New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-01
The Issue.

Of Mr.. Hughess speech of acceptance. 1t
is challenge Of incapacity, an indictment
Of failure.
"The dealings of the Administration
with Mexico constitute confused chapter
of blunders." Thus reads the opening SER
tence Of the Mexican subsection. But that
thought could be repeated and amplified in
every other section which deals with the
accomplishment Of the Wilson Administra-
ton in those large fields where decision Of
thought, poise of mind and energy of char
acter are demanded of statesman and
national leader
Mr.. Wilson's attitude toward the big
problems Of the day-both national and
international-has been that Of diet
tante. His policies have been happy impro-
visions, drawn out of hat. They have
been subject TO change and to reversal, to
eclipse and reefulgence. Washington has
lived in an orgy of benevolent phrases,
each treading his elder brother down or
elbowing him out of the limelight
We have had a government of catch
words and ballroom notices, with inter
walls of watchful expectation between-just
the reverse of that normal process Of toll
some forethought and drudging prepare
ton through which national policies, to
strike deep, must terminate and ripen.
The indictment drawn in Mr.. Hughes's
speech is rightly an indictment of Mr.
Wilson's whole procedure as statesman
his scattering point of view, his rowing i'm
pulses, his undisciplined methods of doing
business. There has been no large ques-
ton before the Administration on which
the President has not shown the same fatal
vacillations and mutations. The Mexican
policy is a perfect jig-saw puzzle. There
Is nothing Mr.. Wilson has ever said or done
with reference to Mexico which cannot be
matched with some absolutely contradic-
tory saying or action.
He has interviewed and also declared that
he never interviewed and never intended to
intervene. He said that he went into Vera
Cruz 10 obtain a salute for the flag, and
recently through member of his Cabinet
he has denied that such was the purpose Of
the Vera Cruz expedition. He has an
nounced that the Mexicans ought to be al
lowed to spill one anothers blood without
hindrance and to establish their own form
of government without American interior
ence. Yet he worked for more than year
TO Dust Huerta from Office, finally succeed
ing. and worked for still another year to
eliminate Carranza, finally failing and
then recognizing Carranza's government
by way of compensation.
Every lack Of consistency, clearness anc
decision which Mr.. Hughes justly criti
cises in the big drama Of Mexican blum
ders has its counterpart, smaller but still
distinct. on other stages of political &C
tivity.
Mr. Wilson's hot-and-cold fits, his
alternate hesitations and bass-drum beat
ings, have figured in all his diplomacy ape
in all his domestic man9uvres. He has
been on both sides of the Pan-Americar
issue. He has leaned now forward, now
backward, on the preservation OF neutra
rights; he has been for preparedness ant
against it. for tariff commission anC
against il, for the better protection Of
American industries at the end Of the wal
and again not so strongly for UGH protec
ton. for scuttlng out Of the Philippines
and then willing TO forego scuttling.
1t would be impossible to comprise with
in one speech Of 5000 words more than {
fraction of the hundreds of details OF
which an indictment of the Wilson Admin
istration for errancy, instability and un
Cependabiity must be based Mr.. Hughe
has chosen the issues which bulk largest
Mexico. the preservation Of neutral rights
Preparedness, protection and the Philip
pines. On these the record is clear anC
overwhelming. No other American Presi
dent has ever shown the lack of grasp, o
clear conception and common sense states
manship that Mr.. Wilson has shown OF
this large range of vital nationa
problems.
The case against the President in thi
campaign is thus put into a nutshell. /
Is an appeal for a vote of non-confdenc'
ir a man who has shown that he lacks IL
oeice all the vital qualities which inspire
confidence. Watchful waiting, drifting
opportunism in speech, but not even TIT
saving grace Of happy-go-lucky oppor
tunism in action-these are not the max
ings of an administrator who in times O