The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1916-05-20

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tory like a partial eclipse of the
sun. 1t is as if the spotlight
Of the solar system were turned upon
the area of battle-fields, while all the
other nations stood like spectators at
a moving-picture show. watching in
darkness.
The attention of all peoples outside
the realm of conflict being thus fasci-
mated by the awful scene, their own
affairs have seemed trivial, and have
been neglected or forgotten in the
hushed thrill that has held the heart
of the world.
This phenomenon alone can account
for the fact, obvious to every one in
the United States, that the approach
ing presidential campaign has not de-
yeloped an appreciate fraction of the
interest and agitation which usually
prevail for many months before the
meeting of the great party conventions.
Usually the political temperature in
America begins to rise about a year
before each recurring national cam
paign, reaches fever heat about the
time of the conventions, and shows
boiling blood before the election. In
this year, 1916, the popular mood that
ordinarily would have been manifest
In January, is barely discernible In
May. The whole political season is
backward. But, for this very reason,
we may well expect that from now on
there will be a quick-step in the march
of events, to make up for past tagging,
and by the time the conventions are
over, the American people will be
ready for the full swing of our quad
rennial contest. Even the European
war will then drop back to second
place: and this for two reasons, first,
because the political campaign, by the
sheer insistence of issues that can no
longer be postponed, will crowd it's way
to the front: and, second, because, as
the English writer II. G. Wells so apt
ly puts it, the conflict abroad has pass.
ed the stage of initial onset and reach.
ed the period of drag, when the result
is to be determined rather by endur-
ance than by impact, and b~y-standers
are always more interested in a quick
assault than in a prolonged tug.
Contest Unique In American History.
The conventions of the two great
parties are now Immediately before us.
Every day and every hour quickens
the interest, reveals new phases of the
situation and presages a contest unique
in American history. Already Con
gress is restless, and the leaders of
both parties are considering an early
adjournment, or, at least. a recess, un-
til after the nominations are made at
Chicago and st. Louis. But more I'M
usual and significant than any other
aspect of the situation is the fact that
the mind of the whole country is in
tent upon one convention only. This
Is true for the first time within the eX-
perience Of the present generation.
While it has several times happened in
recent years that the candidate of one
party or the other was a ~foregone con
clusion many months in advance of the
nomination, there has been, at least, an
interest in the platform or in some
other incident of the convention. For
example, the second nomination of
Cleveland in 1888 was assured, while
the probable Republican nominee was
a riddle; yet both conventions attract
ed the liveliest concern, because it was
not known how far the Democrats
would follow their leaders, declaration
for a radical revision of the tariff. SO
in 1896, while the probable choice of
the Democrats remained a mystery I'm.
til the day OF the convention (inally
going to a man heretofore without
national renown) the nomination of
Mckinley was well forecast by events.
Yet the two conventions were easily
of equal import, because this time the
question was how far the Republicans
would go In a courageous stand for