BABES IN THE HOOVER WOOD
Anderson, Paul Y.
Babes in the Hoover Wood By Paul Y. Anderson in The Nation WASHINGTON. June 21 — Those babes in the wood who professed to believe up to the last fateful hour that Herbert Hoover would "prove his...
...He signed it because the interests that wanted it...
...THE MORROW .VOTE Ambassador Morrow's aucccsa In the Jersey senatorial primary proved what most people already know...
...and would profit by it, and by whose lobbyists many of its principal schedules were, written will exercise a powerful, .if not the controlling, influence in the next Republican national convention and will supply the bulk of Republican campaign funds in the next Presidential campaign...
...In other words...
...It also proves that the Republican voters who took the trouble to vote preferred Mr...
...Morrow to the rival wet candidate whose chief title to fame wns that as United States senator he was a close friend of Warren Gamaliel Harding's...
...Hoover is more interested in party success than in the preservation of the Eighteenth Amendment, or tftat he is eager to secure Morrow in the bonds of obligation before the little man from New Jersey becomes too big...
...Whether Representative Franklin Fort was projected into the race in a deliberate effort to forestall just such a development may be more accurately determined when we sec what happens to Mr...
...Was this the result of two great minds being' reconciled on the issues...
...Hoover was nominated and elected on a platform promising maintenance and enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment...
...Ruth Hanna McCormick when she was nominated, although she is Just as good a Republican as Mr...
...Writing in The Nation of March 26, your humble cor-icspondcnt stated: I venture to forecast that no matter what form the bill finally takes, it will prove to be the v?ry bill that he [President Hoover] wanted all along, and that its enactment in the form in which it finally Is enacted will be hailed as vindicating his leadership...
...If presently he receives a dignified appointment in the Administration, jaundiced persons will be tempted to regard it as his solace and reward for making the great sacrifice...
...It Is one of the worst, evils of the prohibition situation that It penults political wels anri rlrys nlike...
...nnmel;,, that New Jersey is strongly opposed to the 18th amendment...
...Despite the State's admitted wetness the stunning size of Morrow's plurality has vastly aggravated official doubts concerning the popularity of the Noble Experiment, and, infinitely more alarming, it has established Morrow beyond doubt all cavil as the most formidable potential rival of Hoover for the He-publican nomination in 1932...
...The White House case ot prjckly lirnt has not b;:cn improved by Dwight Morrow's spectacular victory in New Jersey...
...As an experiment in political thinking, let me suggest to all earnest seekers after truth who have been perplexed by the Great Engineer's official acts that they try Interpreting all the more important examples in terms of his anxiety to be renominated and reelected...
...He is nominated on, a blank check on every question except prohibition, This is to make our political democracy ridiculous and impotent...
...June 21 — Those babes in the wood who professed to believe up to the last fateful hour that Herbert Hoover would "prove his courage" and "vindicate his statesmanship" by vetoing the Grundy tariff are entitled to the sympathy and understanding of all who cherish Samaritan instincts...
...Hoover himself in terms of fulsome eulogy beside which the rustic tub-thumping of Jim Watson sounded like .simple candor...
...The fault in their reasoning was that it missed the point...
...Morrow and believes the Experiment to be Just as Noble as Mr...
...Hoover believed it was when he was a candidate...
...Hoover is supporting Morrow on a platform almost identical with that of Al Smith...
...Hoover secretly agree- with Governor Smith, whom he opjposcd and defeated, or does ho secretly disagree with Morrow, whom he is supporting'.' Two other explanations suggest themselves: that Mr...
...Neither did his principal rlvnl, the home brew dry...
...That part of their bewilderment which remains thereafter can be explained on the ground of his political misjudgment...
...That the bill violated the President's campaign pledges, that it flouted his recommendation to Congress, that it would reduce experts and increase unemployment, that it provided for indefensible rate increases—as statements of fact all these were incontrovertible, but as arguments that the President would not sign they were quite irrelevant...
...He did not condescend to discuss issues...
...Morrow was nominated, and will campaign for election, on a platform advocating repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment...
...Fort...
...Morrow took advantage of the popular interest in prohibition to run on his own wet plank plus his personal reputation...
...Fort...
...Did Mr...
...He did not sign the bill because it was a good bill, or the sort of bill he had requested, or wanted, for obviously it was neither...
...lb dodge every other Issue including such Immensely vital issues as unemployment, the, effect of the tariff, foreign policy, etc.— League for Industrial Democracy...
...It will be recalled that the President did not hasten to announce his support of Mrs...
...It was so hailed less than 24 hours after its passage by Mr...
...It is illuminating to observe the precipitate haste with which the President announced his purpose to support Morrow in the general election...
Vol. 1 • July 1930 • No. 32
