The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1916-01-27
TWO CONVENTIONS
AT CHICAGO JUNE 7
MAY COMBINE


The national republican COM
mittee met recently and called its
national convention to nominate a
candidate for president. This was
followed shortly by a meeting Of the
progressive committee to select a
place for its national convention.
Both committees selected Chicago
as the place and June 7th as the
date for holding their respective
conventions. In other words, as
plainly understood by everybody.
this is done with a hope and expec-
tation of the two wings of the party
coming together on n candidate
for the presidential campaign next
fall.
It is becoming more evident as
time passes that this can be done il
moderation and reason prevails
among the leaders. And modera-
ton don't mean for one fellew to
give up and the other not. The
masses of both elements of the
party are ready to get together to
trim the democrats, but some lead
ers and a few newspapers are see-
ing red yet.
| The question OF candidates is be-
ginning to have a prominent place
in the daily newspapers, and in a
short time the European war will be
| of secondary interest, The drift Of
public sentiment has already sep
arated the candidates into their
various places before the voters.
So far as the favorite sons are ION
cerned they will just have the COM
plimentary votes of their W states.
with an occasional neighbor state.
none Of them. however, have a ma
tional following.
The three men who loom up as
national figures. any of them big
enough to become the party leader,
are Justice Hughes, Colonel Roose-
welt, Elihu Root. about in the rela-
tive positions as here stated. Poll
~ticians. newspaper editors. and
magazine writer's, constantly feeling
out the public pulse, thus place
these three men.
Justice Hughes is considered most
available because he was entirely
out of the 1912 split up, and should
therefore be satisfactory to both
elements of the republican party.
Colonel Roosevelt is the strongest,
and perhaps the most popular man
personally and politically in the
country. He is a volcanic force; he
does things. And in doing things
he makes enemies. The third term
talk is forgotten, but the 1912 con-
test makes Roosevelt less available
in 1916 than Hughes. Imagine
Roosevelt out Of the 1912 contest.
just returning from Africa, for in
stance! He would be handed the
nomination by reclamation, and the
election by an overwhelming ma
jority.
Eiihu Root is one of the most able
republicans the country has pro-
duced, and he has many followers
among the stalwart element of the
party.
Thus, the situation five months
| ahead of the convention would ap-
pear to be something like this:
The old guard would be pleased to
have Root the nominee; the pro.
gressives would be delighted to have
Teddy. Both can be satisfied with
| Hughes.
The logic Of the situation. the
availability Of time, conditions, ETC.,
all point to Hughes. AS to the
moves on the board, or WIN will be
nominated, is all more or less of a
guess-and one guess is as good as
another. The guess of this paper is
that Hughes will be nominated as
the republican candidate. and also
nominated as the progressive candi-
date at the Chicago conventions.
The straw vote man will probably
be as busy as ever-after the sun
gets north far enough to let him
get out a bit.