New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-01-05


like all Americans. demand leadership;
they are crying out for leadership, ana
everv other man who has been mentioned
for President on the Republican side has
so far remained silent and apparently de-
cidcd that political wisdom lay in turning
TO his own profit Mr.. Wilson's plumbers
and weakness.
This is a twofold mistake; these candi-
dates cannot have it both ways. The
American people in this particular crisis
will not choose Republican cowardice to
succeed Democratic. Rather they will sup
port Mr.. Wilson, if they are convinced a
few months hence that the Republicans,
without daring TO take any stand them
selves upon the real issues Of the hour,
are attempting to profit by the hostility
Mr.. Wilson aroused in German-American
quarters because of the little that he has
done. If the Republican party or its candi-
dates base their campaign on the hyphen
vote they will be defeated; they will de-
serve to be defeated, and every patriotic
American citizen will support either Mr.
Wilson or the nominee Of third party,
and that nominee will be Colonel Roose-
welt.
But the thing will not come to this. A
few months hence, if things continue as
they are going now, there will be IN the
popular mind but two men-President
Wilson and Colonel Roosevelt. There will
be no parties in the old sense Of the word;
there will only be two policies, and the
time has come in our public life when
parties mean very little and men are pre-
pared to cast off party ties with very
little hesitation. The Republican party
will then face the necessity of nominating
Colonel Roosevelt and surrendering to him
absolutely. or of repeating the Taft episode
of 1912 and accepting defeat in advance.
Does anybody suppose the rank and file
Of the Republican party will choose the
latter course?
Here is the point at which the Republi-
can leaders expect that Justice Hughes will
save them. At the psychological moment
in the convention when the "favorite sons
have been tried out and the Roosevelt
danger become great, Justice Hughes is
to be nominated by reclamation. But
does any one suppose that Justice Hughes
will let himself be used for such pur-
pose? The Tribune knows no man IN the
Republican party that IT would prefer to
Justice Hughes but could any one support
Justice Hughes on a platform of coward
ice and as the candidate Of machine poll
ticians who were using him to shield them
selves and save their own skins?
The Tribune makes no pretence at know
ing whether Justice Hughes could, under
any circumstances, be persuaded to run
or not. 1t merely says that it would be
glad if he could be nominated on a plat
form that would be worthy of him. But
lit is perfectly satisfied that Justice Hughes
will not be persuaded to run merely to
enable Mr. Penrose and Mr.. Barnes to
control the machinery of the Republican
party and to prevent the nomination Of
Colonel Roosevelt, if that nomination were
desired by the mass Of the Republican
voters, by the mass of the voters in the
country at large.
There is only one way to make 1t possible
for Justice Hughes to accept Republican
nomination, and that is to make the noml-
nation worth something itself. If the
Republican party is too cowardly to take
stand on the great question of the hour,
if IL does not dare under its present lead
ers TO saw what it thinks Of the murder Of
Americans abroad Of the violation Of in
ternational law and the assault upon COM
mon humanity which is the policy Of the
Germans and their allies, then It cannot
hope to 90 before the people next fall and
appeal for their support on the basis Of
r.. Wilson's failure or cowardice. Such a
policy would be ten times as cowardly
as Mr.. Wilson'S and it would arouse a
contempt and Ioathing beyond all de
scription.
It is foolish and feeble idea that the
Republican machine leaders are now cher
ishing that the next campaign is one Of
mathematics and that Justice Hughes Is
the available candidate to get them out
Of all their troubles, to make good for all
their lack Of courage and conviction. jus
tice Hughes could not do this II he would,
and there is no man in the whole United
States who is less likely TO undertake
the job.
For these reasons The Tribune thinks
Mr.. Taft has diagnosed the existing po-
sition wholly wrongly, that he has ac-
cepted the view of the politicians and
neglected the temper of the people. The
people are not now controlled by any
loyalty to a party's old name; they are not
dominated by any sentimental or emotional
affection for things that were done by the
Republican party half a century ago. They
desire leadership that will face the issue