The Washington herald., 1915-09-25
A Reckoning IN Massachusetts.

The nomination OF Samuel w. Mccall, as the
Republican candidate for governor of Massachu.
setts, gives assurance of a serious political cam
pagn in the old Commonwealth, conducted on
high plane in the discussion of serious political
issues national as we'll as State Mr.. Mccall has
a national reputation as statesman rather than
as politician, and no man in Massachusetts, is
better able to define Republican policies without
demagogy and without flippancy wandering
off after strange political gods to secure few
independent votes.
The failure of the Progressives to go into the
primaries as party and nominate candidates. in
dicates that the'people of Massachusetts, tired
of political ghost dancing and are ready to again
get down to a serious consideration of the rela-
ton of political policies to business conditions.
President Wilson and his administration will be
on trial in this State campaign, and there is no
better place to have such a trial, and no better
man to appear the prosecutor of the Demo-
cratic party for its mistakes, than Samuel W..
Mccall, who will not strike below the belt, but
will NOT spare any weak spot whether it be the
tariff the foreign policy the failure to carry
out the policy of economy promised at Balti-
more While the contest will be on national lines,
Gov. Walsh has strong personal following which
will make him formidable opponent of Mr..
Mccall, especially if some of the old ghost dan
GERS who have usually attached themselves to the
Republican party should continue to embarrass
that party by trying to inject religious and moral
issues into the campaign the theory that Mas
sachusetts is still Puritan colony and be
dominated it was in the old days of the blue
laws
The most encouraging feature of the primary
contest the dssolving view presented of that
picturesque political patent medicine man, former
fixed star of the first magnitude in the political
armament few years ago insurgent Repub
lican representative in Congress, then appeared
a Democratic governor of the State, and this year
announced himself as candidate for the Repub-
lican nomination platform for national prohi-
bition. Mr.. Foss invited both Mr.. Mccall and Mr..
Gushing to withdraw from the contest in his favor
or be Overwhelmingly defeated with national pro-
hibition the battle cry all over Massachusetts,.
Mr. Foss and his prohibition platform received less
than 5000 votes which would indicate that, having
boxed the political compass completely did
Gen. Benjamin F. Butler in former period of
ghost dancing in Massachusetts, Eugene Noble
Foss will henccforth cease to trouble the dreams
of all political managers and political aspirants in
the old Bay State. 1t would also suggest that
tional prohibition is a more popular issue when
the people are prosperous and the Federal Treas
ury is ovcriowing than when business is depressed
and the Secretary of the Treasury is scraping the
vaults to find money to pay the government bills
without borrowing. The celebrated governor
Of Massachusetts, John A. Andrew, reminded
the people of that State that there times
when the government should not attempt to |
Shackle the people by law in their purely domestic
affairs, and said: There is, in principle no odds |
between prescribing an article of diet and prescrib-
ing dose OF physic by authority of law" Massa-
chusetts has been taking many kinds of physc |
recommended by the political patent medicine
men and her industries now need tonic.