"Upon the Steps . . ."

To Albany, in the last week before Notification, went the Democracy's champion Drys--Glass from Virginia, Daniels from North Carolina, George from Georgia, Walsh from Montana. Would they, could they, induce the Nominee not to insist again, in his acceptance speech, upon modification of Prohibition?

When Nominee Smith released his speech, it was to the Prohibition section that citizens paid prime attention. This was it:

Prohibition: "The President of the United States has two constitutional duties with respect to prohibition. The first is embodied in his oath of office. If, with one hand on the Bible and the other hand reaching up to Heaven, I promise the people of this country that 'I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, you may be sure that I shall live up to that oath to the last degree. . . .

"The President does not make the laws. He does his best to execute them whether he likes them or not. The corruption in enforcement activities which caused a former Republican Prohibition Administrator to state that three-fourths of the dry agents were political ward heelers named by politicians without regard to Civil Service laws and that prohibition is the 'new political pork barrel,' I will ruthlessly stamp out. Such conditions can not and will not exist under any administration presided over by me.

"The second constitutional duty imposed upon the President is 'to recommend to the Congress such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.' Opinion upon prohibition cuts squarely across the two great political parties. There are thousands of so-called 'wets and drys' in each. The platform of my party is silent upon any question of change in the law. I personally believe that there should be change and I shall advise the Congress in accordance with my constitutional duty of whatever changes I deem 'necessary or expedient.' It will then be for the people and the representatives in the national and State legislatures to determine whether these changes shall be made.

"I believe in temperance. . . . The mothers and fathers of young men and women throughout this land know the anxiety and worry which has been brought to them by their children's use of liquor in a way which was unknown before prohibition. I believe in reverence for law. Today disregard of the prohibition laws is insidiously sapping respect for all law. I raise, therefore, what I profoundly believe to be a great moral issue involving the righteousness of our national conduct and the protection of our children's morals.

"Some immediate relief would come from an amendment to the Volstead Law giving a scientific definition of the alcoholic content of an intoxicating beverage. . . . Each State would then be allowed to fix its own standard of alcoholic content, subject always to the proviso that that standard could not exceed the maximum fixed by the Congress.

"I believe, moreover, that there should be submitted to the people the question of some change in the provisions of the 18th Amendment. ... I personally believe in an amendment in the 18th Amendment which would give to each individual State itself only after approval by a referendum popular vote of its people the right wholly within its borders to import, manufacture or cause to be manufactured and sell alcoholic beverages, the sale to be made only by the State itself and not for consumption in any public place. We may well learn from the experience of other nations. Our Canadian neighbors have gone far in this manner. . . .

"There is no question here of the return of the saloon. When I stated that the saloon 'is and ought to be a defunct institution in this country,' I meant it. I mean it today. I will never advocate nor approve any law which directly or indirectly permits the return of the saloon.

"... I believe it is a solution which would today be offered by Jefferson, or Jackson or Cleveland or Wilson, if those great leaders were with us "

A fortnight prior, Nominee Hoover had repeated that he thought Prohibition "noble in motive"; had said: 1) that it had "grave abuses"; 2) that the abuses should be investigated, corrected; 3) that the 18th Amendment would have to be changed before the Volstead Act could be changed.

The Smith speech, though not composed as a specific reply to the Hoover speech, offered other contrasts.

Radio: Nominee Smith's opening phrase. "Upon the steps of this Capitol--," was his only remark that could be construed as being meant for persons not present. The Hoover speech had contained two preliminary paragraphs for the benefit of "those invisible millions," the radio audience.

Women: Nominee Smith promised women participation in the Government, when capable. He praised them by saying that he believed them men's equals. (Nominee Hoover had promised women "happiness," had said they had a higher sense of service than men.)

Public Utilities: Nominee Smith plumped out about the Federal Trade Commission's finding in its investigation of the political activities of interstate public utility companies. "No more dishonest or unpatriotic propaganda has ever been seen in this country," he said. "Private corporations to gain control of public resources have procured the writing of textbooks for the public schools; have subsidized lecturers pretending to give to the country their own honest and unbiased advice; have employed as their agents former public officials and have endeavored to mislead public opinion by the retention of the services of leaders of the community in various parts of the country. Highly paid lobbyists penetrated into every state and into the legislative halls of the nation itself." (Nominee Hoover had not touched public utilities.)

Water Resources: Nominee Smith was specific about three things:

1) Boulder Dam. "I am of the opinion that the best results would flow from the setting up of a Colorado River Authority, representative equally of the States concerned. The development should be by the States through the agency of this authority by treaty ratified by Congress."

2) He plumped for Government operation of Muscle Shoals.

3) He said he had favored the All-American (Mohawk Valley) route for a Lakes-to-Atlantic shipway, but would agree to the St. Lawrence River route (which Hoover is said to prefer) if Congress so chose.

(Nominee Hoover had pictured, without any specific details, a "larger visioned development" of water power and waterways, to cost the U. S. a billion dollars.)

