The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-03


 both boys and girls. "This," she say
 but my heart is with the working w
 (EIizabeth Glendower Evarfs)
 The appeal which is being sent I forth that the women voters of the country should support Gov. Hughes on the issue of equal suffrage, IS one which suffragists should not allow 10 pass unchallenged. Of course If the claim that his election would secure the passage of the Susan B. Anthony Amendment through Congress coula be substantiated, this would weigh heavily with most suffragists. But such a claim is to distort facts. Both of the political parties and both Of the presidential candidates are on rec ord for suffrage. Ana If MT. Hughes has gone his rival one better by pro- fessing a personal belief in the Feder- al Amendment, this is a matter to which too great. importance should not be attached, since 1t carries Wlth it no promise of performance. Upon this point Mr. Hughes has not deceiv- ed those who would make him their champion. At Nashville he allowed frankly that he could not be looked to for practical support, stating: II cannot personally put plank into my platform, and I would rather not ex- press my opinion of the Amendment in Congress- The effort to exalt him as a suffrage champion is plainly to exaggerate the facts of the case.
 The whole question of political pol icy was eXhaustive1y discussed at the recent Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Associa- ton at Atlantic City and non-parti- hv whelming vote. As probably nine- tenths of the suffragists of the coun- try are enrolled in this organization. the decision of its Convention should demonstrate beyond peradventure where the great body of suffragists may be expected to stand. Which facts are worthy of rehearsing only because of the publicity which has been given to the claims of a small but very active group.
 Dismissing then the suffrage issue as irrevelent, just one question con- fronts the voters, be they women or men. Will the general interest of the country be best served by the election of President Wilson or of ex-Governor Hughes? To the mind of many who earnestly canvassing this question the barren fault finding iof President Will sons critics creates heavy presump- ton in his favor. It is easy to pick lflaws. It is easy to frame an indict- ment by holding the President respon- sible for every untoward event which has befalfen the world during his ad- ministration from the martyrdom of Belgium and the sinking of the Luis tania to the narrowly averted railway strike. An indictment drawn upon such lines fails to convince. While it tspeaks volumes for President Wilson's successful handling of difficult situa- tions that those who blame him the most unsparingly fail to indicate how they would have acted differently in his place.
 The unjust and ungenerous methods pursued by MT. Wilson's opponents could be endlessly illustrated. But it would be too long a story, and a need less one, since it is on evefybody's tongue. In shining contrast is the Presidents refusal to descend to per- sonalities, and the dignity with which he says never a word in his own de- fense. He makes no play to the gall lery, but gives his undivided attention to the public business. leaving its merits for the public to judge.
 There are prabably many people who are loyal supporters of the Presi- dent who yet believe that his dealing with Mexico has been vacillating and without constructive plan. Others who are more discerning see in it the crowning achievement of his admin istration. To protect our own interest in Mexico at any cost to the Mexicans was the time-honored course to have pursued. This is the old way of na- tions. And it is a way which has sanc- tidned every crime in the decalogue, which has built up great empires and trampled under foot the rights of the weak. President Wilson had a more exacting ethical code. He would lead our own nation toward an altogether different goal He believed that na- tions as we'll as individuals should practice the golden rule. He asked the people of the United States to give a neighboring people in process of emerging from the tyrannies of ages a chance to find their way to national life, to be patient with their long drawn out agonies.
 In the carrying out of his chival- rous undertaking the President has been ready to take big risks. But it was never promised that the path of high endeavor should be easy or safe. Does it lie with those who preach the gleries of war to taunt the President that life and property have been jeo- pardized in a country undergoing the throes of a revolution, struggling for self-government and freedom? Better to fail a thousand times in a task such as President Wilson set before our nation than to have made a deseiation in neighboring country and called it peace.
 At the St. Louis Democratic Conven- tion, its Chairman Senator Ollie James, pointed out a strikingly simi- larity between President Wilson's s dealings with Mexico, and those of Lincoln, who when he entered upon office had similarly found Mexico in turmoil. American property had been destroyed and American lives lost; a - member of the legation had been mur- . dered. The passage quoted by Sena-