New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-19


would not last"
That remains to be seen. The next
four years may produce conditions
which will enable Hiram Johnson, Of
California, to start an Armageddcn Of
his own. 1t may be livelier and more
lasting Armageddon than the other.
Personally, would not accuse Hiram
Johnson of knitting" Mr. Hughes, al
though is there anybody who would
consider it unnatural, or even unethical,
from any point of view, for Mr.. John
son to have knitted Mr.. Hughes? Was
there any national issue for a Cali
fornian, who was an Armageddonite, to
enthuse over in this campaign? Frank
ly, there was not. If Mr.. Hughes rep
resented anything that appealed to the
Californian he did not express it.
There was the political blunder in en-
tering California. If Mr.. Hughes had
remained on the safe side Of the
Sierras, Californians, who have their
romantic moods and idealistic tenden-
cies, might have assumed that he repre-
sented certain Armageddonite ideals
which were really not his. But Hughes
materialized and dispelled all visions
that might have been.
MR.. HUGHES WAS TURNED DOWN
MORE IN SORROW THAN
IN ANGER
Californians, with sorrow. saw in
Charles Evans Hughes a politician as
sadly misnformed in regard to Califor-
mia as was William Howard Taft They
were not resentful against Mr. Hughes
any more than they were against Mr..
Taft. They turned down both more in
sorrow than in anger.
have picture before me now of the
poor, misguided Taft breaking ground
for the Panama Pacific Exposition in
the place where the exposition was not
held. He was surrounded by the politi-
cal mummies of California, who later
surrounded Mr.. Hughes with such dem
sity. Mr.. Taft was told that the Cali
fornians were so profoundly grateful for
the granting of the exposition to Cali
fornia over New Orleans that he could
count on the state being true to Repub-
lican traditions and to the Southern
Pacific Railway.
Only few months later the state aid
ed Hiram Johnson in abolishing the Re-
publican party altogether This hap
pened when they steam-rollered the Cal
ifornia delegation at the Republican
convention. The Californian crushed to
earth will rise again and smite the
crusher in the nose.
The way they dragged poor Mr.. Taft
into triangular free-for-all local fight
in San Francisco was something scan-
dalous. Mr.. Taft wished it distinctly
understood when he arrived in San
Francisco that he did not wish to be-
come embroiled nor involved in the
slightest way. The old guard leaders
promised, but they could not resist the
chance to use Taft for political capital
in the local scrap.
They decoyed him into the Union
League Club, which is the stronghold &C
the "old guard" under pretence that it
was to be private party. Then they
introduced Mr.. Taft to their candidate.
Mr.. Taft, being thoroughly good
natured, stuck out his plump right hand
and grasped the hand Of the reactionary
candidate for Mayor Of San Francisco.
At that instant flashlights exploded BY
a concealed battery of photographers set
the room ablaze. The next day the re-
dictionary papers, also the Progressive
papers, showed Taft grasping the hand
of the reactionary candidate. He had
become involved in the embroglio, and
it was real Kilkenny cat affair.