Farm Relief: Nominee Smith stuck to his already-announced plan--the principle of McNary-Haugenism, i.e., "distribution of the cost of dealing with crop surpluses over-the marketed unit of the crop whose producers are benefited by such assistance." He again said: "Only the mechanics remain to be devised." He again promised, if elected, to call in farm experts and have "the mechanics" devised in time for his first message to Congress. (Nominee Hoover had mentioned three methods of farm relief--tariff, waterways, Federal Loan fund.)

Foreign Policy: Nominee Smith accused the Coolidge Administration of disrespectful meddling and Imperialism in Latin America. He espoused the Monroe Doctrine. He eschewed "entangling alliances." He blamed the Republicans for "nothing effective" in the way of international disarmament since the naval tonnage agreements of 1921. (Nominee, Hoover had mentioned foreign policy only in connection with its "one primary object," peace.)

There was almost no eloquence and a complete omission of "spellbinding" in the Smith speech. Its most striking parts were three direct attacks.

Prosperity: "The Republican party builds its case upon a myth. We are told that only under the benevolent administration of that party can the country enjoy prosperity. When four million men, desirous to work and support their families, are unable to secure employment there is very little in the picture of prosperity to attract them and the millions dependent upon them.

"In the year 1926, the latest figures available show that 1/20th of 1% of the 430,000 corporations in this country earned 40% of their profits; 40% of the corporations actually lost money; one-fourth of 1% of these corporations earned two-thirds of the profits of all of them. Specific industries are wholly prostrate and there is widespread business difficulty and discontent among the individual businessmen of the country."

Economy (after flaying the Republicans for their failure to reorganize the Governmental machinery as in 1921 they promised): "The administration spokesman answers only: 'We have given an economical administration,' and that has been repeated so often that some people begin to believe it without the slightest proof. I assert that there is no proof.

"The appropriation bills signed by the President of the United States for the last year are just one-half a billion dollars more than they were for the first year of his administration. The appropriations for the Executive Department itself (the President and Vice President) have increased more than 10% under President Coolidge.

"The figures for expenditure as distinguished from appropriations tell the same story. Aside from interest on the public debt which has been reduced by retirement of bonds or by refinancing at lower interest rate, the actual expenditures for governmental activities during the fiscal year ending 1928 were just $346,000,000 more than in President Coolidge's first year.

"If the defenders of the administration answer that taxes have been reduced, they find themselves in a similar dilemma. The total taxes collected are $24,000,000 more than in the first year of the Coolidge administration. While tax rates have been reduced and some Wartime taxes abandoned, the government actually took from the people in income taxes $383,000,000 more during the last fiscal year than during the first year of the Coolidge administration. And even these reductions in tax rates have been brought about primarily because the administration has committed the government to appropriations authorized but not made, amounting approximately to one billion dollars, which is an obligation that is being passed on to succeeding administrations. I wish to focus the public attention on these fundamental facts and figures when it is fed with picturesque trifles about petty economies, such as eliminating stripes from mail bags and extinguishing electric lights in the offices at night.

"With this has gone a governmental policy of refusal to make necessary expenditures for purposes which would have effected a real economy. The Postmaster-General states that there was a large annual waste in the handling of mail, resulting from lack of modern facilities and equipment. Scarcely a large city in the country had adequate quarters for the transaction of Federal business. The government pays rent in the city of Washington alone of more than one million dollars annually. It is estimated that the government is paying rentals of twenty million dollars in the nation. True economy would be effected by the erection of Federal buildings, especially in the numerous instances where sites acquired many years ago have been left vacant because the administration did not desire to have these expenditures appear in the budget. It is not economy to refuse to spend money and to have our soldiers living in barracks which the Chief of Staff of the Army recently stated were indecent and below the standard for the meanest type of housing permitted anywhere. And the wise, properly timed construction of needed public improvements would substantially tend to lessen the evils of unemployment.

"If the people commission me to do it, I shall with the aid of the Congress effect a real reorganization and consolidation of governmental activities upon a business basis and institute the real economy which comes from prudent expenditure. . . ."

Party Honesty: ". . . The Republican party today stands responsible for the widespread dishonesty that has honeycombed its administration.

"During the last presidential campaign the Republican managers were partially successful in leading the American people to believe that these sins should be charged against the individual rather than against the party. The question of personal guilt has now been thoroughly disposed of and in its place, challenging the wisdom and good judgment of the American people, is the unquestioned evidence of party guilt."

Peroration, Pledge: "While this is a government of laws and not of men, laws do not execute themselves. We must have people of character and outstanding ability to serve the nation. To me one of the greatest elements of satisfaction in my nomination is the fact that I owe it to no one man or set of men. I can with complete honesty make the statement that my nomination was brought about by no promise given or implied by me or any one in my behalf. I will not be influenced in appointments by the question of a person's wet or dry attitude, by whether he is rich or poor, whether he comes from the north, south, east or west, or by what church he attends in the worship of God. The sole standard of my appointments will be the same as they have been in my Governorship--integrity of the man or woman and his or her ability to give me the greatest possible aid in devoted service to the people.

"In this spirit I enter upon the campaign. ... I shall endeavor to conduct this campaign on the high plane that befits the intelligence of our citizens.

"Victory, simply for the sake of achieving it, is empty. I am entirely satisfied of our success in November because I am sure we are right and therefore sure that our victory means progress for our nation. . . ."