The Dominion MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1932. HOOVER V. ROOSEVELT

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 31, 31 October 1932, Page 8

The Dominion MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1932. HOOVER V. ROOSEVELT

An American writer discussing the Presidential occupying the attention of his countrymen offer United States foreigners who understand anything about politics! outsider, a?e few and far between. The cSvages,’ accustomed to clear-cut JSSUe f the American L’tanldy puzzled to find that these distinctions h 1 T* s: ’ whS u measures are members of the Democratic -PartyIn the opinion of competent observers therefore, the votes cast in the impending election will be influenced less by party alignments han bv Se question whether in the present state of affairs it would be better not to “swap horses in mid-stream,” or whether a new broom would be a more efficacious instrument for disposing-of the nations difficulties. There are, however, two fundamenta must be reckoned as determining factors in the election. Ihe first is on the Prohibition question. Both the Republicans and the Democrats are in agreement that National Prohibition as expressed in the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution has failed. The divergence is as to how the liquor traffic is to be controlled in the future. The coming election, however, will not determine the question of repeal. It will merely determine, according to which party is elected, how this question is to be submitted to the States. There is this additional point, so far as the new President is concerned: The Democratic platform commits its nominee to fight whole-heartedly for the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment, and to use the party machinery in his efforts. Mr. Hoover, if elected, will be committed merely to a request to Congress to submit the question of repeal to the States. After that he can be neutral. The other point of divergence between the two platforms is economic, and is regarded as the most fundamental. The Republicans desire to maintain the present policy, of high tariffs, even at the risk of losing foreign trade, while the Democrats take the view that American prosperity depends upon a revival of exporting and of investment, and that such a revival depends upon a tariff policy under which America’s customers and her debtors can sell in her markets. There cannot be much doubt,” remarks Mr. Walter Lippmann, the well-known American publicist, “that any convention of economists held anywhere in the capitalist world would prefer the Democratic to the Republican platform.” . ... The election is a portentous event for the outside countries, which are awaiting the result in order to formulate their future policy. There is, for example, more to be hoped in regard to War debt cancellation from the Republicans than from the Democrats.. The former are inclined, if they can carry public opinion, to cut their losses and stick to their tariff, while the latter believe that the best way to settle that question is to make it possible through trade arrangements for the debtors to liquidate their obligations in goods. However, these and various other questions are now in the hands of the American people, whose decision will be made at the elections to-morrow week.