Evening Star
- Big Wet Majority Seems Assured in Illinois Contest
- My Impressions of America
- Dr. Mann Arrives in Capital With 1,700 Wild Animals
The Evening Star of October 26, 1926, carried G. Gould Lincoln's dispatch from Chicago predicting that Illinois would probably elect the Republican dry Frank L. Smith to the Senate on November 2 while voting heavily wet in a referendum asking that the Volstead Act be amended to let each state define intoxicating liquor; the Anti-Saloon League had told drys to stay away from that vote as meaningless and unconstitutional. The page also printed the opening of a column signed by the Queen of Rumania, describing her sad farewell to the liner Leviathan and her misty first sight of the Statue of Liberty, and a report on Dr. Mann's return to Washington with 1,700 wild animals, in which his assistant Saidi rode overnight beside a nervous leopard.
Translation
BIG WET MAJORITY SEEMS ASSURED IN ILLINOIS CONTEST
CHICAGO, Ill., October 26. - While Illinois probably will elect Col. Frank L. Smith, Republican and dry candidate for the Senate, on November 2, it will beyond a doubt roll up a big wet majority in the referendum which is to be voted upon at the same time. This wet and dry referendum is practically identical with that of New York. It would declare the desire of Illinois voters that the Volstead act be so amended as to permit the individual States to determine what is and what is not intoxicating liquor. The Anti-Saloon League leaders have urged the drys not to take part in the referendum, holding that it has no real significance, that it is unconstitutional and that the real referendum on the wet and dry question is to be had in the election of dry candidates for office.
My Impressions of America
You cannot imagine how sad we were, in spite of the pleasurable excitement of arriving in America, to leave the beautiful Leviathan, our comfortable floating home, upon which we had had such a happy time. Saying good-by to Comdr. Hartley was quite a melancholy incident in our journey. The weather was not particularly amiable and we all were rather damp when we got aboard the Macom to go ashore. When we came in sight of the Statue of Liberty, of which we had heard so often, we greeted her with all due respect, although she had modestly shrouded herself in mist. A little later I put my foot on American ground.
DR. MANN ARRIVES IN CAPITAL WITH 1,700 WILD ANIMALS
The others, mammals, birds and reptiles, were loaded into express cars and the indispensable Saidi was locked in the car containing the cage of the largest leopard in captivity, which he accompanied to Washington. The leopard showed signs of being nervous and Dr. Mann's last instructions to Saidi were, in case the leopard broke out of the cage, to dive into the cage himself and bar himself in. Saidi, however, was not particularly worried over his assignment of a night of captivity with a maneater.
Context
How the Illinois Senate race and the wet referendum turned out
Lincoln's forecast for the Senate seat proved right. According to the Senate Historical Office, some Illinois Republicans urged Smith to step aside during the campaign, but he refused and won the November election by more than 60,000 votes. His chief opponents were the Democratic nominee George E. Brennan, chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party, and Hugh S. Magill, a former state senator running as an independent. On the referendum, TIME recalled in 1929 that farmers of southern Illinois, the region called Little Egypt, voted wet in the 1926 statewide liquor referendum even though they were represented by a dry congressman. The dispatch itself presented the wet majority as beyond doubt and reported that the Anti-Saloon League dismissed the vote as meaningless and unconstitutional, insisting that the real test of Prohibition sentiment was the election of dry candidates such as Smith.
Why Smith never took the Senate seat he won
Smith's victory did not bring him into the Senate. Among the accusations against his campaign was that Samuel Insull, the powerful owner of public utility corporations, contributed $125,000 to Smith's primary campaign fund, while Smith was chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission, which regulated public utilities. After a long investigation, the Senate voted 61 to 23 on January 19, 1928, that Smith was not entitled to his seat, and he was never seated because of the fraud and corruption charges. The excerpt printed on this page introduces Smith simply as the Republican and dry candidate and frames the contest around Prohibition; it does not mention the campaign-money question that ultimately decided his fate.
Why the Queen of Rumania was writing about her arrival in America
Queen Marie's column appeared eight days after she reached New York. She arrived in New York City on October 18, 1926, to cheering crowds and a ticker-tape parade, at the start of a diplomatic tour of the United States with her children Nicholas and Ileana. Her American friend Sam Hill had invited her to speak at the dedication of his new museum, the Maryhill Museum of Art in Washington State. The tour later ended early, when she received news on November 17 that King Ferdinand was ill. The passage translated here covers only the first moments of the visit as the Queen described them: leaving the Leviathan, taking the Macom ashore and greeting a Statue of Liberty hidden in mist.
Original
BIG WET MAJORITY SEEMS ASSURED IN ILLINOIS CONTEST
CHICAGO, Ill., October 26. - While Illinois probably will elect Col. Frank L. Smith, Republican and dry candidate for the Senate, on November 2, it will beyond a doubt roll up a big wet majority in the referendum which is to be voted upon at the same time. This wet and dry referendum is practically identical with that of New York. It would declare the desire of Illinois voters that the Volstead act be so amended as to permit the individual States to determine what is and what is not intoxicating liquor. The Anti-Saloon League leaders have urged the drys not to take part in the referendum, holding that it has no real significance, that it is unconstitutional and that the real referendum on the wet and dry question is to be had in the election of dry candidates for office.
My Impressions of America
You cannot imagine how sad we were, in spite of the pleasurable excitement of arriving in America, to leave the beautiful Leviathan, our comfortable floating home, upon which we had had such a happy time. Saying good-by to Comdr. Hartley was quite a melancholy incident in our journey. The weather was not particularly amiable and we all were rather damp when we got aboard the Macom to go ashore. When we came in sight of the Statue of Liberty, of which we had heard so often, we greeted her with all due respect, although she had modestly shrouded herself in mist. A little later I put my foot on American ground.
DR. MANN ARRIVES IN CAPITAL WITH 1,700 WILD ANIMALS
The others, mammals, birds and reptiles, were loaded into express cars and the indispensible Saidi was locked in the car containing the cage of the largest leopard in captivity, which he accompanied to Washington. The leopard showed signs of being nervous and Dr. Mann's last instructions to Saidi were, in case the leopard broke out of the cage, to dive into the cage himself and bar himself in. Saidi, however, was not particularly worried over his assignment of a night of captivity with a maneater.
Source: Holding institution