The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1926. AMERICAN ELECTIONS

Southland Times, Issue 20010, 26 October 1926, Page 6

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1926. AMERICAN ELECTIONS

The elections in the United States in the first week of November will be watched carefully for an indication of change in public opinion, in view of the Presidential contest in 1928. Although this major political event is two years off the preparations for the battle begin in 1927 when the tw-o main parties select their candidates. It is now suggested that if the Republican strength in the Senate is weakened it will mean the party’s loss of control in the senior body of the legislature, but at the back of this is the probable effect on the future of President Coolidge, who was selected and elected as the representative of what is known as the Old Guard of the organisation, practically the Conservative wing. President Coolidge has been singularly unfortunate in his attempts to induce the Senate to carry out his will and this has been due in chief part to the strength of the Progressive elements in the Chamber, composed of the Senators representing the agricultural interests of the Middle West and the West. One of the characteristics of the American system is that the President, as the chief of the administrative department of the Government, usually finds himself in conflict with the Senate, and his principal difficulties centre on his capacity to induce the legislative body to do the things he considers necessary. He cannot introduce legislation and fight for it on the floor of the Senate, but by “messages,” and statements issued from White House he can make known his wishes, leaving it to the “administrative” bloc in the Upper Chamber to battle in his behalf. During the past twelve months President Coolidge received quite a number of rebuffs from the Senate, securing as victories only the reduction of taxation put forward by Mr Mellon, the millionaire, who is Secretary of the Treasury, and a proposal that the United States should be officially represented on the World Court of Justice; but this second proposal was so .battered about by reservations insisted on by the anti-League members that it became almost inoperative. The general opinion of the measure as it emerged from the Senate was that it asked the other Powers to accept the United States on impossible terms, since the republic retains the right to accept or refuse reference of cases involving America to the Court, and to accept or refuse the decisions of the Court at any stage. These two “victories” have, it is claimed, rather diminished the prestige of the President and coupled with them is his veto of an enactment by the Senate designed to assist the agricultural interests, and brought forward in their name. President Coolidge took office as a “safe, silent wise man,” in contrast with the strong, eloquent Wilson, and the suave Harding. He inherited some awkward scandals from the previous administration, but he has kept clear of them. During his own time, however, the frank use of large sums of money to carry nominations in’ the Republican primaries, in Pennsylvania knd in Illinois particularly, have brought the party in public disfavour and these things may have some bearing on the elections. It has to be remembered, however, that the Democrats in the Congressional and State elections are usually able to avoid the divisions which shatter party cohesion when the candidates for the Presidency come to be chosen, and the results of next month’s elections while they may show a Democrat advance and destroy the meagre majority of the “Old

Guard” in the Senate, will not necessarily foreshadow a Democratic victory in 1928. Their success may, on the other hand, spell the doom of President Coolidge. The problems of agriculture are playing a big part in the election. Two years ago the sudden rise in the prices of primary products on the eve of the contest gave the farmers a promise of prosperity and induced them to vote solidly for the Republicans. To-day the outlook is not so favourable and on this the Democrats will depend. The other point of special interest is the effort in places to give Prohibition a setback. It is clear that neither party is able to make up its mind to adopt a “wet” plank. In Pennsylvania the Republican candidate is a “wet,” but his nomination was secured in the face of a divided “dry” majority which happened to be split by the presence of two candidates favouring Prohibition. In New York the Democrats are avowedly “wet,” especially as they near the city, but in the other States the opinions of the Democrats are divided. The Eastern States and the South are the “dampest” in the States, and they are balanced by the Middle West and West. It looks, then, as if the effort to make Prohibition a general issue has failed and that the elections in each State will be overshadowed by other local issues. One thing, however, is certain. Anything suggestive of a “wet” advance in conjunction with Democrat gains will increase the chances of Mr Al Smith, the skilled and popular Governor of New York, as an aspirant for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency. His chief opponent is Mr W, G. MacAdoo, whose candidature at the last Convention caused the deadlock with Mr Smith’s supporters, allowing Mr John W. Davis to secure the prize and splitting the party hopelessly. Mr Smith is “wet,” progressive and a Roman Catholic ; Mr MacAdoo is “dry,” and more intimately connected with “big interests.” His supporters include the Ku Klux Klan and therefore the opponents of Roman Catholicism. Mr Smith’s nomination would split the South, and Mr MacAdoo cannot win the Eastern States. Efforts to do away with the regulation requiring any candidate to secure two-thirds of the Democratic Convention’s total vote before getting the nomination, is designed to make the way easier for Mr Smith, who is generally acclaimed as a man capable of filling the Presidential office with distinction. From this contest there will emerge information that will influence party events next year, but at this distance it will be unwise to form any definite opinions concerning the public opinion on the Prohibition question with the results next month as a basis. Local questions play such a big part, that a generalisation is extremely unsafe.