The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-09-01
LOYALTY ISSUE IN,
ILLINOIS PRIMARY
Mccormick and Foss Running
on 100 Per Cent. American
Platforms.
THOMPSON THEIR TARGET
Chicago Mayor Relies on Split
ting Patriotic Vote
Lewis Unopposed.

CHICAGO, Aug. 31.-rhe bitter contest
Cor the Republican nomination for United
States Senator from Illinois, now draw
ing to what promises to be a cycionic
close, presents the form Of triangle
with all three sides quite badly chopped
Up. Consequently II would be extremely
hasardous at this stage to tie to any
particular side and count absolutely on
eoing over the top to victory with the
winning candidate in the Statewide pri-
mary Of September IL.
Above the claims the campaign man
ayers and press agents OF Medill NC
Cormicl<. George Edmund Foss ana Will
IAN Hale Thompson now rings a de-
cfdediy clear note of uncertainty as TO
the outcome whether that note VIII
change in the time Intervening before
tho primary and, II 80. how, Is the
pointed question ensrossins the adner-
ents Of all three candidates.
From q viewpoint clear ousde OF the
circles of the Illinois Congressman-at-
large, the Congressman from the Tenth
or Evanston district. and the Mayor OF
Chicago, II seems quite possible that
few days may develop decided changes
For the present, however. the Illinois
Senatorial situAtion-that Is the Repub-
lican end Of its somewhat Of puzzle
The only sure thing about IT IL that
Senator James Hamilton Lewis. as the
sole nominee of the Democratic party.
need not worry In the slightest about
this pussle. He/may remain in the war
zone for q long time and when ne re.
turns TO Illinois for the big political
bEht in the fall he will and the pu1sle
already solved. and the Result. whoever
that may be, ready for his personal at
tenton.
Several signiAcant Facts.
After the campaign claims for the
three candidates have been literally dts
counted there remain several very sig
nificant facts. any one Of which may
point the way to thu outcome of the
Republican primary. Mccormick Is run
ming on a straight out loyalty platform :
Foss declares he permits no one to ques-
ton his loyalty. and that the word actu-
ally defines his own platform. while
Mayor Thompson d injecting all sorts
Of class prejudice into his speeches. at
the Same time insisting upon his loyalty
to the country.
What CONGRESSMAN Mccormick stands
for In his campaign for the Senate seat
may perhaps be best epitomized IN his
own words:
I'VE who are Republicans are con-
certing our energies because We do not
intend that America shall suffer because
Of her unreadiness for peace. As GER
tainly as she must sutherland terribly
suffe--because she was unready for
war"
That has been McCormick's real
theme up and down the State since the
campaign started. He has eschewed
politics to talk about the war; why the
country Is at war, and what the out
come Of that war il to be. And on the
strength Of this general line OF speeches,
together with what he has done in his
short term In Congress, hia nanagsrs
claim that he will be nominated with
out diffculty.
They arc quite sure that the gentle
man from the Rock River Farms at
Byron, ILL.,. will TO over the top because
fifty-fve out Of sevehty-seven daily
newspapers In the State are for him.
Mccormick. they declare, has the
straight out backing Of the Republican
county chairmen In seventy out of a
hundred counties.
Mr.. Foss's Argument.
Congressman FceS ana MS managers
dispose Of the claims Of the Mccormick
headquarters by admitting that most
of the papers are for Mccormick and
that possibly many OF the organization
chiefs are supporting him. But they
argue quite Gleefully that the people.
particularly the rank and file Repub-
leans. are going to support Foss.
Mr.. Foss has been making a straight
old fashioned Republican campaign. He
has devoted virtually all his time to
Mccormick. particularly with reference
to that time in 1912 when. he says.
Mccormick was a first aid to Theodore
Roosevelt in an attempt to break up the
Republican party. He has been appeal
Ing to the loyalty Of Republicans to
party creeds as well as to country and
home.
The managers of the Foss campaign
say that these old fashioned Republican
speeches have turned the tide In the
direction of the Evanston man. apd that
there has been a widespread response
among Republicans who have never re-
covered from the Roosevelt Mccormick
Perkins affair Of .l9l2.
Both Foss and Thompson are making
Mccormick their bright target. Neither.
10 far, has had much to say about the
other, The Chicago Mayor. in his APP
parent reliance upon a split in the So
called loyalty vote OF the party as be-
tween Mccormick and Foss to give him
the nomination has been vitriolic In his
attacks upon the Congressman at large
In all parts of the State he has as
sailed Mccormick as the champion OF
vested rights" to whom the war is a
source of profit Foss has been telling
things in connection with McCormick's
record. According to his managers he
has simply been recalling what the Con-
gresham at large said about Uncle Joe
Cannon. the "pattest" standpatter OF
them all, and against Congressman Nc
Kinley and other State leaders OF the
Republican party when he was bull
moosing" around Illinois in 1914.
Thompson Relies ON split.
II is said In political circles in
Thompson camp when Foss entered the
Senatorial race. 1t was taken as a sure
sign that the Mayors war attitude
wouldn't be noticed so much. and that
possibly he wouldn't come in for so much
hot shot because of the position he took
against sending American soldiers to
foreign lands to fight.
The signs were all wrong. however,
or all three candidates probably the
hottest time has been measured out for
the Mayor. He has been attacked on
every side. including that OF Foss.
though not so much by the candidate
himself; and he In turn has waged a
whitening verbal warfare against the
newspapers, particularly those Of Chi
cago.
The Mayor hasn't been treated with
the utmost leniency by the authorities
in number Of Illinois cities. for the