Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-11-22

The chief faults of Mr.. Hughes cam
paign, according to Mr.. Gavit, are sub
stantially as follows:
I. The impression Mr.. Hughes him.
self gave the people. MIR. Gavit says
| the nominee "careered from coast to
coast, cheapening himself at every town
pump, wearing himself out in a bust
| ness Of one-night stands like barn
storming tragedian; never giving him
self time either to gather and digest
the information necessary for prop
er presentation of his policies and pro-
| gram, or to get far enough from the
echo of his own voice to consider what
he was saying" This, Mr.. Gavit finds,
gave Mr.. Hughes no chance to put be-
| fore the American people any intellig-
| ible notion Of himself and his concrete
program. The Post editor continues:
Hughes. the careful investigator and
! student Of facts, even-handed weigher
Of evidence. fair-minded Judge of the
merits and the law, never had a look-in
in this campaign. He put forth in q
hurry what he found at the top of his
mind. Suppose, instead of that, he had
made a very few deeply considered
speeches. each exhausting the subject
Of ore Of the vast matters upon which
he predicated his campaign; each in
turn the very best that Charles E.
Hughes could do!'
2 Bad management-whatM Mr.. Cav
1t terms "A dismally dull-witted, I'M
imaginative, uninspiring, disorganized,
slip-shod, happy-go-lucky management
by the Republican national committee"
Included in this the writer contrasts
the publicity alertness Of Theodore
Roosevelt with the ignorance or the
ignoring Of the first rudiments of pub
licity by the news directors of the Re-
publican campaign, in consequence of
which nearly every speech by Mr..
Hughes was disgracefully reported, a
detriment to his popularity instead of
an aid. With no advance copies of his
speeches sent out, the newspapers, no
matter how friendly, were forced to
take garbled accounts, being unable
many times to put even these into type
for early editions
3. Disregard Of the vital, fundament-
al, urgent conditions presenting an ex-
igency calling for Charles E. Hughes
and. no other. Mr.. Hughes. when gov
ernor of New York, once said to Mr.
Gavit, ITS the right thing to do isn't
it? Well, if the Republican party can't
stand the doing Of the right thing, why,
so much the worse for the Republican
party" Mr.. Gavit believes if Mr..
Hughes never had deviated from this
attitude and had maintained his GUS
tomary sense of perspective the cleo
ton would have been a massacre OF
Democratic pretensions. He suggests
an exaggerated outline for a speech
such as he believes Hughes should have
hiuuO, CutllilS lOOSc 1TOlH Tie OlQ
Guard" who would have delivered the
'stand-pat" vote just the same, ex-
tending his friendly regard to the Pro-
gressives as sympathetic observer of
their efforts general but forceful de-
nunciation of the Democratic admin
istration's methods, and the presenta-
ton OF program, ION which we shall
pledge our lives, our fortunes and our
sacred honor"
A. The abduction of Mr.. Hughes in
California by ''the very gang of polite
al binders the people had repeat
eddy repudiated," and Mr.. Hughes ap-
parent Indifference to the existence of
Hiram Johnson who later carried the
state by 100000 while Mr. Hughes lost
the state-and the election right there.
One turns from a study of the cam
paisn," Editor Gavit declares, with
the indelible suspicion that, somewhere.
there has been a malevolent tmpos-
ture."
In closing he says:
One may leave to Mr.. Hughes to
measure what this means to him: but
the American people have suffered a
loss which they are not in a position to
realize. Out of the public service has
gone man of type all too rare. a
man representing the finest things in,
American character and intellect and
| inspiration. The people have made up-
on an impression which he gave them
| himself, choice involving the rejec-
ton of one of the finest they had, and
there seems to be no method of sal
wage
This is an indictment then, not of Mr..
Hughes but of his campaign and of
the management Of that campaign One
feels. as Mr.. Gavit has intimated, that
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