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Senator Moses came out, too, with some unpleasantries. He was vague about the "red hot stuff" he had sent to Zeb Vance Walser. First he said he had sent out "so much material" he really could not recall which was which. Then he said it might have been anti-Tammany or anti-saloon material.* He did not deny that it was "viciously anti-Catholic," as Mr. Raskob said it was. But he roared: "Who is this John J. Raskob that seems so agitated because a Southern Democrat has written something which I thought to be 'hot stuff'? He is the chairman . . . whose St. Louis headquarters have been busy for weeks flooding certain sections of the country with vicious attacks on Mr. Hoover's religious faith! . . .
"If Mr. Raskob's ethical sense is so fine and his general sensibilities so readily aroused, it might be worth while to ask how it happens that he has my mail. Did he himself rifle the mails or did some of his Tammany stool-pigeons do it for him?"
Mr. Raskob replied by releasing the "red hot stuff." He put on display in Manhattan a collection of anti-Catholic propaganda, including a quotation from Republican Governor Flem D. Sampson of Kentucky that Smith would "destroy the churches and schools."
The "red hot stuff" article proved to be a long rambling piece with passages oddly reminiscent of Senator Moses' own forceful style. Excerpts:
"Governor Smith belongs to a church which holds adulterous every wedlock not favored by its Pope; which brands as bastardy every birth not blessed by its book; which denies sanctuary even in man's last, long home, the grave, save it be hallowed in the dead language of Rome."
Senator Moses viewed the Raskob document and said: "I have no recollection of ever having seen any manuscript of that character. I might add, however, that I believe any person who would resort to rifling the mails would not hesitate to commit a forgery."
Other of Dr. Work's subordinates said that all of Mr. Raskob's evidence was "framed up." Democrats were indignant and the episode was one of the bitterest in a bitter campaign. Said the Republican Chicago Tribune (echoed by its pro-Smith Manhattan satellite, The Daily News):
"Governor Smith's denunciation of certain influences working in or for the Republican Party was a true statement of facts. It is accepted as such by many Republicans.
"The Klan and the Anti-Saloon League are twin calamities working for the election of the Republican national ticket. Their practices are intolerable. Their intolerance is disgraceful. They have exhibited some of the meanest motives which ever had a place in American politics. What they offer as patriotism and public morality has protected or promoted some of the worst corruption.
"The Republican Party has these two allies and its campaign with them is sufficiently apparent to expose it to the properly indignant language of Governor Smith. The Tribune feels precisely as he does in the matter."