New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-11
A Bankrupt Leadership

Tribune opposed the nomination Oh
Mr.. Hughes as it advocated that Oh
Colonel Roosevelt. When the nomi-
nation of Mr.. Hughes became ineVi-
table il urged upon Mr.. Hughes
course which it frankly assertea
could alone prevent defeat MI
Hughes was nominated and he did
not follow the course advocated by
The Tribune. There was left 70 tnis
newspaper. then, the choice between
two men. neither Of whom stood
srarelv upon the principles that
seemed to The Tribune sound. In TINS
situation The Tribune accepted MI
Hughes because it believed he would
make the better President. Having
explaincd its own attitude, The IT'D
me feels free now to express its view
Of the result.
More completely than any de-
fcatcd candidate for the Presidency
in our own time. Mr.. Hughes mas
boor tho architect of his own mis-
fortune. The campaign which ne
made was his own campaign; Its
character. its content and its alb
scncc Of content were Of his own
choosing. and the responsibility Tor
defeat is his own.
And vet in the larger sense the
defeat of Mr.. Hughes IS the DEFEAT
tho an-inclusive defeat, of his party
leaders. 1t was bankrupt leader
shin which named Mr.. Hughes.
Those who named him named him be-
cause they believed that his solvency
would rescue their moral insolvency
The task set for Mr.. Hughes was
task that only a great man couid
have performed, and in his effort
to perform it Mr.. Hughes showed
no quality of greatness. 1t was eS-
sential that he should rise above MS
marty. and he was able only to keep
stem with il. The single chance OF
victory Way in an appeal that should
transcend all party lines, and at all
times Mr.. Hughes spoke as the mar
rowest Of partisans.
The Chicago Convention sat IN
cowardice and wrought in selfish
ness. 1t cared nothing for princi-
nle 1t cared nothing for patriot
ism The moral issues and the
spiritual forces that were abroad IN
the nation were without meaning TO
it. All that had happened in recent
months, all that was stirring in a
people deeply moved by world
events and domestic crises, left I
cold. 1t had no other thought save
that OF winning; it had no concern
for principle, for past sacrifice or
present duty; it was willing to take
votes where it could get them and
at any price.
After the Chicago Convention
there was no longer a question OF
Republican leadership in the ma
ton. There was no longer linger-
ing suspicion that the party which
met in the Chicago Convention hall
was the moral heir Of the party
which assembled under the oaks at
Jackson sixty years before, AS lead
ers the Republican chiefs revealed
themselves for what they were IN
their party's latest national conven-
ton, and from the spectacle men
turned away in disgust, in despair
tempered only by the hope that the
candidate named would live down
the discredit Of the party leaders and
the convention which named him.
There was something Of real
pathos in the fashion in which
millions Of men and women waited
on the first words of MIR. Hughes.
A Inundated nation, conscious of
the failures, the weaknesses, the
hypocrisies Of recent days, looking
beyond the disgrace of the last
months 10 the glory which had been
their inheritance, eager TO find 4
l..d<r nyhn Should restors the conn