National Affairs: Response

A masterpiece. . . . God bless you. . . . Three cheers for your speech. . . . People are warming fast. . . . You'll have another walkover. . . . Montana reaction is excellent. . . . A great State paper. . . . Insures your reelection. . . . Rivaled Lincoln at Gettysburg. . . .

A pleased President was Herbert Hoover last week as his eyes picked out such phrases in the baskets of telegrams which flooded the White House the day after his acceptance speech (see col. 3). Henry Ford wired: ''Your fire in the Lincoln Court House is still burning and this morning I added a log to it." Clarence Mott Woolley (American Radiator) reported from New York: "Two Wall Street men, the elevator boy at my hotel, the taxicab driver, the elevator boy in the office building are now enthusiastic supporters." Walter P. Chrysler telegraphed: "Most effective, forceful and frank. No one can have any doubt where you stand."

To many a plain citizen the speech sounded like a new and bolder Hoover. The President's campaign managers assured him that it had already made hundreds of thousands of votes for him. Even the Democrats were restrained or trivial in their criticism. James Middleton Cox, for example, conceded: "It is decidedly Hoover's best effort. It shows, marked improvement in spirit and courage. He has made the best out of a very bad case."

President Hoover was particularly interested in the reaction to his change of front on Prohibition. His speech evidently split the U. S. Drys, Consolidated. The Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League declared against both Presidential candidates, pledged themselves to fight a change "every step of the way." More moderate Drys, however, began swinging in behind the Hoover candidacy on the ground that the President was against the saloon and "naked Repeal" as proposed by the Democrats. Dr. Daniel A. Poling, as head of the Allied Forces for Prohibition put his Dry organization behind the Republican ticket because "in contrast to Governor Roosevelt his [Hoover's] election will safeguard the gains made under Prohibition."

On the other hand, rampant Repealist Nicholas Murray Butler edged noticeably closer to the Hoover candidacy when he declared: "President Hoover's declaration fortunately goes far beyond the party platform. . . . The quick end of the disastrous folly of attempting nationwide Prohibition is in sight."

¶ Aug. 26 was the date set by President Hoover for a Washington meeting of the "Committees of Twelve" in each of the twelve Federal Reserve districts to speed up business recovery. ¶ President Hoover and a stag party of eight went fishing for hardheads and sea trout for several days down Chesapeake Bay aboard the U. S. S. Sequoia.