The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1915-06-02
THE NEXT PRESIDENT
Victor Murdoch Talks of Hughes,
Roosevelt, Taft and

! Dental pOSSlDllltleS at tnlS mOmen
the high light is Hughes. OF the sew
eral reasons back of this distinction
the attitude of Hughes himself il
chief That attitude is one of calm
the calm that to the eye of a politi
cal opponent seems to conceal ant
conspire Each of the fourteen aspir
ants for the Republican nomination
| believes that Hughes should declare
himself now, and as this demand
grows, Individually and collectively
Hughes himself deftly emphasizes
the demand by receding hourly far
Their away from the point of illumi
mating speech.
A declaration by Hughes at this
hour would serve all Of them in one
of two possible ways. First. the as
pirants believe that for Temperament
tai reasons in early declaration
might fortuitously prove to be a posi-
tive declination. Second, if he is to
be "A candidate, they want TO center
the fight on him early.
The temperamental factor is OF
great moment. Hughes. after four
teen years of major activities, re.
mains a mystery to working polite
ians. His administration at Albany,
deeply offensive to the machine, fol
lowing his dramatic activities in the
insurance investigations, his master
full campaign tour in 1908, lifted him
nightly before the eyes of the peo-
pie The Hughes boom sat as a guest
thereafter at every Republican board,
modest, reticent, but incontroyertib-
~ present, 10 be respected and to be
feared. The mystery about it began
when it was discovered that Hughes,
refused to personify his boom, to
give it form by outspoken aspiration.
There was no question about his
popularity. In the inaugural parade
in Washington. March 4, 1909 Hughes
who sat his horse about as comfort
ably as Charlemagne on motor
cycle, was the fayorite of a discrimi-
mating and more or less partisan null
titude, and in the vexations days
which followed for Taft in the White
House, haunting vision of the beard
ed governor of New York perched
nightly on the bed-post of the presi-
Dental couch.
There was at that moment a splen-
did fighting chance for Hughes nomi-
nation for President in 1912. and
Hughes had turned away from ii. So
splendid was the chance. so urgent,
that all during the savage days in
Chicago in 1912 the Hughes boom
ratified the latch OF every door to the
Coliseum and shouted for admission.
while the anxious delegates puzzled
over a story that Chairman Elihu
Root had inside the pocket of his cut
away letter of positive declination
signed by Hughes. which could be
sprung il the Hughes boom happened
to force an entrance. hoeptS,k
to force an entrance. SO the politi-
clans settled back into the conviction
that Hughes had an incurable case of
temperament, that he was lacking in
the fine edge of egoism which I'M
sheaths at the lure of high hazard
and, with the flushed cheek OF dar
ing. rushes in where judges, wonted
to the soft cushions of life tenure,
fear to tread.
But now the choosers of presidents
are not so sure. Inveterate silence be-
comes at last aggressive. The
Hughes reticence looms ominous
Most of them believe that he will add
the pinch of aspiration to his career
and get in.
Roosevelt with his own tremend-
Gus popularity, the unpopularity of
Taft added. the hardly won Wilson
battle at Baltimore against the forces
Of reaction, advanced the indepen.
tents into second place in the nation |
The Progressive party was born. 1t
was made up then, as it is made UP |
low. of independents in politics |
rhey put first emphasis, not on name |
)r organization, but on certain funda. |
mental principles They believe in |
he new onalism-national relief |
or national needs. They advocate |
measures for the realization of social |
md industrial justice in concrete,
comprehensive and complete form,
weakening compromise or |
levious and defeating qualifications. |
they are for direct popular voting
In word, they stand on
he Progressive national platform in
L91..
The chief figure in the party is
Roosevelt. And he is The party's
;hief asset Its vitality as a move
nent, is not in him or any other man,
,ut in the independents aspiration |
O encompass the doctrines of Abra-
lam Lincoln. OF all men, Roosevelt |
las given these their most precise
DUPLICATION to modern problems
This, his record, his figure in the
world, his grasp of its affairs, his
activities with voice and |
zen his initiative, his foresight, his
nsistence upon national prepared
less, make him the idol Of the Pro
,ressiyes. The events in Chicago in !
912 which Put the nomination and
is responsibilities upon him were
lever misjudged by him. He knew
he hazards and hardships OF a new |