New Britain herald., 1916-08-02
NO REMEDIES IN
 HUGHES' ADDRESS
Democrats Consider It Destructive
 and Not Constructive

Washington, Aug. 2.-Republican politicians praise and Democratic pol lt1c1ans condemn the speech of Charles
 E. Hughes, delivered at Carnegie Hall
 Monday night, in accepting the Re- publican nomination for President of
 the United States. The interest in Mr. Hughes's utterances was keen
 throughout political circles-had been keen for weeks.
 Among Democrats-Cabine officers,
 Senators and Representatives, and
 others of less prominence in the affairs of the dominant party-there was a disposition to criticize MT. Hughes on the ground that he offered no remedy for the conditions which he assailed President Wilson for creating.
 Why didn't he say what he would have done in Mexico, the Lusitania case, and the other matters that he blamed President Wilson for handling
 badly?' was the common form of criticism offered by friends of the Ad- mln1stration. It was apparent that unless MT. Hughes supports his charg- es by statements as to the policies he would have adopted, or will adopt to meet the conditions with which Presi- dent Wilson was and is confronted the Democratic plan of campaign will be to point out to the voters that the Republican candidate has no con- struCtve program or any remedies for prevailing troubles.
 Among Republicans the tendency was to praise MT. Hughes for his crit- cism of the Administration and to commend the speech as a clear pre- sentation of the issues confronting the country. There was unanimity of opinion among Republicans that MT. Hughes was a master of English, and there seemed to be an honest belief in Republican quarters that the Presi- dential candidate could talk in way that everybody would understand.
 When 1t was suggested to Repub- lican-for the purpose of drawing him out-that MT. Hughes might have put a little more "punch'' in certain DOT tions of his speech, the Republican comeback was as follows
 "The speech has sufficient punch for this stage of the campaign. MT. Hughes intends to wage this campaign on a high plane, and while there are a number of things he might say that would lean toward personalities, you will find that he will eschew such campaigning. There is vim all through the speech. There will be more punch as the campaign progresses. It would be foolish to shoot ones heaviest charge of ammunition at the first shot, The Hughes speech con- tains all the fire that an opening ut terance should have, and Is a fore runner of victory.
 To the Democratic criticism that MT. Hughes offered no remedies for most of the conditions, affecting our foreign relations which he asserted MT. Wilson had failed to meet in statesmanlike way, the Republican answer was that if Mr. Hughes had been President he would not have permitted these conditions to occur, but would have followed firm policies that would have upheld the national honor without bringing the country into hostilities.
 Among some Republicans there was disappointment over what was regard ed as the failure of MT. Hughes to lay down a platform of constructive pOli cies, but most of the Republican poli- ticians who commented on the speech explained that MT. Hughes did not intend his acceptance address to be a full exposition of what the people might expect of him to do if he suc- ceeded MT. Wilson in the White House. One view was that MT. Hughes had prepared his speech as a lawyer pre- pared his brief, giving only the outline of his case as a foundation for more detailed statements. MT. Hughes, it was predicted, would reserve for his less formal campaign speeches the ex- plantations of what he would do to remedy prevailing troubles if he was elected in November.