New Britain herald., 1916-09-25
PRESIDENTS, PAST AND PRESENT

PRESIDENTS, PAST AND PRESENT
 Suppose on the night of the first Tuesday after the first Monday in
 November Woodrow Wilson, after
 hearing the election returns, should
 find himself defeated. Would he sit
 down immediately and write note of congratulation to Charles Evans Hughes? Suppose on the other hand that Charles Evans Hughes was the one who might discover no balm in Gilead on that night. Would he sit down and write a note of congratula- tion to Woodrow Wilson? Suppose
 again that the note from one or the
 How much sincereity would be con- tained in the words? Woodrow Will
 son seemingly would have no reason
 to pen @ note to Charles Evans
 Hughes, because of the 100 per cent
 candidates campaign methods. The
 remarks of Hughes against the Pres-
 ident of the. United States make 1t
 very difficult for the carrying out of
 a customary courtesy. If Hughes
 was to write Wilson and congratulate
 him there would be a suspicion in the minds of many that hypocricy
 lurked in the off1ng.
 Now, we contend, these things should not be so Men should be able to go out on the stump and battle against each other in the field of politics without severing all ties of friendship. A President of the United
 States upon leaving the White House should be able to write sincere let ter of congratulation to his successor. And the only way on Gods earth for a retiring President of the United States to do this in all sincereity is for his opponent in the political race to conduct himself with propriety. It is not Wilson who has put up the barrier in this case It is Charles Evans Hughes who has offended againt good taste and reduced his campaign to the level of a village political free-for-a1l fight, with "any- thing to Beat Wilson, as a slogan.
 E-President Taft, up to his recent letter in the Yale review, set an ex- ample for men who have occupied the Presidency. Theodore Roosevelt l has broken all precedents.. Before his time ex-Presidents of the United l States did not jump into every politi- l al fight that presented itself. Charles l Evans Hughes stepping from the dig ] the measures of Roosevelt against the man In office. A terrible thing is l happening right before the very eyes of the people, and the people do not realize the enornnity of 1t all It has often been asked, what shall we do 1 with our ex-Presidents? There has never been satisfactory answer. It should be answered now and one part ] of the answer should be, Keep them out of politics. Let them lead lives that are above reproach. Let them not truckle to the popular whims of the day. Let them refrain from at tacking the men who took their places" Between Hughes and Roose- welt they have given Woodrow Wilson l every reason in the world to go out l and stump this country from one end | of it to the other in a tirade of abuse l against his successor. And that is a thing no ex-President should do, even if Theodore did start the ball a-rolling. It is hoped, that when Wilson joins the ranks of our ex-Presidents he will not follow the example set by Roose- welt, but rather that he will hue close to the line followed previously by the naartyred Mckinley, by Cleveland, and the beloved Presidents who went ahead, from Washington up to Roose- velt There the fatal illness first as- serted itself.