The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1916-11-16
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occurring the S0utn IN cOttOn ana
'ru;ts, the middle west in farming,
he Pacific coast in shipping. lumber
and fruits. If any one of these in
lustries languishes, it is the disposi-
lion TO blame in part at least the
existing federal administration; if
any one of them prospers, the voters
express in their bal
lots satisfaction with the governing
power. ..-
Then, in addition to all these
other varieties of interest we find
the differing political convictions.
One group is conservative, another
radical, another moderate in its views
So, when one sets about it to eA-
plain the reelection of President
Wilson, as shown by the unofficial
returns, he must, if he is doing it
the right way, take into considera-
tion large number of factors.
The Republican believes, as stat
ed shortly after the election, that
the most successful single appeal
for Wilson's reelection was the fact
that under his administration the
country has not been embroiled in
war. Even though hes deserves no
credit for this fact. even though his
autocratic and whimsical methods
would have plunged US into war if
il had not been for the unwilling
ness of Europe to fight us, still the
argument made votes, and it made
more votes man any other.
Next to the sentiment for peace,
Wilson owes his good showing to
the schism in the Republican party.
Ever since the open rupture ofl912,
Republicans and others have been
wondering whether it would be pos
sible to reconstruct the party 1t
was an HercuIean task, politically
speaking, undertaken by Hughes
when he accepted the responsibility
of bringing the Progressives and Re
publicans together. Some of the
Progressives were resehtful of the
manner in which they were cheated
out of presidential candidate, and
ON this account supported Wilson.
A few regarded Wilson as enough of
"a Progressive to be entitled to their
Support, as, for ] instance, Amos
Pinchot and Francis Heney. Again,
Hughes refused :, to permit the old
guard Republicans to run his cam
paign. Murray Crane absolutely
quit Hughes and this is one reason
why Massachusetts almost went to
Wilson. The treasurer of the nation
al committee, Cornelius Bliss, is an
irreconcilable stalwart and it is now
asserted that he refused to send
money to states in which progressive
Republicans had the control, and
this naturally alienated the Republi-
cans of those states. New Hamp-
shire went to the Democrats because
Senator Gallinger, reactionary. block
ed the confirmation of Rublee, a
New Hampshire Progressive, APP
pointed to the federal trade commits
sion and because Gallinger in other
ways closed the doors against the re-
turn of Progressives ito the party
fold. In California, the stalwarts
made it out that Hughes had refused
to recognize Hiram Johnson, the
former Progressive nominated for the
Senate and elected by an enormous
plurality of over 100000. johnson
was loyal to Hughes but his Repuo-
lican opposition so disguised his fol-
lowers by insisting that vote for
Hughes would be slap at Johnson.
that thousands of them voted for
Wilson.
Next in bearing on the election is
the artificial prosperity created by
war orders. Although the United
States in 1914 was enveloped in a
financial depression which threaten
ed to be one of the worst the coun-
try ever knew and which Wilson
himself was compelled eventually
to recognize and which he sought to
minimize as psychological" never
theless the people quite forgot this
result of the Democratic fiscal policy
as shown in normal times and chose
rather to regard the abnormal pros
perity resulting from war business
In this connection, the fact that the
American wheat crop was half bill
lion bushels short and the corn crol
fell off almost as much, and the un,
usual demand for foodstuffs in Eur
ope with the shortage, caused unpre
cedented prices for farm products
The unthinking farmer actually gav'
Wilson credit for these prices and
expressed his satisfaction by voting
for the Democratic nominee.
Another consideration that actual.
ed many voters was the fact that Will
son was up for a second term. 1t Il
part of the American complacenc.
to virtually concede second term tc
any public official who has made a
half way decent record. This dis
position was helped along by the
army of office-holders whose further
tenure of office depended upon the
election of Wilson and who were
busy all over the country in behalf
of the man to whom they owe theil
chance to draw checks from the fed
eral treasury.
Last but. not least of these chic
factors in the election, is the favor
found by Wilson in the eyes of the
|many thousands of pro-Ally sympa
|thizers. On this the Chicago Tri
Dunes political observer says in thu
issue of Monday: 1.-The partially o
the president for the Allies, TO
which he was applauded by Waite
Lippmann and other New York apollo
gists, probably won him more sup
port than it alienated along the At
lantic seaboard." The Tribune il
the article referred to considered
; only the vote in the East. Wher
even one found strong partisan
of the cause of Great Britain o