New Britain herald., 1916-11-11
LOVES LABOR LOST.

| of American politics. He was q
mighty hero in his day; but he met
his Waterloo. His greatest glory is
probably written in the past tense.
/ When on the night of the first Tues
day after the first Monday in Novem-
Der of 1916 he addressed a group of
newspaper reporters and gave out the
following statement he little knew he
was issuing useless words. Said the
colonel: Il am doubly thankful as
an American for the election Of Mr..
Hughes. 1t is vindication of our ma
tlonal honor. Because of some
charges that have been made I wish
10 state now that I will not under any
circumstances make any recommends
tons to Mr.. Hughes with reference
TO appointments or to his legislative
policy.'
Whether the Colonel meant what
he said at the time is now of no con-
corn to the American public His
prophecy has been so perfect as to il
Intimate any necessity Of considering
the statement other than as a matter
o. record. He cannot under any
circumstances make any recommended
tons to Mr.. Hughes with reference to
appointments or to his legislative
policy because Mr.. Hughes will have
no appointments to make nor any
policy to define. From now on all he
jc
sistent' and in the background; and,
# possible, away from the sinister in
f1uences of the Colonel Charles
Evans Hughes went down to defeat
not big man, or that he is incapable
of handling the ship of state, but be-
cause Charles Evans Hughes did not
have anything to stand on, anything
that was worthy of the consideration
Of the electorate. All during his
compaign his managers saw the flu
tjlity of the issues brought forth.
The first was on Mexico. Wilson was
condemned, branded as a traitor, al
most held to treason because of
Mexico. Yet, that failed as an issue.
The very border states Of the nation
helped to put Wilson back in power.
Then the European policy was taken
Up and handled by Mr.. Hughes and
his party. That too, failed. The first
! PASSIONS of the campaign died away
as the cooler days of Novemb Der ap-
preached. Then the eight-hour day
law came into being at the time Of the
impending nationwide railroad strike,
and that was taken up as an issue.
That too, failed. Society had indeed
put its sanction on the eight-hour day
for labor, and labor had shaken off
the garments that marked it as a
comm odity. There was no issue the
! campaign managers of Mr.. Hughes
| could grasp. So, finally they went
! back to the only issue the Republican
! PARTY as a party ever had and ceased
| upon the magnetic word protection. -
In the last week of the campaign the
! doctrine of protection was preached
| from one end of the land to the other.
/ -NO OiiO SoolA plCh up q newspaper
without being stared at by display ad-
yertisements picturing the misery that
would come to American workingmen
| If they failed to pull the first lever
and vote for protection. The last
| issue failed as miserabl as the first.
Even in New England, where Republic
can pluralities have been cut down in
every state, protection was re-
| s&rded as a nightmare.
So, after this colossal failure.
Colonel Roosevelt failing to see the
tidal wave from the West, congratu-
pledged himself to refrain from Civ
| ing advice under any circumstances.
It was a waste of words. Candidate
! Hughes had probably sensed the situa-
| iton soon after he threw aside the
| ermine of the Supreme Court for the
! garb of a campaign orator. He prob
ably knew he was battling for a lost
! cause: that what people were afraid
of in other years they passed over as
| trivialities in 1916. He probably
was not fooled into believing that the
vast majority of Progressives, de-