New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-09-17
TAKING CHANCES OUT WEST.

Governor Wilson's Western trip
frankly advertises the failure OF his
original plan of campaign. His adj
visers had evidently led him to believe
that all he had to do was to sit tight
at Sea Girt and indulge in occasional
lawn party talks 10 visiting delegations.
Getting out and telling the voters how
he stood on the issues Of the campaign
seemed TO him irksome and unneces-
sary. any private Judgment he SAID
three weeks ago. lis that extended
..stumping tours are not the most Ell
..fective methods of conducting cam
'paign." Moreover, he explained with
delightful irony. you must always re-
member that | am Governor of New
Jersey and that ! must keep in touch
with the business of the state
The Governor assumed that he would
have more time TO keep in touch WIN
deserted Trenton this summer and fail
than he had last winter and spring
when he was chasing the Presidential
nomination. Now his devotion to New
Jersey must suffer another unfortunate
check. 1t has been borne in upon nm
that his canvass is sagging and that his
nolicy of supercilious garden party
persifage has chilled and alienated the
public. He is evidently going to swal-
low his earlier conviction that the
country is willing 10 take him at his
own valuation. He sees now that he
will have to give up aerOplanlng in the
thin azure OF gencralitieS and come
down To- the solid earth of concrete
facts.
So far Governor Wilson has exhibited
- melancholy lack Of courage ana in
.iSivenesS. He has been evasive and
contradictory and has created Il gem
,ral impression that he has no firm
Grasp on. the issues of the day. On the
tariff ne has oscillated from one eX-
-reme to the other. One day he talks
like q complete free trader convinced
of the moral iniquity and economic fu-
tility Of tariff duties of any sort. The
next day ne deprecates any Interior
oncc with the protective system EXCEPT
by the most cautious and gradual proc
n,srs and says that there is no room
nowadays for a free trader anywhere
within the United states.
ON The trust issue he has also been
confused and indefinite. His remark
that the history Of liberty is a history
"of the limitation Of governmental
power" shows how little he under
stands modern economic and political
conditions Such a view was sound in
the days of Jefferson. but to-day IT is
antiquated and reactionary. All mod
prn tendencies I'm American politics
have been toward an increase Of gov
ornamental power in order to protect the
average citizen against the abuse OF
an individualiSm aggrandized a hun
dredfold through the fiction OF the cor
poration. Mr.. Wilson's phrase was one
dear 10 the hearts Of the opponents Of
federal regulation of the railroads
Were his idea lived up to the Interstate
commerce Commission and all the state
failroad commissions would have TO he
abolished and the antitrust law would
nave to be repealed as an improper ey'
tension Of governmental power.
Governor Wilson preaching Rousseau.
ism in the West will be an interesting
spectacle He has now put himself in
position where he will have to ex-
hibit his political wares 10 q critical
public If he cannot show something
more substantial or even more plausi
ole than he has shown in the East his
candidacy will be seriously endangered
1t is manifest that he cannot play both
fast and loose with the intelligence OF
the West