The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-08-05
Deacon Hemphill in the New York Times
WY ooDRow WILSON is a man new
N/ in American politics. and Amer
N lean nolitics Is all the better or

n n
w in American politics, and .. Amer s,,
w lean politics is all the better or
because he is. Two years ago ne did not
know. except In a wholly theoretical way,
anything about the game, and how II
should be played. and he really does not
1 know much more now, except tnat ne mas
learned a great deal about human nature
and how human nature has to be nursed
when 1t comes to the business of dealing
with practical questions In a theoretical
way. Nominated first by George Harvey,
who never held an office in his life and
never ran for one, for governor OF New
Jersey, and safely delivered In TINS ven
ture only to be again preferred by the
same Judge of men and opportunities TOT
President Of the United States, he IL again
at the head of the heap and leading, OF
rather following, 1t would seen the people
to another triumph in November. rms Is
one of the most remarkable experiences
in the political history of the country, and
argues we'll for the people and their sense
of the fitness of things. The manner
| in which the situation has developed mas
been as surprising to the people, prob
ably. as It has been TO the practical
politician" No one would have suspect
ed that William F. Mccombs, modest UNI
assuming, quiet beyond his years. could
have worked out the plans of his cam
paign for Wilson as ne did at Baltimore.
and before Baltimore but. he did In that
initial struggle just as he hopes and ex-
poets to work out his plans for the cleo
ton of Wilson in November.
Governor Wilson has done many things
which an ordinary politician of the old
school would not have done. He has writ
the letters and made speeches and puiit up
histories, and said many things whieh
a candidate for office would never nave
dreamed of saying; but he has always
been able to give reason for the faitn
that is in him, and his explanations SO
far as he has made explanations, nave
on,v served to eueidate the theories ne
has advanced and to satisfy the critics
who have assailed him. He ought to be
judged by the company he has been Keep
ing. His largest support in the conven-
ton at Baltimore came from the repub-
iiean state of Pennsylvania, which en-
blazoned on all Its banners the legend,
Name Wilson and Pennsylvania will elect
him." That was a risky thing for Penn
sylvania to promise. seeing that Penn
sylvana has never voted for democratic
President; but the assurance was so at
tractive and the men from Pennsylvania
were so persistent that the convention ac-
cepted the pledge. Mitchell Palmer. the
Quaker representative in Congress from
the stroudsburg district. and a man of
n 10Th, r..
Cormick, former captain of the Yale foot
ball team, and Rowland Morris. young
lawyer of Philadelphia, all OF whom have
money enough to live on without the emol-
uments of Office, are doing their best to
carry out the pledge made. These three
young, or youngish, fellows are typical
of the character of the men who have rail-
lied to the democratic standard this year
in all the statesmen without pull" men
who do not know, but men who believe
that the time has come when the people
viii go right II they are only led right.
As 1t Is In Pennsylvania, so 1t Is In all
the other states. OF course there are
some practical politicians" among the
Wilson men-they would not be 'prac-
teal politicians II they were not--but
are the men who win really count in the
campaign. In Texas, another Of the
strongest states which gave Wilson their
support at Baltimore, the contest was be-
tween the old and the new, largely. Henry
and Rurleson and culberson were there.
Tho two frst named were rather more
noisy, perhaps. than effective: but they
were all very earnest and direct in their
speaking and voting. One of the Texans.
who was, in fact, not Texan at all.
as he is a native Of Iowa and has only
lived In Texas for six years, was Cato
Sells, and he was at his business early
and late and all the time, not because
he had any axe to grind. but because he il
a progressive in temper and believed that
there are evils that can be cured only by
the applicants of old remedies to new
conditions. The Texans have been much
divided in local democratic politics, and
the people who are now on top in the
party are the people who have stood out
against the old Bailey and johnson
clique-not the Cone johnson crowd, but
the johnson Of the Houston Post
Against him and his paper were ar
rayed the Dallas News and the Galveston
Il
News the Beio papers" which have
made good in this last contest for the con-
troll Of the politics Of the state
In New York, Mccombs, graduate OF
Princeton university, and man who had
never dabbled in politics. was the center
of disturbance. He went about his work
in q quiet way. and before anybody knew
about him or what he was doing he had
organized college clubs all over the coun-
try and set honest people thinking about
what might be done IL the educated peo-
pis would only get together. 1t is sur
prising how the McCombs idea took with
the people everywhere, how the newspap-
pers began to take notice in the prov
inces, and how finally the big journals at
the center of things began to shell tho
woods for Wilson. In New York also W.
@. McAdoo. tie man who builds tunnels
and does other big things, began to work
for Wilson. and Henry Mongapthau, a
lawyer by profession. . man Of large