A PENNSYLVANIA REFORMER

It begins to be evident that President Coolidge will shortly be harried forth from his sequestered silence by nagging Fords and Pinchots. Even if Henry Ford's outburst over Muscle Shoals defeats its own object, Governor Pinchot's demand for more rigid Prohibition enforcement on the part of the President requires official reply. Although enforcement in Pennsylvania is as much a state as a federal duty,--and presumably the governor knows this as well as anybody--President Coolidge must state his position clearly or lose caste with the large voting population of Prohibitionists.

In the present case, however, the President should not have to extend himself far, for the burden of proof appears to rest entirely upon Governor Pinchot. There is no reason to believe that the President is luke-warm in his Prohibition sentiments nor that he has abetted any relaxation in federal enforcement. The difficulty appears to be that although a majority of the population of the country favor Prohibition, a large and compact minority in one section--along the Atlantic seaboard--not only disapprove of but openly defy this law. When enforcement officers and even the judiciary in this "wet" belt are bought off, execution of the law becomes extremely difficult. In fact the propriety of having so rigid a law is seriously called in question.

Pennsylvania is an important segment of this belt and the very fact that the Prohibition law is there so violated makes one doubt Governor Pinchot's opinion that the majority of his people want to be "bone dry." At any rate when a state enforcement law exists in Pennyslvania, his exposition of conditions there reflects at least as much upon himself as upon President Coolidge. By his speech he seems to have laid himself open to the counter attack of "Practice what you preach".

In view of all this one may wonder what induced his speech. If it was a sincere regard for the laws of the land, one might expect him, to show more zeal on his own part. Lingering soreness over the outcome of the coal strike settlement may have played some part. But the most plausible hypothesis is that of a political motive. He has already announced that if affairs at the White House should not proceed in accord with his standards, he would toss his ha into the presidential ring. Since he came into the governorship on a wave of reform sentiments, he may well have seized this opportunity to show the nation that his might is still on the side of right. But actions speak louder than words and prying eyes may look into Pennsylvania when the campaigns begin.