hampered in his work by interference from those contemptible lawbreakers. His hands are tied and I move that this convention send a letter to President Calvin Coolidge begging him in the name of humanity to move the prohibition enforcement unit from the authority of the Treasury Department.”

With great enthusiasm the motion was carried, and letters sent to President Coolidge and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge.

Plans are under way for a National Republican Club in Washington—a large modern building around 14th and K Streets, or thereabouts. It is planned to invest several million dollars, raised chiefly by the disposition of thousands of five-dollar nonresident memberships among Republicans all over the country. It would provide accommodations for sleeping, eating, banqueting, exercising, convening. It would have apartments for Republican officeholders in the Capital, and a special section of the building would be set aside for female Republicans. The undertaking of the project is said to be imminent. Harry M. Daugherty, Edward F. Colladay (Republican National Committeeman for D. C.) and Charles Dick (former Senator from Ohio) are mentioned as “prime movers.”

Senator George H. Moses of New Hampshire toured through twelve states, returned to Washington, set forth his conclusions: That the Volstead Act is “a jackass statute. Any law that declares buttermilk to be an alcoholic beverage, of necessity is a jackass statute.” That the country and Congress would vote Dry—except for New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. That “Governor Pinchot [page 5] has endeared himself to the hardware trade with his talk of padlocks [for saloon doors]. I predict there will be a boom in that commodity in the Keystone State.” Senator Oscar W. Underwood of Alabama is the only Democratic candidate whose boom for the Presidential nomination is openly and actively under way. His enterprising political manager issued an “Underwood map” of the U. S., in which ten Southern states are marked “The Great White House Desert.” These states (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas) have 37% of the country’s farms (valued at $15,000,000,000), and a population of 24,242,381. But in 135 years “The Great White House Desert” has had no President and only two Vice Presidents (John C. Calhoun, S. C., under President J. Q. Adams, and William R. King, N. C., under President Pierce). The White House is marked: ” Closed Always to Ten Southern States—by Order of the Politicians. Open after June, 1924—by Order of the People”.

“You can’t sell sentiment—not in Washington,” shouted a perspiring auctioneer as he knocked down for only $45 a mahogany sofa, two armchairs and one other chair—all upholstered in velour. He was conductting the sale of the furniture of 2314 Wyoming Ave., Washington, D. C., formerly the home of Senator Warren G. Harding, of Ohio. The furnished house was sold by the late President and recently resold, which caused the auction of the furniture. The prices paid for Mr. Harding’s belongings were commensurate with their intrinsic rather than sentimental value.

The Board of Temperance of the Methodist Church told with remarkable candor its private opinion of several members of the Administration:

“Mr. Mellon, however fit a Secretary of the Treasury he may be, should not have the responsibility of prohibition enforcement. Neither by conviction nor inclination is he fitted for that responsibility.”

“Commissioner of Internal Revenue Blair knows politics, but prohibition enforcement is not in the sphere of politics, and particularly of petty politics.”

“President Coolidge is an honest man. He wants to see the law enforced. The time has come for him to see that it is enforced, and to see to it personally.”

“Haynes [Prohibition Commissioner] is an honest man and a man of ability. He is a sincere prohibitionist and, if permitted, could do the country a service. He is not being permitted.”

In Oklahoma, the Lower House of the Legislature made preparations for impeaching Governor Walton (TIME, Oct. 1, Oct. 8). With about 90 out of 107 legislators against the Governor, there was little doubt that the House would demand the Governor’s removal. The Investigating Committee held its sessions in secret.

When the charges are filed with the State Senate, which will act as Court of Impeachment, the Governor will be suspended until action is taken. Meanwhile Mr. Walton refuses to resign.

The Legislature passed a resolution for the investigation of the Ku Klux Klan demanded by the Governor. A motion to expel members of the Klan from the House was defeated.

In Oregon a petition was circulated for the recall of Governor Walter Pierce. To bring the matter to a vote 45,000 signatures are required. In a few days the petition had 25,000 signatures.

Mr. Pierce is a Democrat elected, with Ku Klux Klan support, last year when the Republican Party was divided among itself. Since taking office he has not given the Klan patronage. It was reported that the petition was spite work on the Klan’s part, and that, when enough signatures were secured to the petition, it might be kept unfiled, as a club over the Governor’s head.

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