Der Deutsche correspondent. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1841-1918, 1916-07-05
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

|
Under the caption: "A Chair
mans Embarrassment" the Washing
ton Post says in its issue of yester-
day.
Chairman Wilcox. of the Repub-
! lican national committee, is con
! fronted at the very beginning of the
campaign with the embarrassing at
tentions of German leaders who in
sist upon proclaiming from the
housetops that the German vote will
! be cast for Mr.. Hughes. These lead
ers may or may not represent the
German-Amorican voters, but the
Republican Manager has not yet
found a way to soft-pedal their noisy
support without offending the voters
they pretend to represent.
"A vote Is vote, and when an
element in tho population can deliver
several hundred thousand votes it
| does not become q national chairman
to throw them away. Nevertheless,
1t cannot be doubted that Mr.. Will
cox wishes some way could be found
! for the delivery of the votes without
such frank and public outbursts Of
affection. Mr. Hughes has gone as
far as propriety will permit in maxi
ing clear that his Americanism is
undilutcd. This hint to the German
leaders seems to be lost. They are
vociferous in his praise and they
proudly predict that the German vote
will turn the scale in November
These leaders assume that Mr.
Hughes, if elected, will somehow or
other demonstrate thatGerman-Amer-
leans will not have their feelings
ruffled, Yet there is nothing upon
which to base this assumption, eX-
cept possibly the fact that Mr. VIII
son has actually held Germany to ac-
count, while Mr. Hughes has not
been forced to perform any such
duty. If Mr.. Hughes had been Presi-
dent 1t is only fair to suppose that he
would have tried to maintain neu-
! trality as scrupulously as Mr.. Will
son has maintained it.
The German leaders pay no heed
| to the whispers of Republicans who
caution them that hyphenized votes
should be felt and not heard. With
"a sense of devotion that seems to
them most praiseworthy, the German
! leaders want the whole world to
know that they intend to swing the
| German vote to Hughes. Some Of
| the really representative German
| Americans Of moderate temper arc
1 suggesting that the most effective
| aid that could be given to Mr.
Hughes would be to keep quiet and
deliver the vote to him, without
arousing resentment among voters
who are not quite in sympathy with
the idea of dividing the electorate
| into classes distinguished by their
| IuO faf xrrft ~ n
These cautious suggestions are hav-
| ing little effect. 1t remains to be
seen how Mr. Wilcox will solve the
perplexing problem of holding the
German-American vote while con-
vincing other voters that the Ger
man-Americans are mistaken in PIN
ming their faith to Mr. Hughes.
The Post makes the same error in
which the Baltimore Sun, the New
York World and other administra-
tion papers have fallen. These adj
ministration papers were somewhat
peevish over the announcement Of
number of western and eastern Ger
man language papers that they were
satisfied with the republican nomi-
nee for President and that they
would support him, till the German
Correspondent called their attention
to the fact that about all of these
newspapers over whose announce
ment they were having fits had al
ways been on the republican side of
the fence, that they had supported
the republican nominee for President
in all the campaignes at least since
1892, and that for that reason there
could be nothing unusual in the
stand they had taken in this Presi-
Dental campaign.
Die German Correspondent be-
lieves that tho Washington Post will
find the same thing prevailing as to
the socalled German-Leaders" who
"proclaim from the housetops" that
f; the entire German-American votes
will be cast for Mr.. Hughes. On
closer investigation the Post will
very likely find that these German
Leaders" have in every Presidential
year been shouting for the republi-
can nominee for President.
The advice Of the German Cores
! pondent to Mr. Wilson's supporters
! IS to let everybody shout who wants
to shout and not to pay any atten-
tion to It. AS patriotic Americans
Mr.. Wilson's supporters should not
wish to create a division of the
American people by races and
creeds.