The Alaska daily empire., 1916-08-07
HUGHES SPEECH LACKS "PUcNH"
fSenttle Times.)

Seattle Times)
 Did you Mr. Citizen, persue the iiuBheS aVTSPp tance speech with painstakng thoroughness' meuu., ing on each potent phrase and asslmilasus e'o.y 2 brilliant thought? The chances are iUO O 'Sy on did moi If you did, you were the hundreuth mun
 To be frank the Hughes address was very S uIS reading It lacked both the Roosevelt 'pnhcn a Inr s tbe Wsonian rhetorical finish Moreover. IL was la, foo long The Republican nominee could nave sau ali he did say that was really worth while in one, quarter the number of words he employed anu "' OO"" have said it a great deal better , .,.
 Whatever its merits in the eyes of partsanS, s .ns effort not what large element m tne DoS'I UI,,TU States expected. It is too aaroi 100 0Sa 5 'iu,; @ 5rawn-in other words, too palably political h con- coption. manufacture and intent. .s o, vrpsoD,,n word juggling win find relief in Hughes careIuly shaded enunciatons It Is thin, pale, ana 1hntetes inc bv contrast with Roosevelts redblooded declara lions If is over.fu of resounding nohings Of vault ing pfre. Of glib statements meant to please every OOu certain retlcience in the handling of questions of foreign relations and Mexico would have been eN cnsable Mr. Hughes cannot afford to commit nm self 10 hard-and.fast policy these matters uurlns political campaign, for his words misn' lSe toJ op embarrass and confouDd him shousd ne pc eieO'ee Nevertheless. he is more frank m ms ulscusSON o the Mexican problem than in his consioerauoh O
 This latter Is a purely domestic issue and t, one on which the Republican candidate could take a ue,il'e stand without danger of later diplomatic dhucHues' Yet he does not advance single constructlve susees lion for the improvement Of defense conditions ne sove ye demand adeuuae national defense, adequate caTs for 'tboroughness and efficiency in both arms  plain that our regular army is too small He points out the weakness in military system as revealed by the mobilization of the Guard
 But he does discuss the propositions or unlyer- sal military training and universal military service the upbuidng of great reserves of material in time of peace or the means by which tho manifest errors of past and present are corrected in the future
 His recommendation for further increase m tne regular army Is piffle. The governments eXperence willie trying to recruit 10000 regulars in the iace or possible war with Mexico indicates .he mpossiblty of building up the regular organization even 70 the strength contemplated in the new army bill Quring period of peace. His endorsement of the idea that ahe first citizen reserve" should be enlisted as a federal army and trained under federal authority merely makes him supporter of the adminlstratloh' He has blazed no new path.
 All in all tho speech is a distinct disappointment -a disappointment to the Republicans, disappont- ment to the friends of adequate preparedness dsap' pointment especially to those men who hoped that Hughes would measure up in some way to the Roose- veltian standard The speech should and undoubtedly will cause joy in the Democratic ranks If this IS the best the c. O. P and It's nominee have to offer the country Wilson can view the future with tran quality.
 This view is advanced by The Times froa an ab- sclutely noupartsan standpoint. It is supporting no candidate It's comment is based on no predilection for either nominee. The cold fact of the case IS that Mr. Hughes has not hit the right or the expected note .n his acceptance speech