The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-08-02
A REMARKABLE ADDRESS.

ration of the Republican party. indi-
Gates that there will be plenty of
thrills in the national campaign when
President Wilson is conceded by
every one to be a past master in the
art of presenting ideas and arguments
in speeches as well as letters He puts
the punch of conviction in every ut
terance he makes. He is a craftsman
in debate, being such an adept in
phrase making that almost everything
he says has a plausible ring TO it AS
p1eader for the defense. and espec-
tally when he is defending himself,
he is most expert.
But in Governor Hughes he has q
foeman worthy of encounter in every
one of these respects, and one who will
be able to give as good as he receives.
and in excellent measure.
And the Republican candidate for
the presidency gets the jump in his
New York speech of the other evening
on his Democratic rival at the begin
ming of the campaign, and he appears
to land with both feet.
He draws an indictment against the
Democratic administration that is as
| prehensive. It is as strong with facts
as 1t is emphatic and logical with its
contentious. 1t presents a defense for
Woodrow Wilson to meet that will test
to the limit all the brilliance of which
he is possessed, and one that he is GER
tain to have difficulty, regardless of his
wit, to combat successfully.
| Particularly vigorous is Governor
Hughes's searching analysis of the
Democratic administrators handling
of the Mexican problem. His judg-
ment that it has been such as cannot
be examined by the American people
without a profound sense OF humilia-
! ton is an obvious conclusion, and one
that has been reached probably by
most thinking Americans. including
not few of the staunch admirers of
President Wilson and men who will
vote for him on election day.
Indeed, the Hughes categorical
and deductive presentation of the
manner in which President Wilson has
handled the Mexican matter is an ex-
coriation that is as delicate as 1t is
pointed, and 1t does the job SO thor
oughly that there. apparently, isn't
any kind of a Mexican leg left on
which the Democratic administration
| can stand.
More than that, Governor Hughes
points out that there is little chance
of there being any change in the
Mexican situation until the vacillating
policies that President Wilson has
pursued towards Mexico are suosti-
tuted by a firm, consistent and friend
~ dealing with the problem.
The Republican presidential candi-
date also shows keen appreciation
of at least one of the important de-
mands on this nation in the Mexican
premises, when he suggests that it is
our duty to relieve the sorry-stricken
people below the Rio Graude from
starvation and distress.
The Mexicans, or many of them, can
never be expected to be in d mood to
set their own house in order while
such large numbers of them are in the
throes of famine, and especially. as
long as the latter see unristakable
evidence of the fact that the only ave-
nues to a little food for them lie in
their joining either the military forces
of the de facto government, those OF
this or that revolutionary faction. or.
as a last resort, those of the bandit
chiefs.
Governor Hughes is equally force
full and explicit in his other and nu-
mcrous criticisms of the Wilson ad-
ministration, including it's handling
of our neutral end of the European
war.
There are also force and directness
il the attention that he gives to tbs
other important questions of the hour
his exposition of the preparedness
that the nation needs being unusually
vigorous and conclusive. as is his ref
, erence to the fundamental stability OF
the principles of protection"
And there is one significant obser-
walton in his address that it would bt
we'll for all men to ponder over, ant
, especially those politicians whose
stock in trade is the batting of indus
tries. It is:
: There is no forward movement, M
, endeavor to promote social justice
which in the last analysis does no
rest upon the condition that Their,
shall be a stable basis for honest en-
, terprise.''
Here is the big and little bushes
problem as well as the labor and othe
e kindred problems presented in a nut
| shell.
e All in all, Governor Hughes's ad
n dress of acceptance, and his keynot
s of the campaign, will be certain t.
/. take foremost place among the fines
( efforts of all the presidential candi
z dates in the history of the country
o 1t is exceedingly patriotic 1t ring