Bisbee daily review., 1908-12-13
GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK
 FACES FINE POLITICAL GAME

Charles E. Hughes begins his secons. term of two years as governor oI New York state, on January1. he wlli face, and will constitute, so as to speak, one of the most interest ms tests in American political history. The real trial of the man is in a was yet to come, test of American pol1t ical institutions, the precise like of which is far to seek. Two years ago he was a political accident, the sole brand snatched by the Republicans from the destruction of their stare ticket, and had his oponent been other than Hearst, it is exceedingly proba- ble that Hughes also would have gone down in the confagration. A hundred times since have the Republican boss es wished it had been SO.
 It is different now. Hughes returns to the executive office with the pres tige of a popular indorsemeut which surprised even his most ardent sup porters. His plurality was consid. siderably more than a fifth larger than that of two years ago, and the main elements of the attack upon him prov ed in the last analysis the sources of his greatest strength He claimed all along that the people were with him in his administration, and the event seems to nave demonstrated that he was right
 The real surprise of the election, however, is not the bare fact that Hughes won by a handsome plurality. It lies in what the figures from the various counties, now available in fairly complete array, show as to what the supposedly hostile Republi- can organization did for Hughes. ShreWdest political observers, pre- presumably familiar with the cOndi- tions in the various local balliwicks, expected that when the detailed fig ures came to hand they would show that Hughes had been mercilessly slashed by the Republicans, and that his losses had been made up by gains from the independent Democrats. This expectation is not justified by the re turns. The bosses appear to- have played fair" and the vast majority i of organization Republicans evident ly voted the straight ticket. Taft's great plurality shows what the Dem Ocrats did.
 
 ure at the Saratoga convention of their frantic effort to prevent his renomina- 1 ton, the organization leaders largely abandoned their war on Hughes. l There were two reasons for this. One was the obvious one that they did not dare to imperil the national ticket in | this state at that time justly regarded as doubtful, by openly advising their 1 following to cut the ticket. The other was the fact that all over the state l they were on the eve Of local battles, | in primaries and local elections, and | they realized that any treachery on | ther part to the ticket nominated at i the state convention would come back | to plague them when the supporters of Hughes should have their next op- portunity for revenge. Then, too, i there was the balance of the state ticket-a thoroughly machine at- fair-carTying with it a large amount of patronage in offices which for the past two years have been largely fill l ed with Democrats.
 The bosses, then, are for the most part ready to make peace with Hugles. Long grudges are rare in politics, and few of the leaders will
 hesitate to bury the hatchet deep in
 the sCil oI peace if Hughes will only show a disposition to do business
 with the organization.
 See, now. what Hughes can do if he chooses. He is determined to place upon the statute books this year an
 act creating an adequate system of di Irect nominating primaries. If he frames this bill alright, the present | Republican organization in New York state will go down like house o Icards. What then? The party has
 not now in sight one single leader wht