The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1908-02-10
CANDIDATE HUGHES
AT CLOSE RANGE
By JOHN ADAM

ALBANY, N. Y, Feb. To-
Charles Evans Hughes, governor,
and candidate for the presidency,
is said to be a mystery. He Is not,
except that he fails to fit ready.
made standards. When you ap-
proach him to seek not the politi-
clan or the lawyer but the plain
man, you can find that man without
great difficulty.
Hughes is a New York lawyer,
some describe him as Wall st.
lawyer, but he does not resemble
the usual type. The difference is
that Hughes is an upstate" man.
He was born and spent much of
his life in what the New York
papers call the "hayseed districts"
To make this point more clear
you must remember that the great
bulk of New York state is cut off
from the lower corner by the Cats
kill and Highland mountains (part
of the Allegheny range), and that
the only connecting link is the
gorge or canyon made by the Hud-
son river. Below the gorge are
Wall st. and Tammany, above it
are cities built western fashion
with lawns and trees, villages such
as described in David Harum" and
in the Adirondack region, the great
est wilderness east of the Rocky
mountains.
Between these great Adirondack
woods, where there are still wild
deer, bears and a few Indians, and
the Vermont state line is the vii.
lage of Glens Falls, where Hughes
was born. Glens Falls is 200 miles
from Wall ST., but the moral dis
lance is much greater. Hughes
father is a Baptist preacher. His
mothers maiden name was Mary
Connolly. The names show their
Welsh and Irish descent.
Hughes taught Greek and mathe-
mates and anything else that came
along, in country academy at
Delhi, N. Y, and later, after he had
been admitted to the bar, lectured
on law at Cornell and Columbia
universities. There is good deal
of the school teacher in him yet.
In appearance Hughes could not
be more different than his rival
Taft. He is very tall, over six feet,
and very lean. His lean, rather
sharp features are partly hidden in
a bushy brown beard. A phrenol-
ogist would point out that his fore.
head bulges over the eyes. indicat-
ing perception; that it is high, indi-
eating intellectual power; that
there is plenty of character indi-
Gated in the strength of the head
back of the ears, but that his head
is much narrower than is common
in most leaders of men.
Roosevelt has the wide type Of
head, and has pre-eminently an ad-
venturous mind, eager to see and
understand. Hughes on the other
hand has a remarkable faculty of
concentrating upon the subject inn
mediately at hand to the exclusion
of all other subjects.
This tendency has been in
creased by his legal training. Ev-
cry lawyer is taught to reserve his
opinion until the facts have been
submitted to him and he has con
suited the authorities.
Some of Hughes followers com.
plain that they do not know where
he stands on the tariff and other
national questions. Probably he
would not be a republican If he did
not believe in protection, but it is
doubtful If he ever gave the tariff
any study or will give it any study
until somebody comes to him and
lays before him all the facts. Then,
and not till then, will he go into it
and make up his mind. When he
does give his opinion it will take in
everything from the tax on wool
to the duty on false hair.
Hughes has another quality
which is very uncommon in men
in public life. He is religious
man in the old fashioned, bible
reading way, and in a tight place
his final appeal is always to his
conscience. This year he is trying
to abolish horse racing in New
York state. The politicians went
to him with 10 good reasons why
such an effort was inexpedient and
unnecessary at this time. but,
gentlemen" he said, race track
gambling is wrong and in trying TO
stop it am doing right" and then
he would smile blandly, as If there
was nothing more to say on the
subject.
After one of these encounters
the politicians would go out in the
hall. breathless with disgust.
What are you going TO do with
man." they say who just says It's
right, it's right, and won't go an
inch beyond that?"
Up TO this time Hughes ap-
pointments have been made with
out reference to machine or anti
machine leaders. The result has
been that nearly every politician
! in New York state dislikes Hughes
heartily. EX-Gov. Odell. who wants
to be chairman of the republican
state committee again and sees in
the Hughes boom chance TO beat
Tim Woodruff, is the man that
Hughes put out of public life by
proving that he gouged $4,000 out
of Jimmy Hyde by political
methods.
| Hughes has really no personal