Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1911-08-24
$3.50 = 4as-se
GOV. WILSON'S CANDIDACY.


New York city for the promotion Of
the nomination and election to the
Presidency of Gov. Woodrow Wilson
has taken place with his knowledge
and apparent consent, it is now fair to
speak of him as an avowed candidate
for the Presidency AS such it must
frankly be admitted, he is today in
teresting the general public far more
than any other man whose name is
now being mentioned on the Democra-
tic side. We are aware of the strong
hold Gov Harmon has upon public
respect and good will, especially IN
the Middle West, but it would be idle
to assert that he has appealed to the
imagination of the ma sses as has this
newcomer in the East. 1t must also
be recognized that Gov. Wilson towers
far above such aspirants as Gov. Mar
shall, ex-Gov. Folk, and the Speaker
of the House, none of them OF Presi-
Dental size. We, therefore, are view
ing a close parallel to the career of
Grover Cleveland during the first year
| CT his Goyernorship. Not that we wish
to imply that Governor Wilson is GER
tain of nomination 1t is far cry to
the final ballot in the next National
Convention, and it must not be forgot
ten that it seemed at one time as if
Governor Hughes might go straight
from Albany to Washington We are
merely recording the fact that for the
time being Governor Wilson is the
most talked of candidate from one
ocean to the other.
1t is to be presumed, too, that when
he is asked by responsible people to
will respond with the same frankness
and plain speaking with which Cover
nor Hughes presented himself to the
public during the winter before Mr..
Taft's nomination. The same honor
able ambition has actuated both men.
They desired to go higher, and have
not hesitated to let it be known To
say that the aims of these two men
have not been dissimilar is only to
carry the parallel a step further At
the same time there is no question
that the New Jersey Governor is
much the more radical and that his
social program reaches further, just
as he has been more successful in ac-
tools who have opposed him. Cover
nor Hughes concentrated all his eff
forts -unsuccessfully- upon the direct
nominations issue as step towards
restoring to the people the power over
elections wreSted from them under
the boss system. If we interpret Gov
ernor Wilson's attitude correctly, that
would be to him only a first step. He
is deeply aroused by the failure of
representative instructions to repre-
sent, and he is prepared to go to what
must seem to many people far, or too
far, in his desire to make these insti-
buttons over
Indeed, it is only to tell the truth to
say that two of his recent utterances
have chilled the enthusiasm for him
of many admirers-his Harrisburg adj
dress On the money power, which to
some has seemed like Organism, and
his recantation of his former opposi-
ton to the Initiative and referendum.
However open to critism these adj
dresses may be, the Governor is at
least not to be charged with any fall
ure to be frank. 1t was surely manly
of him to avow his changed beliefs,
for he must have known that he would
be charged with Hopping for political
purposes only-a criticism that ought
to be weighed with his refusal to APP
prove-even in California of Inc re-
call of judges, which today seems 50
popular in the Far West As for his
speech on the money power, there
will always be two ways of looking at
it. Some will decry it as an attempt
to stir up the groundings, while others
will seesin it only an effort to be frank
weakened, perhaps because there
was no constructive remedy advanced
for what was an alarming portrayal
of certain financial conditions.
Why is it that a man SO recently
come into our public life has already
impressed himself so markedly upon
the country? 1t is not merely that he.
is a new figure and that he has achiev-
ed single-handed, as it were, the de-
feat of g-intrenched bosses by fgh.-s
ing them in a Straightforward way
and letting the whole State know what
was going on. At bottom we have.
here merely another illustration of the.
most salient fact in our political his
tory, that the American people love.
beyond all else man whom they be-.
lieve to be fearless and sincerely de-
voted to their interests. Whenever a;
man in our politics has realized this
and made the people believe in his
courage he has invariably been the.
recipient of their confidence in un-
usual degree. But there is still an
other reason to explain the interest
with which the. whole country is.
watching the Governors career. The.
tide of insurgency, of revolt against
present party conditions and the boss
system, is running more strongly than.
ever, not only in the West, but in the
East. No one need be deceived by the
weakening of the Republican insur-
gent movement in Congress, by the
doubts cast upon the sincerity and
unse1fishness of it's spokesman by
their course in the present tariff strug-
gle. The significance of these leaders