The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1916-10-04
So Far AS His Future Ac-
tiOns Determine.
he IS A MAN OF UNCERTAINTY
How Is II Possible To Know
at..Hughes' Policies
Would Be?
HIS ATTITUDE Is GUESSWORK

The Springfield (Mass.) Repub-
lican says:
One of the fercest of the hate
Wilson, German language papers,
the Herold, of New York City, tells
its readers: What Hughes might
do is not part of the question, but
VIVA. Wilson has done" A clear
case, is that, of voting for an uncer-
talnty against a certainty. So far as
the next President is concerned, it
is case of voting in the dark, and
voting in the dark is leap in the
dark.
The admission of the German Ian
guage press that It is impossible to
know what to expect of a Hughes
administration calls attention to but
one aspect of the question. What a
Republican Administration would
do, or could do, along any line of
real Importance cannot be forecast.
The generalities, evasions and 81
lence of Candidate Hughes concern
ing what he would do as President
are even more striking than his fail
ure to answer squarely and explicit
ly what he would have done in Will
sons place. 1t is highly improbable
that Mr.. Hughes. even to save his
political life. could tell what he
would do, in the next Presidential
term, il placed in power by the peo-
pie. And this is not due entirely to
the fact that he cannot read the fu-
ture; it is due largely to the fact
that the political forces that have
rallied to his support which must be
depended upon to sustain him when
in office. are lacking in real unity
and, aside from their anti-Wilson-
ism, are discordant in purpose and
aspiration.
With the Republican candidate
supported by such grotesquely an
,tagonistic elements as the pro-Ger-
Imam New York Stats Zeitung and
the pro-British New York Tribune.
by George Sylvester Viereck on the |
one hand and Lyman Abbott and |
Robert Bacon on the other hand, by |
D.. Hexamar, head of the German
American Alliance, at one end, and |
by Theodore Roosevelt at the other
end. how is it possible for us to!
know what Mr.. Hughes policy would /
he on the various questions of the
European war? The Republican
record in Congress since the war be-
gan reveals a majority of Republican
members of the House voting for the
McLemore resolution warning Amer
leans not to exercise their rights of
travel on the high seas out of fear
of friction with Germany. and it is
notorious that many Republicans
would have voted in favor of an en-
barge on the exports of war NUM-
ticns, concerning which Mr.. Hughes
has not opened his mouth. had the
question been forced to the front.
What would be the attitude of
Republican Administration toward
Great Britain, in view OF the prob
able prolongation of the war. on the
various issues that have arisen, and
steadily grown more grave. concern
ing the blockade, the blacklist and
the mail censorship? There are pro-
British supporters Of Mr.. Hughes so
extreme that they publicly ayow the
wish that the United ,tates would
abandon it's neutral rights in favor
of Great Britain, but would Mr..
Hughes as President, carry out such
Il policy? Mr.. Hughes himself does
not know. How could he know in
view of the motley character of his
political support, which runs through
all grades Of sympathy with alien
belligerents? Mr.. Hughes, as Pres
ident. could not possibly have more
than a bare majority supporting him
igfthe Senate. yet among those Re-
publican Senators would be found
no Conference OF opinion concerning
European War Issues. The debate
on Ne Gore resolution last winter
proved that When Republicans
talk. as Mr.. Taft did recently. about
having "a consistent and intelligent
policy" for issues connected with
the war and its ending. they ignore
the glariug fact that their party to-